256 [October, 



Berlin, for tho natural liistorj of this Bombyx. He sent me an inflated larva skin, 

 together with a pupa, and the following notice : — 



" On the 26th Julj, 1833, a pinned female of this species laid a number of eggs, 

 globular, smooth and gold-shining, which, after four days, assumed a darker tinge, 

 then daily became browner, and on the 16th day produced blackish larvae. I fed 

 them with lettuce leaves (Lactuca sativa), which they appeared to eat readily. After 

 several moults, when half-grown, they hibernated in moss ; in March they resumed 

 their old diet, and after passing their last moult they spun slight cocoons in which 

 they changed to the pupa state during the month of June, and after four weeks the 

 imago appeared. 



" Out of doors I have only found the larva singly, and certainly exclusively ou 

 heather, Erica vulgaris, where, like all this tribe of larvae, it seems to try to escape 

 observation by rolling itself up and tumbling down amongst the roots of its food." 



It has occurred to me that the larva may truly feed on the thin wiry grasses, 

 suggested by Mr. Bloomfield, as these often grow amongst the heather, but for a 

 larva of this size they afford very little foot-hold, and it may therefore prefer the 

 more secure support afforded by the Calluna. — H. T. S.] 



Apatura Iris, L. — On August 5th, Edward Woodthorpe, a young collector, 

 brought me a male taken by him on July 25th, 1890, at Welton Wood, near Alford. 

 He saw three more individuals also. — Jas. Eaedley Mason, The Sycamores, 

 Alford, Lincolnshire : August, 1890. 



Note on the food of Drymonia dodoncpa. — A larva of this species, beaten from 

 a beech tree ten days ago, continued to eat leaves of the same, and though oak and 

 birch were put in with it, they were left untouched. It yesterday spun its cocoon, 

 with grains of sand attached, on the surface of the soil, beneath some moss. Mr. C. 

 Viggers informs me he has beaten it from beech in this neighbourhood on former 

 occasions, and found it to feed upon the same. I record this as oak and birch are 

 the only trees usually given as food for D. dodoncea ; indeed, Mr. Hellins says, in 

 his notes to Mr. Buckler's figure in the Ray Society's volume (ii, p. 158), " the food is 

 always oak." — W. R. Jeffuey, Ashford : September Wth, 1890. 



Re-occurrence of Epischnia Bankesiella at Portland. — I was very much pleased 

 at the occun'cnce in 1889 of two specimens of E. Bankesiella, as it showed that it 

 was a permanent resident in Portland, and that the male and female taken in 1887, 

 from which I described it, were not merely chance visitors. 



One of the 1889 specimens was again taken by Mrs. Richardson, and one by 

 myself, and Mrs. Richardson has also taken a specimen this year, so that I now have 

 five, of which fom* are females, and one (worn) a male. I do not think that any 

 one else has taken it here, and I have not yet heard of its being found in any other 

 part of the world. All these specimens occurred in the same locality, within half a 

 mile of each other. The species seems to be either very rare, or to move about very 

 little, as I have woi'ked for it a great deal with very small results. I have no clue 

 whatever to the food-plant, as I cannot associate the moths taken with any one 

 plant more than another. 



