1893.] 213 



couple of days, and was very pleased to find that Eupithecia extensaria still held its 

 own well on the same ditch where I took the larvse so freely in 1889 ; several females 

 I beat out of the Artemisia maritima deposited eggs, from which I have now a nice 

 lot of larvae feeding. — Geo. T. Poekitt, Huddersfield : August 8th, 1893. 



Acherontia Atropos in a bee-hive. — On June 11th of this year a fine specimen 

 of A. Atropos was seen issuing from a bee-hive belonging to Mr. John Waterfield of 

 Kib worth. It was covered with bees which were pushing it out at the entrance, and 

 endeavouring to kill it. Apparently it had been stung, for it seemed unable to fly, 

 yet made a loud squeaking noise as if in self defence. I have seen the specimen 

 and can vouch for the veracity of my informant. — C. T. Ceuttwell, Kibworth 

 Eectory, Leicester: July 2,\st, 1893. 



[That Acherontia Atropos enters hives has long been notorious. It sometimes 

 happens that the bees cannot eject the intruder, and dispose of its body by en- 

 tombing it in wax. — 'Eds.]. 



Variety of the larva of Acherontia Atropos.— On the 14th of this month, a 

 handsome dark variety of the larva of the " death's head " was brought to me from 

 our village, where it had been found on Lycium barbarum, the " tea-tree." It was 

 well-grown in its last skin, and in general appearance and pattern resembled the 

 variety figured in Buckler's "Larvae of the British Butterflies and Moths," vol. ii, 

 plate xxi, fig. la, but differed from it somewhat in intensity of markings, and more 

 decidedly in having (1) the white on the first few segments beautifully tinged with 

 pink ; (2) the rest of the body entirely brown (of various shades), with no trace of 

 red in it ; and (3) the horn of the colour of ivory, instead of brown, as in the figure. 

 Three other larvae of A. Atropos occurred on Lycium barbarum in the same spot, 

 but they were all of the usual type ; one of them was unfortunate enough to catch 

 the eye of an old woman, who, feeling sure that it must be "a locust," placed it on 

 the gi'ound, and threw a brick on the top of it ! It may be added that the variety 

 figured by Mr. Buckler was found feeding on Solanum dulcamara. — Eustace E. 

 Bankes, The Eectory, Corfe Castle : July 2Uh, 1893. 



Oeleehia (Lita) strelitziella not a British insect. — In the Ent. Ann. for 1872, 

 p. 123, this species was recorded as new to Britain by the late Mr. H. T. Stainton, 

 who there says, "The Rev. E. N. Bloomfield met with two specimens of tliis insect 

 at Lowestoft, July 28th, 1871, beating them from marram {Ammophila arundinacea) ." 

 While at Mountsfield, and engaged in looking over some of Mr. Stainton's British 

 Gelechim, on May 4th, 1892 — the last occasion on which I had tlie pleasure of 

 seeing him — I caught sight of a single moth, bearing a label in his well-known hand- 

 writing :—" E. A., /72, p. 123. Lowestoft, 22.7.71. Bloomfield, 5/73. Strelitziella, 

 H.-S.," which I at once recognised as a fine example of Gelechia celerella, Doug. 

 Mr. Stainton, however, could not entertain any doubt about its identity, so the 

 matter was dropped. But on my writing this year to ask the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield 

 for the loan of the other specimen that he took at the same time (Ent. Ann., I. c), 

 lie informed me that he had been in error (and had, in his " Lepidoptera of Suffolk," 

 subsequently corrected the mistake) in thinking that it was identical with that 

 which he had sent to Mr. Stainton, and that, in consequence, the claim of sirelit- 



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