Insects. 2857 



in the middle of March, and it is difficult to account for the irregularity of the ap- 

 pearance of this and other insects. As S. Carpini feeds upon the whitethorn, the na- 

 tural time would be indicated by the growth of the foliage of that plant, and which 

 is the period given by Haworth for the appearance of the first brood. My cocoons 

 were in the breeding-cage out of doors all the winter. Perhaps the real explanation 

 of this irregularity is to be found in the extremes of temperature we have had this 

 spring. A warm day in March or April excites the requisite activity, and the insect 

 emerges from its cocoon ; cold weather then sets in, and vitality is dormant for a 

 month longer. — C. R. Bree ; Stowmarket. 



Capture of Fumea retiella at Sheerness. — On the 1st and 2nd of this month, I had 

 the pleasure of capturing thirteen specimens of this pretty semi-transparent insect, 

 by sweeping the marine plants skirting the sea, about a mile from Sheerness ; and 

 I judge from my only procuring it where Plantago maritima grew that it must fre- 

 quent this plant. I searched in vain for the cases and female : a young friend found 

 it last year in a similar situation, four miles from Southend. — Samuel Stevens ; 24, 

 Bloomsbury Street, June 18, 1850. 



Artificial introduction of Abraxas ulmata at Bolton -le- Moors. — A few days ago, 

 taking an entomological stroll, in company with a couple of friends, through a plan- 

 tation, consisting principally of elm, which lies within a mile and a half of Bolton, in 

 a southerly direction, I was somewhat surprised at seeing a great number of the 

 Abraxas ulmata in various parts of the plantation, lying about in all directions, some 

 on the grass, some on the various undershrubs that frequently interrupted the path, 

 and some on the branches of different kinds of trees, particularly the elm. We all 

 (myself and two friends) immediately took as many specimens as we had a desire for, 

 say fifty or sixty specimens each, and could easily have taken four times that number 

 in the course of an hour's collecting, had we thought proper to have done so. Now 

 as this species is generally represented in the books to be rare, or at least local, I was 

 naturally led to make some inquiry as to the probable cause of its being so very 

 abundant in the present locality. The information that I received was to this effect. 

 Several years ago, a friend of mine, Mr. Finley Fraser, of Bolton-le-Moors, obtained 

 a few eggs of the moth in question, from a person who had brought them from some 

 place in Derbyshire : these eggs he first took to a plantation at Barrow Bridge, near 

 Bolton, where he folded up a leaf of the Ulmus campestris, in which he carefully en- 

 closed the eggs, and secured them from falling to the ground, by thrusting a pin 

 through the leaf, taking care, of course, not to damage the leaf any more than could 

 be avoided, for fear of its withering and falling off before the eggs were hatched ; 

 which casualty would probably have rendered his labours fruitless. The following 

 year he had ocular proof of the success of his experiment, by seeing several speci- 

 mens of the moth in the same locality in which he had left the eggs. The succeed- 

 ing, and two or three following years, a great number of specimens were taken by 

 collectors, several of whom reside in this neighbourhood ; indeed there was such a 

 run for them, that eventually the breed was caught up. Luckily, Mr. Fraser was 

 aware of the eagerness with which the insect was searched for by collectors, and, 

 from that circumstance, anticipating its final extinction, at least in the present lo- 

 calitity, he procured a second lot of eggs, from Barrow Bridge, which he deposited in 

 two or three other places in the neighbourhood of Bolton ; adopting precisely the 

 same method as before. Of the success of the second experiment, T had ample proof 

 on the day alluded to at the commencement of this paper, as the plantation there 



