58 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



[If Mr. Bold had placed a turnip thus infested on some 

 earth or sand, and then covered it with a bell-glass, the his- 

 tory of this destructive creature would have been learned in 

 a few days. Will Mr. Bold kindly transmit nae specimens 

 when they again occur ? the trouble of rearing them will be 

 a pleasant one. — Edivard Newman.] 



Hepialua Hitmuli,viir. iJnilen-ns. — While the subject of 

 Hepialus Humuli, vtir. thulensis, is still fresh in the memory 

 of entomologists, it may be well to remind them of the fol- 

 lowing article, by Mr. George Wailes, in the ' Entomological 

 Magazine,' vol. i. p. 42, published in 1832. This author 

 says of Hepialus Carnus : — " I cannot but suspect this to be 

 only an extraordinary variety of tJ. Velleda. Both occur at 

 the same time, in the same places, and the markings seem to 

 run into each other. This genus varies much in the colour 

 and intensity of the markings, and I have taken specimens of 

 H. Humuli with the anterior wings of a yellow tinge; and 

 my friend Mr. Hewitson has shown me similar specimens, 

 captured in the Orkneys this season, which have very dis- 

 tinct markings on the anterior wings." It is to the last sen- 

 tence of this extract that 1 wish to draw the particular atten- 

 tion of Scotch entomologists especially, for it establishes the 

 fact that, besides the Shetlands, the Orkneys also possess a 

 race of Hepialus of their own ; and this leads me to specu- 

 late that if the Hebrides were searched at the proper time, 

 they would also yield a peculiar local variety of H. Humuli ; 

 but, lying farther south, their race, although subject to the 

 same effects of isloation, &c., will perhaps represent an in- 

 termediate state between the typical form of the mainland 

 and the variety thulensis. Has H. Huuudi ever been taken 

 in the western parts of Ireland .? If so, do such specimens 

 vary in anv way from normal English ones ? — Albert Muller; 

 March, 1866. 



Lepidopiera hred. — The months of January and February 

 have produced me, from chrysalises dug in October, no less 

 than seven fine specimens of Notodonta dictiea (ibur males 

 and three females), and two females of Platypteryx falcula 

 from larvae taken in August. Towards the end of Fel)ruary 

 a male Clostera reclusa also appeared. Of Taeniocampa in- 

 stabilis, gothica, stabilis and cruda I have had abundance. 

 The chrysalises are kept in a sittiug-rooui, where there is 



