138 THE entomologist's record. 



®^OLEOPTERA. 



Parnus nitidulus at Chippenham. — On a visit to Chippenham Fen 

 in August last, with my friend Mr, Donisthorpe, I was fortunate 

 enough to take a specimen of this rare beetle ; it was in company with 

 P. auriculatiis ; the red legs at once distinguish it from the other species. 

 As far as I am aware, the only record for very many years was one 

 made by Mr. Donisthorpe, in 1898, from the same locality, and I was 

 present when he took his specimen. — Frank Bouskell, F.E.S., 

 F.R.H.S., Market Bosworth. 



jei^CIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Breeding Sphinx cona^olvuli.- — It has been suggested to me by 

 Mr. Tutt that the following details as to breeding SpJdnx concolculi 

 would be interesting to British lepidopterists. From August 14th-16th, 

 1894, I found four larvfe of this species, from August 12th-14th, 1895, 

 two larvas, and on August 16th, 1897, one larva, at Dover, at the back 

 of the prison. Two were brown in colour and were preserved, the others 

 were greenish-brown in tint and worked out as follows : 



1894. Larva taken August 14th, pupated August 20th, emerged October 7th. 

 Larvae (2) taken August 15th, one pupated August 17 th, emerged October 



5th (the other preserved). 

 Larva taken August 16th, pupated August 19th, emerged October 10th. 



1895. Larvffi (2) taken August 12th, one pupated August 13th, emerged Sep- 



tember 30th (the other preserved). 

 Larva taken August 14th, pupated August IGth, emerged October 9th. 

 1897. Larva taken August 16th, pupated August 24th, pupa died. 



The locality is now all dug away for the new harbour works. They 

 were bred indoors in a living-room, fed on dwarf convolvulus, two of the 

 larvae were somewhat small when taken, but grew very rapidly in a 

 week, after the habit of S. li(/nstri, when in its last stadium. — C. P. 

 Pickett, The Ravenscrofts, Columbia Road, Hackney Road, London, 

 N.E. April 29th, 1900. 



Thyreosthenius biovatus in nests of Formica rufa. — An adult 

 female of this minute spider was kindly sent to me recently, by Mr. 

 Horace Donisthorpe, by whom it was found in the nest of Formica 

 rufa in Guestling Wood near Hastings, while searching for other 

 dwellers in ants' nests. It has long been known to domicile with F. 

 rufa, and has been recorded from France, Germany and Holland, but 

 Mr. Donisthorpe's capture is the first record of it in Great Britain. 

 The following synonymy and notes may be interesting : 



Thyreosthenius biovatus, Camb. =i>;'()fOHe hiovata, Camb., "Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond.," 1875, p. 215, pi. xxix., fig. 22 (from near Eouen, France) = Peponocranium 

 biovatnm, Camb.-Shn., " Araneides de France," tom. v., p. 186 (188i) = Thijreos- 

 thenius biovatus, Camb. -Sim., I.e., p. 876 =lValckenaera hiovata, Camb. Van 

 Hasselt, " Catalogus Aranearum in Hollandia inventarum," Supplementum ii. 

 "Overgedrukt nit deel. vanhet Tijdschr. v. Entomologie," pp. 8, 29, 32, 1890, and 

 supplementum iii.. I.e. xli., 1898, p. 27. 



— (Rev.) 0. P. Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S., Bloxworth, Dorset. April 

 Mth, 1900. 



Composite cocoons and emergence of Lachneis lanestris. — 

 Referring to my notes on the habits of the larvae of this species {ante., 

 vol. xi., pp. 28-34), I am now able to give particulars relative to recent 

 emergences of imagines. I find that I inadvertently misstated the 

 number of the larvae comprising the nest, it should have been 200. I 

 placed the cocoons on moss and kept them in an unheated well-aired 



