300 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



those I had barely 40 per cent, reached the final stage. Many died 

 off in the change from the larval to the pupal stage, while some 

 apparently healthy pupae shrivelled up. I have never found the same 

 difficulty with other species of the Vanessae. As a matter of fact, I 

 obtained this year about a score of P. carclui larvae. They all fed up 

 rapidly, and produced 100 per cent, of imagines. — J. S. Carter ; 

 Warren Hill, Eastbourne, September 22nd, 1912. 



Catocala nupta, ab. — On September 13th last a gardener at 

 Uxbridge handed me a specimen of the above with the under wings 

 almost entirely black, the usual red bands being scarcely distinguish- 

 able, a mere trace of very faint pink representing the lower of them. 

 The fore wings, body, and thorax are also darker than usual ; a very 

 fine melanic variety in excellent condition luckily, although it had 

 been put in a match-box. — Francis B. Woodbridge ; The Briars, 

 Gerrards Cross, Bucks. 



Cabiptogramma pluviata and Phryxus livornica at Lewes. 

 — On the 17th inst. I took a nice fresh specimen of this insect near 

 Lewes at rest on a grass-stem. Unfortunately it was a male. On 

 May 27th last one of my brothers had a specimen of P. livornica fly 

 into his house at Lewes about 8.45 p.m., attracted by the light. The 

 capture was noticed at the time in a local paper, but has, I think, not 

 yet appeared in the ' Entomologist. — Hugh J. Vinall ; " Torbay," 

 Park Road, Lewes, September 25th, 1912. 



Deilephila galii : a Correction. — I regret to say I made a 

 mistake in recording the finding of D. galii larvae at Burnham 

 (antea, p. 231). The larvae were those of Phryxus [D.) livornica, and 

 the first imago emerged to-day. The fact of the larvae feeding on 

 bedstraw misled me. — H, Doidge ; The Bank, High Street, Taunton, 

 September 18th, 1912. 



Notes on Agrotis exclamationis, &c. — The larvae of A. exclama- 

 tionis have been very abundant in this neighbourhood during the past 

 month, and have caused considerable damage in kitchen gardens 

 among vegetables. They attack almost everything. I planted a 

 quantity of young lettuces at the beginning of this month, dusting 

 the surface of the ground with quicklime after the plants were put in, 

 but in spite of this in a week there were none left. The larvae — which 

 at this time varied from half-grown to nearly full-fed — attack the 

 plants just on a level with the ground, destroying the crown and 

 causing the leaves to drop off. During the day they hide in the soil 

 about an inch below the surface. I have turned up as many as eight 

 or nine at the roots of a single plant. Carrots, onions, parsnips, kc, 

 have been riddled, and stems of young broccoli, Brussels sprouts, 

 savoys, &c., seriously injured. Tlae larvae that produced the first 

 brood were also rather numerous when the ground was being dug 

 over in the early spring. Local gardeners and labourers call them 

 " leather-jackets," and it is a good name, too, for their skins are 

 remarkably tough, a,s anyone can see who tries to crush them be- 

 tween his finger and thumb. They require to be dealt with with a 

 sharp trowel. I have killed some hundreds lately. There is only 



