THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 233 



been taken this year from holly ; yet I have invariably found 

 that they will leave any other food for the privet, when it is 

 placed near them. — SlepJien Clogg ; Looe, September 9, 1872. 



Tlie Smerinlhi Double-brooded (Entora. vi. 190). — It is not 

 a very rare occurrence for a second brood — or at least a 

 portion of a second brood — of the above genus to appear in 

 conjinement, if the weatlier proves favourable to their deve- 

 lopment. On more than one occasion I have reared S. Populi 

 and occasionally, though much more rarely, S. ocellatus, in 

 the autumn, from eggs laid in May or June; and a few- 

 seasons ago I caught a specimen of S. Populi at large, in 

 August. I never obtained a second brood of S. Tiliae ; and 

 my experience points to the fact that the specimens of 

 S. Populi bred in the autumn are inferior in size to their 

 spring relations, a fact, indeed, which is well known with 

 other species whose double-broodedness is unquestionable. 

 I have observed, too, that in the case of S. Populi a small 

 proportion of the pupae produce moths in the autumn, whilst 

 the rest stand over till the following spring; and I suspect 

 that the emergence of specimens out of doors is of rare 

 occurrence in the autumn : I have known but of tlie solitary 

 instance mentioned above. During a very warm season 

 many species, which are usually slow in their development, 

 pass through their metamorphoses with comparative rapidity : 

 for instance, in 1868 I caught two females of A. fuliginosa on 

 the 10th and 15th of May respectively; both deposited eggs, 

 which duly hatched ; but several of the larvae from the first 

 brood outstripped their fellows in growth so much, that ten 

 of them produced moths between the 8th and 1 3th of the 

 following July, whilst the majority of their brethren were 

 busily feeding, and about half-grown. The past summer 

 has undoubtedly had a very peculiar effect upon the deve- 

 lopment of many insects; and, instead of increasing the 

 broods, seems to have retarded or destroyed a large propor- 

 tion. — G. B. Corbin ; Ringwood. 



Atropus niveus. — This peculiar little insect has again 

 occurred in the locality where 1 met with it last season, and 

 1 have seen specimens from the beginning of June till the end 

 of August; but, compared with last season's abundance, the 

 species has been scarce this. One evening in August I 

 caught two specimens flying rather rapidly, about three or 



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