164 THE ENTOMOLOGISt. 



impels individuals, with more or less frequency, to assume partial charac- 

 teristics of what are generally believed to be very ancient forms; and, as 

 Nature is said to work in cycles, it is probable that our descendants in 

 some future aeon will be once more surrounded by an animated nature as 

 sombre as it is now brilliant. — R. S. Standen ; 67, Earl's Court Square, 

 S.W., April 6, 1893. 



The Hairs of Acronycta alni Larva. — An article on the hairs of 

 A. alni (Entom. xxv. 39), which just falls under my hand, revives my desire 

 to ask those who devote themselves to the preservation of larvae for their 

 experience with those of this insect. Those conversant with the process 

 know that in drying an empty skin a considerable amount of heat is 

 necessary ; but to whatever reasonable degree this is carried, the hairs of a 

 larva are never affected, and if inadvertently it is carried beyond this, then 

 skin and hairs shrivel up simultaneously. In the preparation, however, of 

 the fairly numerous number of larvae of A. alni I have tried, I find a quite 

 exceptional occurrence. On arriving at a very moderate point of heat, less 

 than normally required to stiffen a skin, the two large flat-tipped brushes 

 on the second segment invariably shrivel up suddenly, much in the way it 

 may be imagined the antennae of a Rhopalocera might do, while all the 

 other hairs remain unaffected like the bristles of any ordinary larva. This 

 appears to point to these two brushes not being true hairs at all, but hollow 

 tubes of a quite different construction. In the live state the appearance of 

 these brushes is already exceptional, and gives some such idea. I have no 

 means of applying a really powerful microscopical examination to find the 

 explanation ; but I invite the experience of other entomologists who have 

 preserved any number of this larva, and also ask those who have a power- 

 ful lens to examine these brushes minutely. The phenomenon is certainly 

 such as has not come under my notice with any other larvae ; and I claim a 

 pretty extensive experience with both British and foreign.— N. F. Dobree ; 

 Beverley, E. York, March, 1893. 



Gynandrous example of Saturnia pavonia. — A fine specimen of 8. 

 pavonia [carpini] emerged, on March 29th last, with male wings and 

 antennae on one side, and wings and antennae of the female on the other 

 side. It is an extraordinary specimen, and I was not aware that this species 

 was subject to gynandromorphism. — Chas. E. Morris; Vernon Lodge, 

 Preston, Brighton, March 31, 1893. 



Migratory Locusts. — Can any readers of the ' Entomologist ' inform 

 me if they know of the occurrence of any species of migratory locust in 

 the British Isles within the last ten years or so? — W. Harcourt Bath; 

 195, Ladywood Road, Birmingham. 



Decticus verrucivorus. — Will any reader who is interested in Ortho- 

 ptera kindly let me know if this fine grasshopper still occurs in the 

 Rochester locality, where it was found in such abundance many years ago 

 by Professor Henslow ? — W. Harcourt Bath. 



Colias edusa absent from the Broad District. — While the ento- 

 mological papers have been so full, during last summer, of the abundance of 

 G. edusa in the majority of the English counties, it may be interesting to 

 note the absence of it (as far as my experience goes) in the Broad district 

 of Norfolk, where I was collecting from Aug. 11th to Sept. 17th. I may 

 mention that Vanessa atalanta audF. io were both very plentiful, and other 



