262 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. • 



Curious Accident to Sphingid Larwe. — Two larva? of Charo- 

 campa tJtei/lia were brought to me on July 22ud, 1919. I put them 

 in a tobacco tin with some of the food-plant, and put the rest of tlio 

 food-plant in a biscuit tin to keep it fresli. I forgot at the time that 

 in the biscuit tin was some sawdust mixed with napthaline, which I 

 had prepared for preserving beetles. On taking some of the food- 

 plant out of the tin I noticed that it had become blackened, and then 

 remembered the naphthaline. Being unable to procure any more of 

 the food-plant I picked out the freshest bits and put them in the tin 

 with the larvae at about 7 p.m. At about 1 a.m. next morning I 

 returned from a dance, and found the two larvse apparently lifeless. 

 I put them into an ordinary breeding-cage, and on examining them 

 next morning one of them show^ed signs of life, the other was appa- 

 rently dead. At about 1 p.m. the first larva had climl^ed on to the side 

 of the box, and the other showed signs of life. That evening I 

 managed to get some more of the food-plant, and on giving it to 

 them they both started feeding. I may add that they both turned to 

 pupte and later perfect moths hatched out.- — F. B. Scott, Capt. I. A. ; 

 Shillong, Assam, Angust 29th, 1919. 



Note on St.\uropus fagi and Smerinthus ocellatus. — Eecently 

 when keeping larvae of Stauropus fagi and Smerinthus ocellatus in 

 the same cage I found that fagi had left the beech and was feeding 

 on sallow, although it eventually returned to beech again. But what 

 was more remarkable was the fact that I \N&i,ched ocellatus feeding on 

 beech. Perhaps the fact that the latter was ichneumoned accounted 

 for its depraved taste. — Arthur Bliss ; Heathercroft, Old Lodge 

 Lane, Parley, Surrey. 



Agriades corydon in the New Forest. — Mr. Lucas's note on 

 capturing A. corydon in the New Forest reminds me that I captured 

 an odd specimen while collecting second-brood imagines of argiolus 

 on August 8th. It was flying rather wildly in a ride on the Brocken- 

 hurst-Beaulieu road. I took specimens of the second brood of A. 

 hellargus this year as late as September 20th near Salisbury. They 

 were in good condition. — C. Mellows ; Bishop's Stortford College. 



Agrotis simulans in Oxfordshire. — On June 14th, while netting 

 in our garden, I took a very fine specimen of Agrotis simulans (pyro- 

 phila). Has this insect been reported from Oxfordshire before, and 

 is this not rather an early appearance ? — Morris Bourne ; The 

 Crossways, Shillingford (Oxon.), Wallingford. 



Pararge meg1:ra, and Vespa crabro in Essex. — Referring to 

 Mr. Lucas's remarks on these species in the New Forest (pp. 237-8), 

 I should like to record that the former was very common in the 

 Chignal district on August 23rd last, whilst the latter, which is 

 generally common, was not so common as usual, I understand. — C. 

 Nicholson ; Hale End, Chingford. 



Vespa crabro. — A flourishing colony of Vespa crabro took up 

 their residence in July this year in an outhouse next my garden and 

 soon made themselves a terror to the local bee-hives. Eecalling 

 Virgil's familiar lines to a bee-keeper, " Aut asper crabro imparibus 

 se immiscuit arm is," it was an interesting sight to watch the 



