THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 61 



opening they issue from, and the accommodation on the 

 branch they are travelling over. This point could easily be 

 settled by observers. — J. R. S. Clifford. 



Noclurnal Spider. — Will you tell me the name of this 

 large spider ? It has never before been found or noticed in 

 the neighbourhood of Lichfield. Is it not unusual for garden 

 spiders of any kind to be seen in the winter? — T. Williams. 



Not trusting to my own limited knowledge of Arachnology, 

 I sent this specimen to the Rev. 0. Pickard Cambridge, who 

 kindly and immediately returned its name — Epeira umbra- 

 tica. I have long been familiar vvilh this spider in my own 

 garden : it is nocturnal, and a geometrician, readily distin- 

 guished from E. diadema by its depressed body, and by the 

 presence of two conspicuous white spots on the under side of 

 the body. I never recollect seeing one in winter; they seem 

 to disappear, after depositing their bundle of eggs, in the 

 autumn. 



Caterpillars in Belgium. — A valued correspondent (Mr. 

 William Johnson, of Liverpool) has recently paid a visit to 

 Belgium, and, as his observations throw some light on the 

 subject referred to under the above title in your February 

 number (p. 13), with his permission I make the following 

 extract from his letter: — "The decree you mention refers 

 principally to the eggs and larvae of Lepidoptera ; the 

 quantity 1 saw of these, during my visit to Belgium at the 

 end of September, was really astonishing. My brother has a 

 garden a few miles from Antwerp, and, knowing that I was 

 interested in Entomology, he asked me the best means of 

 destroying caterpillars, as he had a large cherry-tree, all the 

 leaves of which had been eaten off, and consequently there 

 had been no fruit. I counted no less than fifteen batches of 

 the eggs of Liparis dispar on the trunk of this tree; and 

 after filling a large pill-box with them, I got a stone and 

 crushed the rest. My brother had no idea that the woolly 

 masses contained the germs of the destroyers of his cherries. 

 1 went by train from Antwerp to Brussels en route to 

 Waterloo, and was particularly struck with the appearance of 

 the small oak-trees everywhere along the line : the top 

 branches of the trees had the appearance of bearing branches 

 of white blossoms, but, on inspection, these proved to be 

 large while webs enclosing numberless small caterpillars just 



