CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 167 



it ou the hot water-pipes of a small greenhouse, which are kept hot 

 day and night. In the box I placed a thi tray full of moss so as to 

 retain water and so keep the moss always damp ; on top of the moss 

 reposes a smaller wooden box, in which are the pups on silver-sand, 

 some with cocoons and some without, and covered over with gauze ; 

 finally, the outer box is covered by sheets of glass. The total result 

 of all this is that the pupte, without touching any damp substance 

 themselves, are kept in a moist atmosphere of about eighty degrees F. 

 This treatment I do not begin before January 1st, as I think the pupa3 

 do not respond before the turn of the year. In some cases the result 

 of it is startling. Thus Citcullia verbasci, Hachna psi, Hylophila 

 prasinana, and a few others, come bolting out of their cocoons within 

 a few days of the warmth being applied. Cidaria picata takes about a 

 month ; C. asteris and Spilodes palealis have only just begun to show 

 up after nearly five months' treatment — i. e. at nearly the time they 

 would be due naturally ; and some, which ought to have been out very 

 early, notably Endromis versicolor and Nyssia lapponaria, have not put 

 in an appearance at all, but I fear are dead. Is it then possible that 

 the above described arrangement is, in some cases, simply an apparatus 

 for the extensive slaughtering of pupa3 ? And if so, can anyone say 

 what class of pupae should not be placed in it ? I should be particu- 

 larly grateful for information as to .V. lapponaria, and the best way of 

 carrying them through the winter. Being a northern insect, perhaps 

 some exposure to frost would be good for them, followed by a turn in 

 the hot-water machine. It seems to me that a ventilation of ideas on 

 these subjects would be of use to collectors at least (I do not say 

 entomologists !), the object in view being of course to get one's bred 

 insects safely out of the way before the rush of summer collecting 

 begins. In any case opmions as to the best way of keeping pupae 

 through the winter cannot fail to be interesting and instructive. — 

 W. Claxton ; Navestock Vicarage, Romford. 



CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 



Clytus arcuatus, L., in North London. — A specimen of this 

 beetle, very rare so far as this country is concerned, was sent to me 

 last year for identification by Mr. J. 0. Braithwaite, of Chingford, 

 Essex. It was captured by the warehouseman in Messrs. Bush & Co.'s 

 Stores in Ash Grove, Hackney. On my writing for further particulars, 

 the sender wrote : — '• At that time we were having a lot of raspberries 

 up from Welling, in Kent. It was in July, 1903. The man saw this 

 beetle, and thought it was a kind of wasp, and stuck his pen into it 

 before bringing it to me. We had had a recent consignment of 

 chemicals from Germany, It may be that the ' fly ' was imported in 

 them, but I am more inclined to think he came with the raspberries." 

 J. W. Williams ; 128, Mansfield Road, Haverstock Hill, N.W. 



Butterflies at Culliford Tree, Dorset. — It has occurred to me 

 that, although a very large number of entomologists find their way 

 annually to Weymouth, mainly for the purpose of being near Lulworth 



