60 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Rhodocera Rliamni in Cnmherlatid. — Seeing in your 

 * British Butterflies' that you have no first-hand record of 

 Rhodocera Rharani from Cumberland, I thought it might 

 interest you to hear it was rather common in the neighbour- 

 hoad of Keswick hist autumn : it is occasionally found there, 

 but is not often common. — W. C. Marshall; Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, March \, 1872. 



Bombyx processionea. — I think entomologists are wrong 

 in saying that Bombyx processionea seldom travels in single 

 file. I can meet with no one of the annual visitors here who 

 has ever seen them march in any other way. Since I wrote 

 you last I have noticed this variation in their style of walk- 

 ing — that when the fore part of the procession halts for any 

 length of time the rear become impatient, and start in a 

 second single file ; and when again they all move it is in 

 double column. I rarely see one by itself; even if only two 

 are out of the nest, these two march one immediately behind 

 the other. Their appetites are enormous ; they commence 

 eating — or, I should rather say, tearing — their food in this 

 way, — one caterpillar to each needle of the fir, beginning at 

 the tip and eating towards the branch, leaving only a short 

 stump and just a thin edge of the needle. 1 enclose you one 

 that has been finished in this manner. They eat from side to 

 side of the needle. — G. H. Hey wood ; Hotel des Anglais, 

 Menton, France, March 4, 1872. 



^'•Processions'''' of the Processionist [Cnethocampa proces- 

 sionea). — As the Editor of the 'Entomologist' promises some 

 further contributions to the life-history of the species, there 

 is, I would suggest, n. alter of interest not fully elucidated, 

 with reference not only to the irritating properties of the 

 larvae, but also their mode of marching. 1 have a strong 

 suspicion myself that the very ingenious representations given 

 us by certain artists are partly imaginary. A favourite 

 delineation of this processional order is to exhibit first of all 

 some half dozen marching in Indian file ; then two or three 

 pairs; then threes and iburs; gradually increasing to a rank 

 of a dozen or so. Now, is this really the case ; do they not 

 proceed rather in a manner somewhat similar to our own 

 "lackeys" (Bombyx neustria) and other nest-makers.'' A few 

 may precede the army as pioneers, and then the rest follow 

 on, four, five, or six abreast, according to the width of the 



