18S9.] 457 



CEcophora stipella : the food of its larva. — As I now know of several localities 

 in this county where this species occurs, I think it might possibly be found to be 

 more widely distributed than is at present supposed, were it looked for in the right 

 direction. Mr. Stainton, in his Manual, says that the larvas feed " under the bark 

 of dead fir trees," and as several of my correspondents have recently repeated this 

 statement to me, it would appear still to be the prevalent opinion. My experience 

 of the species, however, leads me to think this statement quite erroneous. I take 

 the moths at rest on the trunks of Sycamore trees, and the larvae evidently feed 

 under the bark of these trees, as the presence of quantities of frass would suggest. 

 I have this year also bred several imagines from pupae taken in situ, spun up within 

 a slender web upon the inside of pieces of bark which I had torn from the trees ; 

 and as in the locality nearest Perth, where most of my specimens come from, there 

 is not a fir tree, living or dead, within a mile or so, I am sure I am safe in saying the 

 Sycamore is here its food. — S. T. Ellison, Perth : October \0th, 1889. 



Note on Nabis limbatus. — On 1st September last, feeling a sharp sting on my 

 neck, 1 hastily put up my hand to catch the offender, when, instead of a wasp, it 

 proved to be a Nabis limbatus. The sensation was precisely that of a wasp's sting, 

 and the appearance also. The swelling, however, was not nearly so great, and in 

 two hours both it and the irritation had subsided. The insect, I imagine, had been 

 trapped between my neck and shirt collar, and had resorted to its rostrum as a weapon 

 of defence. — Jas. Eaedlet-Mason, Alford, Lincoln : October ] 7th, 1889. 



Lygus viscicola, Puton. — I sent some of the specimens I received from 

 Dr. Chapman (cf, p. 396, ante) to Dr. Puton, and he confirms my identification of 

 the species as his Lygus viscicola : this is satisfactory. His description, published 

 last year, was made from specimens taken near Paris; this year, on September 17th, 

 he obtained some from mistletoe at Eemiremont. I see that I have a mutilated 

 example taken from mistletoe by Mr. Dale in Dorsetshire, sent to me in 1881, but 

 not identified ; and Mr. James Edwards writes that he finds he has two specimens 

 which he took from mistletoe at East Carlton, near Norwich, on August 22nd, 1878, 

 but had not determined. Thus, as the species has been found at places so far apart 

 as Paris, Pemiremont, Dorset, Hereford and Norwich, it is very probable that it exists 

 wherever mistletoe grows. Sthenarus visci, Puton (cf, p. 256, ante" 1 , Dr. Puton 

 informs me has not been seen since its discovery near Paris. Can it not be found in 

 England ?— J. W. Douglas, 8, Beaufort Gardens, Lewisham : October 7th, 1889. 



Homalium septentrionis, Thorns., in Warwickshire. — During the current year I 

 captured several examples of a Homalium which struck me as being different from 

 anything I had seen before, and I accordingly put them aside for further examination. 

 It now seems to me that they are clearly referable to the H. septentrionis of Thomson. 

 I notice that the antennae are shorter than in the allied species, and are entirely 

 reddish in colour, the five basal joints being clear and the apical ones slightly dusky. 

 The sculpturation (alutaceous) of the abdomen is also different from that of R. 

 rivulare, the punctuation of the elytra is finer and more wrinkled, and the whole 

 insect more parallel. For these reasons I cannot agree with Canon Fowler's sug- 

 gestion that this beetle may probably be only a northern variety of H. rivulare. 



