1888.] 135 



nights and N.E. winds no doubt were the cause of their not appearing ; the few hot 

 days in June brought out from some, the lovely little ichneumon, Clialcis micans, it 

 was very amusing to watch them running about examining the straws for their 

 victims. The remaining pupae will now hibernate ; they are alive. — J. Beown, 

 5, King's Parade, Cambridge : August 3rd, 1888. 



Where does Gonepteryx rhamni hibernate ? — To this query, propounded by 

 Mr. Gh H. Kenrick, at p. 92, ante, I am able to reply, but only by a singe isolated 

 observation made several years ago, and which I communicated at one of the meetings 

 of the Belgian Entomological Society. The observation was made quite at the end 

 of a year. Certain shrubs were being uprooted in the park at Longchamps, and I 

 found, concealed amongst the dead leaves at the foot of the stem of a laburnum, a G. 

 rhamni absolutely torpid. Mr. Kenrick (I. c.) finding that G. rhamni is not protected for 

 hibernation by the coloration or markings of its wings, thinks it possible there may 

 be no real hibernation of the perfect insect, but a retardation in emergence from the 

 chrysalis in those individuals that fly in hot days in winter and early spring. I regret 

 not to be able to share this supposition, seeing that the G. rhamni which fly in winter 

 are ordinarily recognisable by their faded coloration, and especially so as to the 

 rosy colour of the antenna?, &c. This species inhabits the whole of Europe, and the 

 greater part of northern Asia, and is generally common, even in small town gardens 

 at the end of summer. Up to now, species of Rhamnus are the only food-plants 

 indicated for the larva?, but I often ask myself whether these do not feed also on 

 other plants, for species of Rhamnus do not grow everywhere, and are usually absent 

 in town gardens. — E. db Selys-Longchabips, Lie"ge, Belgium : October 4th, 1888. 



[Dr. Bossier, in his "Lepidoptera of Wiesbaden," p. 20, remarks that the torpid 

 imago hibernates on the ground amongst fallen leaves. — Eds.] 



Deilephila galii pupating underground. — In the October number of this Journal, 

 I state that this species does not go underground to pupate. This I find is not in 

 all cases correct : as in two biscuit tins that I brought home from Deal containing 

 some of my full-fed larvae, and which had some three or four inches of light sand at 

 bottom, I found, on turning them out (as tbe portions of plant and frass showed too 

 much signs of mildew), that six of the larvae had pupated from one to two inches 

 beneath the soil, and had formed fairly compact cocoons of silk and grains of sand. 

 Several had spun up just on the surface, but the greater number had formed simply 

 a loose, cocoon amongst the stems of the food-plant, still, it is evident that some of 

 the larva? do pupate beneath the soil. — W. H. Tugwell, 6, Lewisham Eoad, 

 Greenwich : October 1st, 1888. 



Profusion of larvm of Lasiocampa rubi. — In a Grlen off Loch Killary, Co. Mayo 

 I, yesterday, saw an enormous number of these larvae, often five or six in a square 

 foot, a dozen could be picked up anywhere without moving, and from any standpoint 

 from one to two hundred could be seen. They were as numerous as this for several 

 miles, and for a width of probably half a mile, but this I did not determine. On this 

 side (the south) they were protected from the south and west, on the opposite side, 



