52 ' THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
these difficulties. The case-bearing larve (Psychide, Coleophore, 
&e.) appear to be special favourites of these parasites. The 
obscure appearance of the majority of the small Pezomachi, both 
male and female, renders close observation necessary to detect 
them when they have been bred; I have no doubt many escape 
without having been noticed at all, especially the females, which 
look like small ants. The best way to secure them would be to 
remove the cases, after the larve have finished feeding, into glass- 
topped boxes or corked bottles. I shall be very thankful for 
any specimens that may be sent to me, and should like to have 
them as soon after death as possible; if packed in a small piece 
of paper damped with water, to which a trace of carbolic acid has 
been added, they would reach me in a condition which would 
enable me to set them carefully, without which they are almost 
useless. 
69, St. Giles’s Street, Norwich, Feb. 1883. 
REMARKS UPON CAUSES OF SCARCITY OF LEPIDOPTERA. 
By W. Francis DE V. Kane. 
I wap hoped that ere this some entomologist of note 
would have offered some explanation of the phenomenal scarcity 
recorded from all quarters during the past season. 
The following suggestions, however, are thrown out to invite 
comment. 
My experience in several parts of Ireland, and that of corre- 
spondents (notably Mr. Russ, of Sligo, who has obliged me by 
very full notes of his captures in that neighbourhood), harmonises 
remarkably with that of most English collectors. When it is 
remembered that the preceding summer of 1881 was rather more 
genial and sunny than usual here, and the harvest abundant, 
while in England the reverse was the case, it is evident that the 
general failure cannot be accounted for by the absence of 
sunshine at that period. 
The open winter of 1881-82 was, however, common to the 
whole of the United Kingdom, and doubtless slugs, centipedes, 
beetles, and birds wreak more havoc in mild winters on exposed 
and unprotected pup, while frost is innocuous to them. How- 
ever, there are parts of Great Britain, such as the Isle of Man, 
