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Effect of the late inclement season on double-brooded moths. — There is no doubt 

 that the cold summer of last year in some cases caused moths which are usually 

 double-brooded to have but a single brood ; and that the perfect insects taken this 

 spring will consist (1) partly of those coming from larva? that, proceeding from eggs 

 laid in spring or early summer, will have fed up more slowly than the " first crop " 

 of larva? in ordinary seasons would have done ; and (2) partly of moths coming from 

 larvae which, proceeding from the second emergence of moths and hatched very late 

 (and from parents probably weakened by the cold of their larval period), will have 

 fed up under very unfavourable conditions. The former may be, perhaps, expected 

 to be not very different in appearance from the ordinary spring type, and may even 

 be larger and darker, though I should not expect this ; of the latter my experience 

 in breeding the Selenice last summer inclines me to think that few will have survived, 

 and these few will, I believe, be stunted and, in many cases, deformed. The former 

 may be expected to be not very plentiful, because they are only a fraction of a brood, 

 and will have been exposed to casualties for a longer period than usual ; but abun- 

 dance or scarcity depends on so many conditions, that prediction on that point would 

 be hazardous. May I venture to suggest that it would be interesting to observe 

 whether there is anything abnormal in the appearance or scarcity of the Selenice 

 this spring, and, if so, to record it? — F. Meeeifield, 24, Vernon Terrace, Brighton : 

 April, 1889. 



The whirlwind as a distributing agent. — It has been a warm, sultry day to-day, 

 and the insects, including a couple of Vanessa cardui, are out and about in West 

 Cliff. As I went up the street about mid-day, I saw a little whirlwind blowing dust 

 and debris up into the air — quite a small afair, for I, standing about ten yards from 

 it, could not feel a breath of it. Several papers were in the road, and up they went : 

 one, in particular, could not have been smaller than 18 inches by 9. I watched this 

 to see how high it would go, and was surprised to see it mount up and up, till finally 

 I lost sight of it from its very height — for all I know it may have ascended half a 

 mile or more. These whirlwinds are very frequent in this dry country, and it is easy 

 to see how not only winged and feathered seeds, spores of cryptogamia, but even 

 insects that of their own volition could not or would not travel a mile from their 

 birthplace, might get carried up in this way, and meeting some strong current of the 

 upper regions of the air, get wafted over mountain chains and over, perhaps, 

 hundreds of miles of country before alighting. The whirlwind has long been 

 acknowledged as a factor in distribution, but it is interesting to have direct evidence 

 of its powers. — T. D. A. Cookeeell, West Cliff, Custer Co., Colorado : April 24th, 

 1889. 



Brachycentrus subnulilus clustered on the under-side of leaves of Symphytum 

 officinale. — I have again to record a phenomenon similar to that recorded by me in 

 Proc. Ent. Soc, 1874, p. xi ; Ent. Mo. Mag., xi, p. 13. On the 9th inst., when 

 examining leaves of Symphytum along the banks of the Eiver Lea, I found B. sub- 

 nubilus, $ , clustered on them, in a dead or dying state. The males and females were 

 flying around in fairly equal numbers, but on the leaves the latter were practically 

 absent, for out of about thirty insects on one small leaf there was not one female. 

 This agrees with what I observed in 1874. The insects appeared to be entangled in 



