THE KNTOMOLOGIST. 299 



I have had sent to me by kind friends in the South, and it 

 will be most interesting to settle this point. I do not lay 

 much stress upon the fact of this plume feeding upon one 

 plant here and upon another on the Continent, because 

 Pterophorus plagiodactylus does that, if both M. Milliere 

 and myself are correct in our figures and descriptions of it; 

 but I should much like to see a single larva of a veritable 

 Hieracium umbellatuni-feeding plume, and shall feel greatly 

 obliged to anyon* who will send me one to figure, and will 

 gladly return as many of the sage-feeder as may be required. 

 — C. S. Greg son. 



Hybernation of Vanessa Vrtica. — The fact of the hyber- 

 nation of insects in the perfect stale is well enough known, 

 but it probably falls to the lot of very few to witness in any 

 instance iJie commencement and end of hybernation. The 

 following may therefore perhaps interest Entomologists. On 

 one of the first Sundays in August last, during divine service, 

 a specimen of Vanessa UrticjB flew into the parish church of 

 Winterbourne-Tomson, in which I was officiating. After 

 fluttering in the windows and flying about the church for a 

 short time, the insect settled upon a projecting rafter in a 

 conspicuous place, and remained, with its wings in the usual 

 stale of repose, during the remainder of the service. On the 

 Sunday following it was still in statu quo ; and so, Sunday 

 after Sunday, throughout the autumn and winter, evidently 

 never having once moved i'rom its first position. There it 

 was, until, on Sunday the 5th instant, it came off its perch, 

 and was flying briskly about the church when I came away 

 after the conclusion of the service. Its period of motionless 

 repose had thus been just nine months, and it was apparently 

 as fresh in colour and condition as if just out of the chrysalis. 

 —O. P.-Camhridge ; Bloxworth, May 22, 1867. 



A Plague of Ants. — The Entomologist has many diffi- 

 culties to contend with in the pursuit of his work. He is 

 often compelled to watch the changes of the weather as 

 keenly as a meteorologist, and even more anxiously, and 

 accurately time his search for particular species, which, like 

 a thief at large, are "wanted." But there is an annoying 

 obstacle thrown in his way, at least in the Gloucester district, 

 which it seems difficult to mitigate or remove. I allude to 

 the plague of ants. These insects may be very interesting on 



