263 



Boarmia consonaria and striyularia. These I believe to be the second broods of 

 B. abietaria and crepuscularia. I have never raised them from the egg, but frequent- 

 ly from the caterpillars, and can say that all taken in September produce B. abietaria 

 and crepuscularia in April and May, and those captured early in June produce B. 

 consonaria and strigularia in July. 



Drepana unguicula. This species is double-brooded ; they first appear in April 

 and again in August. The caterpillars feed on beech. 



Dictyo'pteryx contaminana, ciiiana and rhombana. All varieties of one species. 



Henry Doubleday. 

 Epping, January 15, 1842. 



Art. LXVIII. — Varieties. 



1 44. Destruction of the Caterpillars of Srnerinthus ocellatus hy Ichneumon Atropos. 

 Four years ago I collected a great number of the caterpillars of Smerinthus ocellatus 

 off the willows on Chat Moss, where they abounded to such a degree that most of the 

 young trees were stripped of their foliage. The following year many moths came out 

 of the chrysalis, but nothing like the number I expected. After waiting a short time 

 I examined the soil in my breeding box, and found many chrysalides apparently alive, 

 but on breaking them they were, to ray astonishment, quite full of a greenish oil, with 

 Ichneumon Atropos floating in the middle of it, to all appearance quite ready to 

 make its escape, which many of them did. I never found more than one Ichneu- 

 mon in a chrysalis, although I examined a great many of them. I may also mention 

 that I have seen Smerinthus ocellatus in coitu with Smer. Populi in my breeding box, 

 although at the time several of both sexes of the two insects were out. — Robert S. 

 Edlcston ; 13, Derby St., Cheetham, Manchester, January 10, 1842. 



145. Hama connexa. The locality for this insect is Lunn Wood, near Barns- 

 ley, Yorkshire; and the right time of their appearance is about the 12th of August. 

 Xylina scolopacina is captured at the same time also in this wood. — Id. 



146. Miana PidmonaricB, (Hubner). In arranging my moths I of course went 

 through all the specimens I possessed, and among them was a small buff-coloured 

 Noctua which I could not make out. This I sent to Mr. Stephens, and it turns out 

 to be a species unrecorded as British, — the Miana Pulmonariae of Hubner; it seems 

 to me more like an Acosmetia, and I had placed it in the store-box next to arcuosa. 

 I caught it myself among the rushes by the side of the forest, and I believe I saw se- 

 veral others in a worn state. I think it was in 1836 that I took it, but am not quite 

 sure of the year, though I well remember the spot where I caught it. — Henry Double- 

 day ; L'pping, January 22nd, 1842. 



147. I^he Egyptian Sacred Beetle. In travelling over the desert, another animal 

 that particularly called my attention and excited ray admiration, was the Scarabasus 

 or sacred beetle ; these were running about in all directions in the warm sunshine, en- 

 '"■aged in rolling their balls over the desert with such industry, and in so curious a 

 manner, that I cannot refrain, although in the path to the pyramids, from stopping to 

 notice the little animal so famed in Egyptian story, and that formed so conspicuous a 

 part in the symbolic language and the mythology of this ancient people. These little 

 creatures, which are possessed of amazing strength and perseverance, form balls of 



