﻿204 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



angle it proceeds backwards, merging again in the general surface at the 

 extreme top of the pupa ; on either side of this ridge is a slight hollow. 

 The angular point of the ridge is rough and rounded, and is quite unsuited 

 for such use as that of milhauseri ; but there would appear reason to believe 

 that this is really a rudimentary form of the " sardine-opener " of that 

 species, and very possibly it has some use in more accurately directing the 

 action of the cocoon-softening fluid; the cocoon contains wood-chips, just 

 as those of our own Ceruras do. I must leave it to American entomologists, 

 if they have not already done so, to define the function of this process, 

 unless some one will generously send me a supply of cocoons, when I will 

 do my best to make the observation. — T. A. Chapman ; Firbank, Hereford. 



Food-plakt of Plusia interrogations. — The larva of P. interroga- 

 tionis has never been found feeding on the nettles here ; they are always 

 found on heather. It seem3 that some entomologists do not know the 

 proper food-plant of this species, so I thought I would make it known. — 

 L. G. Esson; 6, Stafford Street, Aberdeen, N.B. 



[Mr. McArthur says that Plusia interrogationis has the habit of resting 

 on birch stumps, in places where the heather has been burned down during 

 the previous year, and that the female moths deposit their ova on the 

 young heather growing in such spots. He adds that larvae of the species 

 may be swept off the older heather, but these are almost invariably 

 ichneumoned. — Ed.] 



Plusia iota Larva feeding on Hawthorn. — It is probably not 

 generally known that the larva of P. iota will feed and thrive on hawthorn 

 [Crataegus oxyacantha). This fact was indeed new to me until about a week 

 ago, when I received fifty larvae of the insect in question from East York- 

 shire. Among other plants which, as the leaves were more or less consumed, 

 I failed to recognise, was a sprig or two of hawthorn, and with this plant 

 the larvae have since been supplied. Several are now in pupae, and all are fast 

 approaching maturity. I may add that I have occasionally found larvae of 

 P. iota on hedge wound-wort (Stachys sylvatica). — R. S. ; May 20, 1890. 



Dianthcecia carpophaga, Bork., var. capsophila, Dup. — Referring 

 to D. capsophila, in the ' Entomologist's Annual ' for 1864, Dr. H. G-. 

 Knaggs says : — " It is by no means unlikely that this species may 

 eventually prove to be a variety of D. carpophaga ; but it seems advisable 

 to hear what the continental authors, who have so unanimously adopted it 

 as a ' good species,' have to say in the matter, before rashly expunging it 

 from our lists." — R. S. 



Macroglossa stellatarum. — My brother and myself took thirty-one 

 larvae of Macroglossa stellatarum, in various stages of growth, between the 

 1st and 5th of September, last year, in South Devon. Four of these died, 

 but the rest turned into pupae, from which the moths emerged at different 

 periods, between October 20th and November 26th, nearly always in the 

 afternoon. We also captured thirteen P. actceon in the same locality. — 

 C. M. Wells ; Hurstfield, The Avenue, Gipsy Hill, April 28, J 890. 



Small example of the early brood of Tephrosia crepuscularia. 

 — Of Tephrosia crepuscularia, I captured on 19th April, here, a very 

 diminutive specimen, only measuring l T g inch from tip to tip of the wings. 

 It is one of the brown forms, and the markings are much suffused. I 



