MAY. 97 



There is a very striking resemblance between the Compton 

 tortoise and its congeners the Tortoiseshells of England, 

 both in colours and distribution of the tints^, and the simila- 

 rity is equally striking in both the upper and under surfaces, 

 though these differ so much from each other. The Camber- 

 well beauty, a rarity in England, is here extremely common, 

 chiefly in autumn, and is one of the latest seen of all our 

 butterflies. The first you named is a pretty fly ; the under 

 surface of the wings is very beautifully and richly variegat- 

 ed. The genus Grapta is not, I believe, generally adopted ; 

 but it seems as natural a genus as almost any other of 

 the Nymphalidce. I have found four species in this place, 

 and one in the south, all of which can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from each other on the upper side, but vary greatly 

 beneath. They are all marked by a silver crescent in the 

 centre of the hinder wings, on the under surface : the Comp- 

 ton tortoise resembles them in this particular, but this is a 

 true Vaiiessa. 



C. — I have two new moths added to my collection, both 

 of them of small size. One is a very pretty Tinea, taken 

 about ten days ago ; the other I caught last evening, a small 

 but handsome Geometra. The cocoons of the Muff Moth 

 (Lophocampa Tesselaris) and Panther Moth ( Spilosoma 

 AcriaJ, may both be found under stones or boards, lying 

 on the ground. A pretty little bug, about as broad as it is 

 long, of a polished black, with a white margin ( Cydnus 

 ?J, crawls about. Ichneumons and Musccb are nu- 

 merous. 



F. — I have noticed, buzzing about the dead leaves which 

 lie under the maples, a large Musca that I have not seen 

 before ; the abdomen changeable blackish -grey, the head light 

 brown, with dark brown eyes, and rather long antennse. It 

 is numerous. 



C, — Among those same leaves, if we disturb them, we 



F 



