NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 127 



Torquay, that I found the larvae in abundance. Here, too, they were 

 confined to the Crepis, though plenty of sow-thistle (Hypocharis) and 

 other Compositae grew close at hand. The larvae when young sit 

 quite exposed by day on the flowers, and as soon as one has once ' got 

 one's eye in' they are extremely easy to see — a green larva sitting 

 stretched across a bright yellow flower. Of course, they are better 

 protected when they sit curled round the calyx, but they are easily 

 beaten off. They are full-fed about the beginning of August, or on 

 till beyond the middle of that month. In confinement they will 

 eat almost any composite flower, including our plebeian dandelion. 

 Unfortunately, a large percentage are ' stung.' " 



The following additional particulars I take from ' Wilson's Larvae ' : 

 Imago of Hecatera senna, June and July ; larvae, July and August ; 

 pupae, September to May. What the caterpillars were which hollowed 

 out the flower-heads of the goat's-beard it is diflicult to say. But the 

 matter will not be lost sight of. Wilson gives only two species of 

 Lepidoptera as feeding on the flowers — Calocampa exoleta, the larvae 

 occurring from April to July, and Amphipyra trayopogonis, larvae in 

 May and June. C. exoleta is not a common insect with us, but, as 

 A. trayopoyonis certainly is, the larvae were probably the latter species. — 

 J. Aekle ; Chester. 



Moths carried off Sugar by Sand-hoppers (Talitrus locusta). — 

 At one time I used to sugar posts and pieces of drift-wood on the 

 coast just above high- water mark for Ayrotis ripa;, &c., but the patches 

 of sugar were usually so densely covered with sand-hoppers there was 

 scarcely any room left for moths, so I had to give it up and retire to 

 where the posts and palings were further removed from the beach. 

 On several occasions I have seen A. ripce, being carried off by one of 

 these creatures, and once I rescued a very fine variety, which was 

 quite uninjured, and making no attempt to escape from its captor. — 

 Gervase F. Mathew ; Dovercourt, March 14th, 1901. 



Rhizobius jujube. — A supposed aphid is described under this 

 name by Mr. G. B. Buckton in 'Indian Museum Notes,' 1899, p. 277, 

 pi. xvii. It there appears as a new species, though I find Rhizobius 

 jujubcB, Buckton, with a diagnosis, in Mon. Brit. Aphides, vol. iv. 

 (1888), p. 181. The insect is found in India on the roots of Zizyphus 

 jujuba, and is, to all appearances, judging from the description and 

 figure, a coccid. It does not seem exactly to fit in any known genus, 

 so it seems desirable to call attention to it, in order that those who 

 have the opportunity may be led to determine its true afliuities." — 

 T. D. A. Cockerell; Jan. 16th, 1901. 



Melit^a athalia in Devon. — While taking M. atlmlia in Devon- 

 shire on June 13th, 1897, I captured a specimen of the var. navarina, 

 very similar to that figured on p. 46 of Newman's Brit. Butt, (the 

 first of his three lower figures), but with the orange spots on the 



'■' It may be worth while to remark, that the name Bhizobius, Burm., 

 for an aphid, conflicts with Rhizobius, Stepb., apphed to a coccinellid beetle. 

 Tbe latter was originally published as Bhyzobius, it appears, in 1835, the 

 same year that saw the publication of the aphid sienus. I have no means of 

 ascertaining which has priority. — T. D. A. C. 



