Insects. 7569 



of Heracleum spliondylium. Tlie perfect insect appears in June and 



July. 



H. Harpdr Crewe. 



Rectory, Drayton Beauchamp, 

 nearTring, May 6, 1861. 



Capture of Notodonta carmelila near Cockermnuth. — My brother, I. S. Mawson, 

 in the month of April last, captured near Keswick eight splendid specimens of Noto- 

 donta Carmelita. Three specimens are in the cabinets of Messrs. Tiltman and Nichol- 

 son, of Whitehaven, one in the cabinet of Mr. John Walker, of Cockermouth, the rest 

 grace my own cabinet. He has also taken near the same place Ceropacha ridens 

 dark variety, (1), C. flavicornis (2), Biston prodromaria (5), and several Acasis viretaria. 

 I have sent this note thinking that the above captures, especially those of N. Carmelita, 

 might be worth recording in the ' Zoologist,' as I believe it is now some years since that 

 insect has been taken in the same locality, and never before in so large a number by 

 one person near here. — George Mawson ; Gill House, Cockermouth, May 20, 1861. 



Description of the Larva of Tripkana fimbria. — Rolls in a ring when touched, 

 . feigning death and falling oflFits food-plant. Smooth, cylindrical, gradually diminishing 

 in size from the I2lh segment towards the head, which is remarkably small for the 

 size of the larva. Head shining, clay-brown, mottled and reticulated with darker 

 brown : body clay-brown, mottled, velvety ; the 2ud segment has three narrow longi- 

 tudinal pale lines ; on each side of each segment there is an indistinct oblique pale 

 stripe ; along the back are a median series of obscure darker marks, seated in the 

 interstices of the segments ; spiracles pale, each seated in a dark brown mark ; on the 

 12th segment a pale and a dark transverse mark ; belly, legs and claspers paler than the 

 back. The egg of this beautiful molh is laid on Betula alba (birch) and Salix caprsea 

 (sallow) and several other trees early in the autumn, and the young larva remains on 

 the tree until the approach of winter, when it descends to the ground and hybernates. 

 In the spring it ascends the trunk every night as soon as it is dark, and devours the 

 newly expanded leaves, then very small, again retiring to the ground before the approach 

 of daylight. It is generally full fed before the middle of May, when it finally changes 

 to a pupa on the surface of the ground. When full fed it is very conspicuous on the 

 almost naked twigs of the birch, and is readily procured by collectors who seek it by 

 lamp-light. I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Huckett for this and the two following 

 larvae. — Edward Newman. 



Description of the Larva of Agrotis agathina. — Does not roll itself in a ring when 

 touched, but falls off its food, and, bending its body slightly at both extremities, remains 

 motionless a short time, feigniug death. In form almost uniformly cylindrical, but 

 slightly decreasing in size at either end, smooth and velvety: the head rather small 

 and very shining pale dull green or dull brown, with two obscure longitudinal darker 

 markings : body of diflferent ground colour in diflferent individuals, the prevailing hues 

 green and brown, in all instances adorned with five longitudinal white stripes, all of 

 which are more or less interrupted by folds in the skin, espncially at the interstices of 

 the segments; three of these are brighter and more distinct than the remaining two, 

 and may be called dorsal, the remaining iwo are lateral, and are tinged more or less 

 with the ground colour of the body : the median stripe is found, on close examination, 



VOL. XIX. 2 N 



