1888.] 93 



Non-development of a wing in Melitma. — A few days ago I captured, in this 

 locality, a specimen of Melitcea minuta, Edw., which had the normal appearance except 

 in one respect — that the right lower-wing had failed to expand more than to a vey 

 slight degree, and presented just such an appearance as the wing of a ? Orgyia antiqua. 

 There can be no doubt that this malformation was due to an abnormal coalescence of 

 the walls of the veins of the wings, and their occlusion in consequence — adding 

 another case to the many already known in which what is quite abnormal and patho- 

 logical in one species is normal in another ; for the so-called apterous females of 

 certain moths may well be supposed to have descended from winged forms, and to 

 be, in fact, perpetuations of a condition which was once as truly pathological in them 

 as it is now in Melitcea. The extraordinary variety of Ocneria dispar, which has the 

 lower-wings notched, and breeds true in captivity,* is probably of like nature, and 

 further illustrates this phenomenon. — Id. : July 11th, 1888. 



Migratory swarm of Libellula quadrimaculata off the Essex coast.— The 

 following came this morning from the master of the " Swin Middle " light vessel, off 

 the Essex Coast. You will, perhaps, like to take note of it. — John Cordeaitx, Great 

 Cotes, Ulceby : July 26th, 1888 :— 



" I do not know whether these insects will be of any interest to you, but, being 

 strangers to me, I take the liberty of sending them. On June 23rd, from 6 to 8 p.m., 

 a flock of them came on board and rested on the ropes, and even on the cable the 

 vessel was moored with from the bows down close to the water's edge. The wind 

 was E. by S., and the weather fine and clear, and I told the man on watch to catch 

 a few, which I forward. I never saw anything like it before. — S. Pendek, 21, 

 Abbott Eoad, Poplar, E. : July 24th, 1888." 



[The insects are Libellula quadrimaculata in both sexes. Enormous migratory 

 swarms have many times been remarked on the continent. The species is no rarity 

 here, but somewhat local, and I think this is the first record of a migratory swarm 

 in this country. The " Swin " is not far from Shoeburyness, and therefore practically 

 at the mouth of the Thames. According to the direction of the wind they, in all 

 probability, came from Holland, and contrived to arrive just before nightfall. — 

 E. McLachlan.] 



Molanna palpata, McL., in Ireland. — This Trichopteron occurs in considerable 

 numbers along the Shannon near here. It is the first time I have taken it near a 

 river, although I have captured the species at many localities in Scotland, where, 

 according to my experience, it is always attached to boggy lakes. — James J. E. X. 

 King, 6, Garden Yale Terrace, Athlone : August 16th, 1888. 



Note on Orthotrichia angustella and its case. — In Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xxiii, 

 p. 202, a minute caddis case is noticed, from which I reared a Hydroptilid, referred 

 with much hesitation to Orthotrichia angustella. The same case has again been 

 sent me by Mr. Bolton, of Birmingham, and the perfect insect once more reared. 

 Unfortunately I was absent from home when the fly came out, and it was dead and 

 dry, adhering to the side of the tube, on my return. A careful microscopical ex- 

 amination of the remains serves to strengthen my belief in the correctness of the 



* "Entomologist," 1878, p. 170, and fig. 



