456 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



then to be by no means freshly out; whilst last year I caught 

 one as early as May 21st. — JV. A. Forbes; Ciilverlea, Win- 

 chester, July 14, 1873. 



Phytometra cenea. — On the 21st of May I caught a speci- 

 men of P. aenea, which seems to show, as suggested by your 

 correspondent Mr. Poulton, that it is double-brooded. — Id. 



Anticlea sinuata. — I have again taken A. sinuata this year, 

 within a few yards of where I secured one last: a fine speci- 

 men, caught last Thursday (July lOlh). — Id. 



Yelloiv variety of ZygcBna FilipenduIcB. — The yellow 

 variety of Z. Filipendulse is again beginning to appear in 

 some abundance. Can any of your readers tell me whether 

 this variety has been noticed elsewhere in England ? — fd. 



[I shall be greatly obliged for this insect. Mr. Forbes 

 kindly gave me two some years back, but they were, unfor- 

 tunately, too much injured in transit to represent the variety 

 efficiently. — Edward Newman.] 



The Waxy Exudation of Homoptera. — An exudation, 

 corresponding to that which is characteristic of Aphis Fagi, 

 is common to all the several thousand species of Homopterous 

 insects, and appears more or less, and in various forms, 

 throughout the tribes, from the singing Cicada to the 

 stationary Coccus, and often serves as a defence. In Cicada 

 it is slight and powdery ; in some of the tribe, of which the 

 lantern-flies are the most conspicuous representatives, it is 

 excessive, and forms waxy filaments which surpass the body 

 in length. It hardly appears as an emanation from the frog- 

 hoppers ; but in the next family, or Psyllidae, it may be often 

 witnessed in gardens by the multitude of white flecks which 

 proceed from Psylla Buxi on the box-trees, and fall in 

 showers when the branches are shaken. Next come the 

 Aphides, of which the types are distinguished by two pipes, 

 whence the streams of honey flow. The beech Aphis, or 

 A. Fagi, is less typical and less multiplying than many others, 

 and is more sheltered than them from the oviposition of Aphi- 

 dius by the fleecy or gummy substance which it emits. The 

 American blight, which belongs to this family, is defended by 

 the abundance of its cottony covering. The wax-insect, or 

 Coccus of China, has been mentioned in several books, and a 

 Coccus in Arabia produces a substance which is called manna, 

 and is supposed by some persons to be identical with the 

 manna in the wilderness. — Francis Walker. 



