IsrOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 59 



ledge ? In his Presidential Address to tlie Laiicasliire and Cheshire 

 Entomological Society (Jan. 9th), Mr. Capper discusses at considerable 

 length the progress of economic Entomology in this country during the 

 past half-century, and remarks that several County Councils have appointed 

 entomologists as lecturers on this subject. In addition to those who have 

 already given evidence of their ability to deal with injurious insects, we 

 must remember that there are many entomologists who possess all the 

 necessary qualifications for the work. Any man, in fact, who is able to 

 work out the life-history of an insect in a thorough manner, and can intel- 

 ligibly convey the result of his investigations to others, possesses the 

 primary accomplishments of an economic entomologist. In the matters of 

 methods for the prevention of insect attack, and the means of destroying 

 injurious insects, there is a vast amount of information ready to hand, and 

 anyone of ordinary intelligence should easily make himself acquainted 

 with all that it would be useful for him to know on these heads. Remedial 

 or preventive measures that may be effective in one locality, and under 

 certain conditions, might be quite inoperative in another locality and under 

 other conditions ; therefore the most suitable treatment can only be ascer- 

 tained by careful experiment and practice in the field. Is there any reason 

 to suppose that " a young man having a distinct bent towards zoological 

 knowledge " would be better qualified to deal with injurious insects than a 

 practical eutomologist ? — R. S. 



COLEOPHORA METALLICELLA, Hodgk., = C. FUSCEDINELLA, Zell. 1 



agree with Dr. Wood, who has most carefully worked out the matter, that 

 the Coleuphora to which I gave the name of metallicella (Entom. xxv. 44), 

 must be merged in Cfuscedinella. I sent Dr. Wood a large supply of the 

 larvae in all stages of growth ; they were all found on birch, and not one 

 on elm. This is singular, because Dr. Wood bred his long series from 

 elm. Some of the specimens, in both Dr. Wood's and my own series, are 

 larger and darker than others. The insect I have in my collection, 

 under the name of C. orbitella, is nothing but very pale, captured C./as- 

 cedinella, and I think the former name will have to sink. — J. B. HoDGKrNSON ; 

 Ash ton-on-Ribble. 



Staueopus fagi in the Reading district, 1892. — I started working 

 the beech on the 19th May, and continued to do so till the '20th June, 

 resulting in a total capture of 104 S.fagi. The black variety occurred as 

 one in six, and was much more difficult to detect on the tree trunks. The 

 moth always sat with its head pointing directly upwards, with the wings 

 folded "lappet fashion." They ranged from a few inches to ten feet from 

 the ground, but were most numerous between three and five feet ; on one 

 occasion only was a climb necessary. The fact of their preferring the 

 smaller trees as a resting place, which I first published in this Journal, 

 was amply confirmed by myself and others. When I left them the species 

 was hardly on the wane, it being taken in some quantity well into July. 

 One or two other facts I noted. Firstly, that it occurred in colonies, a few 

 stragglers only being found outside a limited area ; and, secondly, if a 

 female was taken you would usually get a male, or sometimes two or three 

 on the same tree, or within a short distance of it ; this of course being due 

 to the female's power of assembling. The ordinary form is, to a practised 

 eye, easily seen on the smooth bark of the beech, at a distance of four to 

 eight yards ; but the black ones can only be detected by close inspection, 



