Insects. 2971 



Occurrence of Ray's Bream (Brama Raii), and the Argentine (Scopelus Hum- 

 boldtii) at Redcar. — Four fine specimens of Ray's bream have been found on the 

 beach at this place during the last three weeks ; one of which in my possession, mea- 

 sures twenty-three inches in length. Last March I found nineteen specimens of the 

 argentine, varying from three-quarters of an inch to two inches and three-quarters in 

 length. — T. S. Rudd; Redcar, November 4, 1850. 



Occurrence of Opigena fennica in England. — A single specimen of this Noctua, 

 hitherto unknown in Britain, and principally found in Finland, has been taken in 

 Derbyshire. — Henry Doubleday ; Epping, November 6, 1850. 



Insects impaled on Thorns. — The following fact may be interesting to some of 

 your readers, as throwing, I think, some light on the question mooted at the Entomo- 

 logical Society, about insects impaled on thorns (Zool. 2962). When entomologizing 

 on a bright but windy day in September, 1848, on the sand-hills at Exmouth, I saw 

 an insect at some distance perched on the end of a blade of the long grass which 

 covers the sand : hastening up to it, I found it to be a very fine and fresh specimen of 

 Agrotis valligera, alive, and struggling on the thorny point of the grass, which had 

 entered between the fore-legs, and could not be extracted without considerable force. 

 The perfect condition of the insect precludes, I think, the idea of any other agency 

 than the impetus of its own flight aided and diverted from its intended course by 

 some gust of wind ; for as this insect generally flies low in the day time, skimming 

 over the tops of the grass, in is not hard to imagine that a sudden gust may have 

 driven it on one of these blades ; the hardness and penetrating power of which any 

 one can testify, who has walked through them thinly clad. Within a day or two of 

 this, I found several bees that had come by their death in the same way ; these were 

 stiff, and had evidently been dead some days, bnt were not in any way mutilated ; the 

 point of the grass had entered in these cases at the root of the wings. — W. J. Bull; 

 6, Hagley Row, Birmingham, November 6, 1850. 



Occurrence of Cheimatobia borearia at Petty Pool Wood, Cheshire. — This insect is 

 an abundant species in the above locality. The female is generally easily distin- 

 guished from that of brumaria. If there are any wings at all, the striga is nearer the 

 centre of the anterior wing than in the latter species, both wings are equal in length ; 

 whereas in brumaria, the posterior wing is the shortest ; borearia too, has longer and 

 finer cilia than brumaria. I have seen one or two females without wings, and could 

 scarcely feel certain to which species they belonged, had they not been taken in copu- 

 lation. It was first captured this season in Petty Pool Wood, on the 27th of October. 

 I and my brethren of the net in Warrington, have taken a number of the males, and 

 shall be glad to supply those collectors who have not met with the insect. — Nicholas 

 Cooke ; Warrington, November 7, 1850. 



Note on Hydrtecia Petasitis. — My larva? of this insect, taken last September, ap- 

 parently nearly full grown, are still living, and look healthy, which proves that many 

 of them are more than one year in coming to perfection, or else that the species is 

 double brooded. The three pupse found at the same time, changed to fine large 

 moths in a few days. — Id. 



