220 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



this season. It seems they have made this plant their sole food this 

 summer, as almost all the currant and gooseberry bushes have escaped 

 being attacked by these voracious pests. I have taken larvae and pupse, the 

 latter being found on the under surface of the leaves of the evergreen. 

 During the last few days I have captured many imagines, which could be 

 seen flying from dusk till an hour after midnight. On the 14th I netted 

 26 females, but only 4 males, within an hour, our hall-door lamp proving a 

 great attraction. The following niglat I again captured 32 females and 12 

 males, making a total of 74 on the two occasions. I notice that where this 

 evergreen flourishes the moth is certain to be found. On the latter occasion 

 they were most numerous up till half-past one o'clock in the morning, seeming 

 to take advantage of the fresh midnight air. Though a resident in a 

 London suburb, I find both larvae and imagines of A. grossulariata most 

 plentiful. As regards these Lepidoptera taking to evergreen in preference 

 to gooseberry or currant, I should like to know if this fact has been 

 recognised by other entomologists. — H. W. Bell-Marley ; 60, Shaftes- 

 bury Road, Hammersmith, London, W., June 20, 1893. 



[The evergreen to which our correspondent refers is probably the Japanese 

 spindle-tree [Euonymus japonicus), which was introduced into this country 

 about the beginning of the present century. The larva of A. grossulariata 

 is known to feed on this shrub; indeed, in most of the London gardens the 

 Euonymus is about the only food the larva in question could find to feed 

 upon. We do not, however, remember to have seen any previous record of 

 the larva preferring Euonymus to Rihes. — Ed.]. 



Larv^ of Agrotis RiPiE. — T should be very glad of any assistance to 

 solve a question that has been puzzling me for some time, namely, what 

 becomes of the larvae of Agrotis Ti]3(B in the spring, after hybernation ; they 

 are very plentiful here in autumn, but in spring, search where I will, I can 

 find none, though I have looked for them about where the food-plant grew, 

 and some way up into the sandhills, under the banks, dry roots of sedge, &c., 

 and dug down some depth in case the larvae had gone deep into the sand, 

 I shall be much obliged for any enlightenment on the subject. — Spotswood 

 Graves ; 29, Victoria Street, Tenby, June 17, 1893. 



Notes on Nyctemera annulata. — The introduction of alien plants and 

 insects into remote islands, and their efi'ects, sooner or later, on the 

 indigenous faunas and floras, is well illustrated in New Zealand. The 

 rapid or slow extinction, in some districts, of some native plants, has caused 

 numerous species of endemic insects to disappear at a corresponding ratio, 

 When, however, alien plants of the same natural order have supplanted the 

 native species, it is interesting to note how several species of insects 

 have adopted the alien plants as food, and continue to multiply more than 

 when their larvse fed on the native plants ; others, again, are becoming 

 practically omnivorous, and are already causing serious loss to owners 

 of both large and small gardens. The case of N. annulata, a large 

 diurnal moth, may be cited as one of perfect adaptation to new food, by 

 which the species continues to increase annually. The larvae originally 

 fed (and still feeds, in districts where the native flora is little affected) on 

 Senecio bellidioides. In settled districts this plant has been supplanted by 

 the introduced S. vulgaris. On the latter, and on the introduced Cineraria 

 maritima, the larvae now subsist, and thrive well on both. It may be here 

 interesting to note that the larvae, when feeding on C. maritima, consume 

 only the soft fleshy upper surface of the leaves, and never, so far as I know, 



