186 THE entomologist's record. 



OLEOPTERA. 



Trap for coleoptera. — In the Ent. Record for 1901, p. 330, I 

 mention a trap in which I took a dozen specimens of Villeins dilatatus. 

 I told all my friends at the time what it consisted of, but for the 

 benefit of other coleopterists who may not have heard of it, I now 

 describe it. The trap is quite simple, it consisted of an ordinary jam- 

 pot buried up to its neck in the ground at the foot of a tree, in which 

 there was a hornet's nest. The jam-pot was charged with a small 

 quantity of ordinary sugaring mixture, which was frequently renewed. 

 The beetles were attracted by this, fell into the jar, and were, of course, 

 unable to get out. [As I am still often asked how I get the beetles 

 out of ants' nests, I refer coleopterists to my notes on collecting the 

 myrmecophilous coleoptera in the Ent. Mo. Mag., 1896, p. 44, where 

 I described the best way to collect such species.] — Horace Donisthorpe. 

 May 20th, 1906. 



Setting beetles killed with ether. — Coleopterists should be very 

 grateful to Mr. Chitty for publishing his method of setting difficult 

 beetles like Throscus, etc., by killing with ether (see Ent. Record, antea, 

 p. 134). I have tried it with Throsctis and Aniphotis, and also with 

 small ants, Chalcidae, etc., and find it works most beautifully, the 

 insects can be set at once without any trouble, moreover, it is a nice, 

 clean, easy method of dealing with them.— Ibid. 



:]^EMIPTERA. 



A specimen of CiCADETTA MONTANA WANTED BY AN AUSTRALIAN 



ENTOMOLOGIST. — My nephcw, Mr. Howard Ashton, now living in 

 Sydney, is at work on the Cicadas. He is most anxious to obtain a 

 specimen of the New Forest Cicada, Cicadetta montana, and would be 

 glad to send in exchange a long series of Australian lepidoptera, or 

 other insects. If any British entomologist can obtain for me a speci- 

 men of the same I shall be greatly obliged. — (Miss) Alice M. Pugh, 

 42, Osbaldeston Koad, Stoke Newington, N. 



:ig^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Hybernating STAGE OF Argynnis niobe. — In the Ent. Record of 

 April last, Mr. Gillmer asks whether Argynnis niobe hybernates in the 

 egg or larval state. A female caged at the Eifi^el Alp, at the end of 

 last July, laid a few ova before she escaped. I found three of them 

 hatching on February 21st last, in a sunny but unheated greenhouse, 

 and I placed them on a plant of violet the same day. On April 19th 

 I could only find one living (but the plant is a leafy one, and there 

 may be others). It seemed healthy, and apparently had moulted twice. 

 I have this larva, and several of A. elisa, hatched on February 19th, 

 before me, as I write. — W. H. St. Quintin, F.E.S., 44, Cadogan 

 Square, London, S.W. May 18th, 1906. 



The foodplant of Melit^a maturna. — I am grateful to Mr. 

 Gillmer for his kind reply in answer to my enquiry as to the foodplant 

 of this species. I ought to have stated that my attempts were made 

 with the var. wolfensbergeri. My larvae refused the leaves of Eraxinus, 

 but, of course, this tree is absent at the height at which the ova were 

 obtained in the Engadine, above 6000ft., nor could I get them to touch 



