﻿18T0-] 265 



According to these remarks, we think it possible that the habits of the British 

 insect, as related by Mr. Porritt, differ somewhat from those of the species as 

 observed on the continent ; yet Ratzeburg shows that the rule of hybernating in 

 the egg is not invariable. Perhaps observers in other parts of our kingdom will 

 relate their experiences with this insect. — Eds. 



Remarks on Cirrhcedia xerampelina, especially with regard to its winter con- 

 dition. — On perusing Mr. Hellins' list of Macro-Lepidoptera that hybernate in the 

 egg state (see p. 222), I find one or two species mentioned therein which do not 

 always pass the winter in that state in some places, though I am told they do so in 

 others. Avoiding those species that have already been the subject of controversy, 

 I may say that, in the Isle of Man and Denbighshire, North Wales, Cirrhcedia 

 xerampelina appears in the imago-state in July and August, the eggs hatch in the 

 autumn, and the larvae grow to about three-eighths of an inch long before the 

 winter, then making slight silken hybernacula amongst the moss and lichens. 

 They may be taken now (March) by those who know their habits ; and at this season 

 are from three-eighths to half-an-inch long, stout, grey, irrorate, and rather rugose 

 and pilose, the face black, the anterior segments with black horny plates. In April 

 they awake on some warm day, begin to eat ravenously, and seem to swell out and 

 expand rather than grow, and so rapidly as to make the increase in size almost 

 visible to the observer. Should the weather change to cold, they again become 

 dormant, but if not, they soon go down and make a slight cocoon, in which they 

 remain a long time before assuming the pupa-state. About June they will be found 

 in chrysalis, or oftener dead, which latter I have seen to be the case both in con- 

 finement and at large. Isle-of-Man specimens vary from bright yellow with faint 

 central band, to rich dark brownish-ochreous, the central band only indicated by two 

 faint narrow lines. I have seen French examples unicolorous like this latter form, 

 but all the Welsh specimens are richly coloured, and the veritable centrago of 

 Haworth. With regard to 0. upsilon I have repeatedly taken its larvae at sugar in 

 April and May, almost full-fed, but this is no proof to my mind that it is always, at 

 all places, and under all circumstances, in the same condition at the same time ; 

 neither do I doubt that in some places C. xerampelina deposits its eggs in August, 

 which hatch in the following April, as stated at p. 222, though I have never found 

 them do so. — C. S. Gregson, Fletcher Grove, Stanley, Liverpool, March 2nd, 1870. 



What are Perla bicaudata of Linne" and P. maxima of Scopoli ? — An attempt to 

 gain more definite knowledge of our PerUdce for the forthcoming Catalogue of British 

 Neuroptera has resulted in the conviction that this family mnst at present remain 

 in a very unsatisfactory condition, and with, so far as I can see, no immediate 

 prospeot of amendment. Yet, some interesting questions have occurred to me ; and, 

 among others, those of the identification of Phryganea bicaudata of Linne and P. 

 maxima of Scopoli. The name bicaudata has been applied by different authors 

 to almost all of the larger and more common European species, the description 

 giving no certain clue to what was intended. In 1839, Mr. Newman, who formerly 

 studied these insects assiduously, in his " Synonymy of the Perlites " (Mag. Nat. 

 Hist., N. S., vol. iii.), identified it with the largest European species, now generally 

 known as P. bvpunctata of Pictet, adding the remark — "that Fabricius and all 



