234 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



four feet above the surface of the water, thus, in a measure, 

 departing from the usual habit of the species, whose lowly 

 flight has more than once been adverted to in these pages. 

 With regard to the question asked by my friend Mr. J. P. 

 Barrett, viz , " How long will Niveus survive away from its 

 native pond?" (Entom. vi. 199), I may say that my limited 

 experience points to the fact that they soon die when placed 

 in a pill-box, but some specimens live comparatively much 

 longer than others in such a situation. It is a species which 

 seems to have abundance of enemies of various kinds, as 

 their torn and defunct bodies, so often seen floating about on 

 the surface of the water, testify; but the cause is, doubtless, 

 traceable to the habit of the species hiding amongst the 

 herbage at the water's edge during the day-time : thus they 

 become an easy prey to spiders and other predatory crea- 

 tures. I have seen a small reddish ground-beetle — Calathus 

 mollis or C. melanocephalus, I believe — preying upon them 

 more than once ; and some specimens of Niveus I have seen 

 completely covered with exceedingly small, leech-like crea- 

 tures, whose tenacious hold must have been anything but 

 pleasant to the poor little insect. — G. B. Corhin. 



Where are t/ie Lepidoplera ? — Whilst our ornithological 

 brethren in various quarters are — or were — crying, "Where 

 are the swallows ?" we may with equal reason enquire after 

 the insects of difi'erent orders which constitute tiie food of 

 the birds, for surely there has been an equal scarcity of both. 

 1 never experienced a worse season for "Lepidoptera ; for 

 even the species which hitherto have been abundant were 

 scarce, or altogether unrepresented this season. " Sugar" has 

 been a total failure ; and both diurnal and nocturnal Lepi- 

 doptera have alike experienced some serious drawback or 

 partial annihilation. Some evenings in "leafy June" I 

 rambled miles, net in hand, without seeing a single specimen 

 of any moth, large or small. What could have been the 

 cause? Was it the cold, damp spring and early summer; 

 and did its eff"ects retard or destroy the "game" we sought 

 after ? Under either circumstance, what are our prospects for 

 next season ? The latter part of the summer appeared to be 

 favourable, as far as heat, and fine, bright weather were 

 concerned ; still the state of things remained almost un- 

 changed, and the scarcity of Lepidoptera seemed to be 



