244 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Entomological Notes and Captures. 



Varieties, 8fc. — As this appears to be the fashionable ento- 

 mological question of the day, 1 have no hesitation in asking 

 for information upon the following point. Most collectors 

 are familiar with the beautiful lemon-coloured form of Xan- 

 thia cerago. This is always termed a " variety." But is it 

 so ? I do not see how this can be proved, except by rearing 

 it from eggs laid by a female of the ordinary character. 

 This, I believe, has not been done, and I fear it is not likely 

 that it will be. These lemon-coloured specimens are rare. 

 During the last five years I have been in the habit of collect- 

 ing from 300 to 400 larvae of Cerago and Silago indiscrimi- 

 nately, and 1 find the proportion between the lemon-coloured 

 and the ordinary specimens to be as one to sixty. I shall 

 feel very much obliged to any of your readers who will give 

 me their reasons for considering this pale form as only a 

 variety of the ordinary Cerago. Meanwhile I may observe 

 that, if it be so, such variation is not due either to locality or 

 food, for, as regards the former, it is found all over the 

 country, and, as regards the latter, it feeds exclusively (with 

 me) on sallows. — {Rev.) J. Greene ; Cuhiey Rectory, Sud- 

 bury, Derby. 



Formica herculanea a British Insect. — 1 am informed by 

 a friend that specimens of this noble ant have been taken 

 near Rannoch. It is a species by no means uncommon 

 on the Continent of Europe, particularly in pine forests : it 

 seems to be very unsociable in its habits, being found in 

 nearly circular cavities of about an inch or an inch and a 

 half in diameter, which it forms in the decayed stumps of 

 pines that have been cut down ; sometimes it is solitary, 

 sometimes two or three individuals are found in one cell, but 

 nothing like a numerous colony of these ants has yet been 

 discovered. — Edward Newman. 



Elaphidion dejiendum. — This homely-looking longicorn 

 has been taken at large at Southend, near Levvisham, by Mr. 

 W. West. It is fully described in a former number of this 

 journal (Entom. i. 6) as a native of North America ; but the 

 facility with which longicorns are transported in timber is 

 likely to render many of the boreal species cosmopolitan. — 

 Id. 



