ANTLER MOTH. 21 



take a few. Cuckoos also feed upon them, and I have found the 

 stomachs of Snow Buntings shot on the hills at midwinter filled with 

 these grubs." — (R. S.). 



In the above notes it will be seen that the Antler Moths were 

 observed in extraordinary numbers in the autumn of 1893, preceding 

 the (also) extraordinary amount of grubs which appeared in the past 

 season of 1894, a coincidence which I believe is not often recorded. It 

 may be remarked in passing that the Ken is a river in the shire or 

 stewartry of Kirkcudbright, N.B., and Carsphairn a district in the 

 northern part of the same county. 



In a further communication sent me by Mr. Robert Service, on 

 the 17th of August, he remarked, relatively to the local name of the 

 caterpillars, " tbat the larvae of the C. (/raminis have been known here 

 from time immemorial, — or at least since the beginning of the century, 

 when sheep were substituted on the uplands for black cattle, — as the 

 ' hill-grubs.' They are easily and quite correctly distinguished by 

 the shepherds, in their ravages, from the ' Jenny-spinner ' {Tqntla 

 oleracea), which sometimes devastate the pastures." After some 

 remarks, which I have quoted at p. 19, on a disease affecting the 

 caterpillars whereby they were turned almost into fluid, Mr. Service 

 continued: — " So far as I noted this disease did not affect those at 

 large, but bird-foes, thunder-rains, and other causes killed the wild 

 larvae off in vast myriads." 



" The moths are out now" (Aug. 17th, Ed.) " in fearful abundance, 

 and will continue, I expect, for another couple of months." ..." I 

 did not notice any Threadworms amongst my larvae, and only one 

 or two Tachinid pupfc were seen. The flies duly hatched, and to 

 my great disappointment escaped when I opened the glass rather 

 incautiously. They looked like small specimens of Echinomyia 



* The Tachinids are a division of Diptera, or two-winged flies, of which the 

 larvae or maggots are i^arasitic in other insects, and those of the genus Echinomyia 

 especially infest caterpillars. They are noted by Macquart (' Histoire des Dipteres,' 

 vol. ii. p. 71) as remarkable amongst the Tachinids for the size and thickness of 

 their bodies ; and the E. grossa is especially noticed by Schiner ('Fauna Austriaca,' 

 vol. i. p. 425, for its size and beauty. The main colours are shining black with 

 some yellow; the dimensions given by Walker (' InsectaBritannica,' Diptera, vol. ii. 

 p. 19) are 8 lines in length and 18 lines in spread of the wings. 



The larvte or grubs of the Tachinids are described by Dr. F. Brauer as thick, 

 cylindrical, flattened at the under surface, with the segments furnished with 

 distinct transverse swellings, which are either naked or girdled with fine short 

 teeth or prickles, &c. They appear to have no head, but have two spiracles on the 

 hinder end, &c. The above is from the third part (published in 1883) of Dr. 

 Brauer's Diptera of the Eoyal Museum of Vienna ; and I am greatly indebted to 

 the kindness of Mr. E. H. Meade, of Bradford, in letting me have this extract, as 

 I had not the ojjportunity myself of referring to the above. — Ed. 



