LO8 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Of larvie, those of the larger species I may say were scarce. Two 
small aspens close to my door seemed to yield most. The first 
on the roll were T’ethea subtusa in plenty, but difficult to breed. 
At the same time were Pedisca opthalmicana ; I got tired of 
setting this species; I must have set a hundred and fifty or more, 
and I had not a decent specimen before. Under the same trees, 
in August, I put a sheet, and down came Smerinthus ocellatus, 
S. populi, Notodonta dictea, and a cloud of Cymatophora or larve. 
I first thought the sheet was covered with sawfly larve. By 
beating the alders I got lots of larve of the Notodonte ; but it is 
hard work striking overhead with a twelve-feet pole; only one 
larva of Dicranura bicuspis came, and that fell on to a lad’s jacket. 
It is a lovely larva, and for colour puts all the others of the genus 
into the shade. There is a little history about this larva: I nursed 
it carefully, kept it by itself well fed, with two or three bits of bark 
in the flower-pot; one day I had lost it, and could neither find 
pupa nor larva living or dead; I placed the chips of bark on the 
table, taking my magnifying-glass to look for the pupa; nothing 
could I see; when picking up the little bit of bark to put back in 
the pot it felt heavy ; when I turned it up to see how it was, there 
was the pupa, snugly made up between a loose bit of chip and the 
inner side of the bark. The larva came off the same tree from 
which I got a male moth. I got hundreds of larve off the 
stitchwort, &c., by sweeping at night; nothing of note turned up, 
the best being Plusia pulchrina. Smoking with touch-paper was 
a good help, moths being driven down amongst the herbage by 
the rains. I saw many larve of Hidophasia messingiella ; Plusia 
imterrogationis was scarce. 
One fine evening Noctua neglecta and Cloantha solidaginis were 
very busy on the flowers of the heather. Nepticule seemed 
scarce; the best species I took was: N. ulmivora, a pair, in cop., 
on the aspen tree. Hlachista kilmunella and E. rhyncosporella 
abounded in the bogs; so did EH. apicipunctella. Another rather 
good species, Laverna lacteella, turned up; I gave an old stump a 
heavy knock, and off it came. I did not know my prize until it 
was set, but thought it was a small Gelechia tricolorella. Thera 
Jirmata were extremely fine in July; so were Ellopia fasciaria and 
Macaria liturata. In fact all the specimens of last year were 
larger than usual. I bred several Polia chi off Genista tinctoria ; 
they are not of the pale type, nor yet the variety olivacea, but 
