140 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
um hardly prepared to speak positively as to their identity with 
our insect, but think they are identical.—F. Bonn. ] 
NoTEs ON THE REARING OF CERTAIN HYBERNATING AND OTHER 
LARV= OF British Leprpoprera.—Ourapteryx sambucata.—The 
larve of this moth hybernate easily either in the open air or 
under cover in a shed or outhouse. If reared in the open air, 
they should be secured in a strong muslin bag tied to a branch 
of blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), in-some sheltered position. If 
reared under cover, twigs of the same tree should be placed in a 
wide-mouth bottle filled with water, through a suitable aperture 
in the cork, and the larve secured by muslin tied round the neck 
of the bottle, and regularly supplied with fresh food so long as a 
vestige of green foliage is obtainable. Wintering these larve, 
and probably others, in a somewhat darkened place prolongs the 
period of hybernation, and prevents them wandering in search of 
food before either the blossom or leaves appear on the black- 
thorn. This is evident by the partially-denuded spmes and 
branches in the case of those wintered with insufficient shelter. 
The larve of O. sambucata, as is well known to entomologists, 
derive their specific name from the elder (Sambucus nagra), 
though I have never obtained them from that tree. I have, 
however, beaten them out of whitethorn (Crategus oxyacantha), 
and frequently out of blackthorn, which latter seems their staple 
food in this locality. Lasiocampa quercifolia.—Feed well on 
blackthorn, and hybernate so closely attached to the stems as to 
appear like excrescences of the bark, which they so exactly 
resemble in colour as to sometimes deceive the most practised 
eye. The species may be wintered similarly to O. sambucata, 
but they thrive better in the open air in a sheltered position. 
Lasiocampa rubi.—Roll themselves up in rings and hybernate in 
that state. May be wintered well among heather (Calluna 
vulgaris) and other species of Eric, sheltered and protected 
from sunshine as much as possible. A shallow circular wooden 
vessel, one foot deep and two feet in diameter, filled with mould 
in which roots of heather have been closely planted, and covered 
with muslin tied tentwise to a central support, makes an 
excellent and cheap mode of providing them with winter- 
quarters. The muslin covering also affords protection to the 
food-plants by preserving them green throughout the winter, 
unaffected by frost or snow, and thus ready for the larve when 
