154 THE KNTOMOLOGLST. 



mild evenings, I could not see them touch the sugar till the 

 5lb of A])n], 1865. They rested by day among the leaves, 

 and could scarcely be detected, so well does their colour 

 match with the leaves. 1 had often wondered if my two 

 insects were a pair; fortunately they were; on the 16th of 

 March I had the pleasure of seeing them in cop. at 8 P.M. 

 The eggs were deposited singly, on the cage and on the oak- 

 leaves, from the 7th to tlie 20ih of April. These began 

 hatching on the 26th of the same month : they were supplied 

 with oak, fed well, grew remarkably fast, and began going 

 down on the 5th of June, and had all disappeared by the 

 l*2th of the same month. Tliey spun a slight cocoon just 

 beneath the soil, and remained till the 25th of August before 

 changing to pupae. This peculiarity of the Xanthiae is 

 mentioned by the Rev. J. Greene in the ' Insect Hunter's 

 Companion,' p. 24, also in Merrin's ' Lepidopterist's Calen- 

 dar,' p. 104. My first imago appeared on the 9th of Septem- 

 ber, the last on the 6th of October; the greatest number in 

 one day six, on the 26th of September. The produce of the 

 pair was thirty-three perfect specimens. — J. Pristo ; Alver- 

 stone, WliippimjJiam, Isle of Wlcjht, September 17, 1866. 



Habitat o/ Melissoblapfes bipuncfa/tus. — As the history 

 of this rare insect is not, I believe, generally known, 1 venture 

 to supply that desideratum. The larva feeds on the roots 

 of Amaiophila arenaria on the sand-hills about^Deal. The 

 imago makes its appearance in July, when, if the evenings 

 are still and warm, they run up the stems of this grass to 

 near the top, where the males fix themselves, with their 

 wings half-expanded. I have noticed this habit in the 

 females of other insects, but never in the males : the females 

 of Melissoblaptes keep their wings closed. On the least dis- 

 turbance of the plant, which you cannot help, as it grows in 

 a close mass, the males close their wings, and if the dis- 

 turbance is continued they drop to the ground, but never 

 atteujpt to fly; in fact I do not remember ever seeing one 

 fly ; but there is no doubt that, like many other species, they 

 take one or two hours out of the twenty-four for that purpose. 

 This insect is very local ; you may find them on two or three 

 plants amongst a great number, but nowhere near that spot 

 will you find any more : the females are very rare, not more 

 than one to a dozen males. — H.J.Harding; 131, Lower 

 Street, Deal. 



