130 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



having or not having particular markings or colours ; and I 

 regret Mr. Parry lost his chance to name this, simply because 

 he never saw this form in the Isle of Man ; but, judging from 

 the strange species I obtained there this summer, I have little 

 doubt but he will be able to make up for it if he will collect 

 there next year ; and it will give me great pleasure to have 

 his assistance when I have again the misfortune to require a 

 name for any of my captures, as I find it difficult to please 

 everybody. My finest specimens of Dianthoecia caesia were 

 taken flying over the flowers of the sea-pink, which were just 

 opening : this flower seems to be less attractive when fully 

 in bloom, but the flowers of Silene maritima have always a 

 charm for this species, as it deposits its eggs within them, 

 but by the time it desires to deposit its eggs they are more 

 or less wasted. My pupae were found under the cushion- 

 moss, which grows sparingly on the rocks, and in places 

 almost inaccessible, even to an old cragsman. Three days 

 devoted to pupa-hunting produced me about fifteen Noclua 

 pupae (from which I bred five D. ceesia and six D. cap- 

 sophila, in fine condition), quite a number of Tortrix and 

 Crambina larvae and pupae, and a iew Tinea larvae, from 

 which I have since bred Sciaphila Colquhounana, &c., and 

 last, but not least, Gelechia leucomelanella, G. instabilella, 

 &c. — C. S. Gregson ; Stanley, near Liverpool, August 14, 

 1866. 



Carahideous Larva killing a Canary bird. — I have to 

 record a curious incident that occurred a few days since. A 

 friend of mine had a hen canary sitting upon a nest of eggs : 

 when going to feed it one morning as usual, she noticed it 

 appeared ill, as it sat moping with drooped wings, and while 

 she looked on, it fell from the perch to the bottom of its cage, 

 dead : she took it out, and fovmd a clot of blood on the back 

 of its head, from which a larva partly protruded, which she 

 took out and gave me; it had eaten a hole completely 

 through the poor bird's skull, and of course as soon as it 

 penetrated the brain it caused instant death. Thinking the 

 circumstances of the case rather singular, I take this oppor- 

 tunity of giving you notice of the facts just as I received them 

 from my friend. I enclose the larva. — T. E. Gunn ; Norwich, 

 August 10, 1866. 



[The larva is certainly that of one of the Geodephaga : its 



