THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 345 



garden from seed : they would be valueless unless taken 

 from their native soil. Tt is very doubtful whether any of the 

 Diurni will pair in confinement ; it is even difficult to get 

 impregnated females to lay. Out of about a dozen species I 

 have tried, I was only successful with Satyrus Hyperanthus. 

 Anarta Myrtilli will pair, but the female refuses to lay, the 

 eggs being probably dropped at random upon the heath 

 while the insect is on the wing. The ubiquitous Mamestra 

 Brassicoe will also pair, but I imagine not many others of the 

 NoctuEB. Amongst the Geometrge the experiment might 

 succeed with those species where the females are wingless, 

 but I have not as yet tried it. Biston hirtarius pairs readily, 

 and so also probably would Amphydasis prodromaria and A. 

 betularia, its next-of-kin. — John R. S. Clifford ; 21, Robert 

 Terrace, Chelsea, October 2, 1865. 



317. Necrobia violncea in a brick JVall. — I have sent you 

 specimens of a coleopterous insect that I am curious to know 

 a little about. While at my work on the 6th of September 

 one of the boys brought me three specimens, and told me he 

 knew where there were hundreds. I examined the spot, and 

 they were in hundreds, some on the wing, others running 

 over liie wall, but the greater number hid up in the holes of 

 the bricks, which I had to crush before I could get at them : 

 the}' confined themselves to a space on the wall not exceed- 

 ing six feet, over the flue of a case-hardener's furnace, and 

 when the furnace is hot the heat and stench drive them out 

 in swarms : they are a lively insect, and difficult to take with 

 the hand : the boys have taken about forty dozen. — W. West ; 

 6, Green Lane, Greenwich, October \2, 1805. 



[The insect is Necrobia violacea : they feed on bones and 

 dead bodies. — Edward Newman.'] 



318. Hearing of Insects. — Frequently the verbena-beds 

 towards dusk are swarming with the Silver-Y Noctua. While 

 steadily employed in probing the flowers with its proboscis, 

 I frequently uttered a shrill squeak with my lips, when the 

 insect seems at once disturbed. This 1 often repeated, and 

 feel quite sure the noise was heard by the moth. — G. Norman ; 

 Hull, October 1, 18{)5. 



Ceulhorhyn chus suturalis. — Dr. Power's account of this 

 interesting cai)ture is unavoidably crowded out. 



