71^00 Insects. 



of each side on the 5th, 6th and 7th segments ; this is connected by a very distinct 

 white line with the white on the back. Feeds on Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), and 

 is full fed in September, when it spins up amongst the leaves. — Edward Newman. 



Description of the Larva of Abrostola triptasia. — Never rolls in a ring, but feigns 

 death when disturbed, and falls to the ground, assuming somewhat the figure of a pot- 

 hook or letter S. Attenuated in front, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments being elon- 

 gated and stretched out leech-like in walking ; the 5th and 6th segments are humped 

 and elevated in walking ; the claspers are ten in number, the anterior pair, those on the 

 7th segment, being generally held clear of the ground in walking ; the 12th segment is 

 humped, and the hump concave, culminating in two lateral points ; the outline of the 

 larva from this last hump descends perpendicularly to the anal pair of claspers, and 

 these evidently pass under the body whenever moved forwards in walking. Prevailing 

 colour olive-green or dingy brown, very variable; 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments deeper 

 olive-brown, with a whitish central dorsal stripe, and generally also a short lateral 

 stripe of the same pale hue ; the 6th and 6th segments have each a dark velvety patch 

 on the centre of the back, which I have already described as humped ; on the 5th seg- 

 ment this patch is triangular, the apex of the triangle being anterior, and the triangle 

 surrounded by a whitish margin ; the patch on the 6th segment is rounded before and 

 behind and there margined with white, but open and not distinctly margined on the 

 sides ; the 12lh segment has a transversely oblong dark velvet patch, surrounded with 

 a white line : on all the segments, from the 5th to the 12th inclusive, is a rather indis- 

 tinct and narrow white stripe just above the spiracles, which are also white ; above this 

 lateral stripe is an oblique line of the same colour on each segment. Feeds on Urtica 

 dioica (nettle), Humulus lupulinus (hop), and is full fed about the end of September, 

 when it spins up amougst the leaves. — Id. 



Capture of Calosoma sycophania near Penzance. — On examining, some weeks 

 since, a few drawers of British insects, collected in this neighbourhood by Mr, W. H. 

 Vingoe, naturalist, T was surprised at beholding in one of them a splendid specimen 

 of Calosoma sycophanta, which he assured me was captured by himself in a field near 

 Penzance, about three years since, but the exact locality he had forgotten. — W. H. 

 Haytvard ; Penzance^ November 2, 1860, 



Is Diachromus germanus an Indigenous Insect /'-^The recent capture of Diachro- 

 inus germanus has raised the question. Has it any claim to rank as an indigenous 

 insect ? It will be readily admitted that the appearance of this insect having been 

 hitherto confined to thai part of the coast which borders the English Channel would 

 appear to give some warranty for the adoption of such an opinion ; but probably, if we 

 place the state of the case briefly in its correct position, a little attentive consideration 

 of the circumstances may be found to shake, if not destroy, such hasty conclusions. If 

 the species is not truly a British one, in what way are we to account for its getting a 

 footing here? Does it fly across the channel, or does it swim? There is certainly 

 another means of transit, — does it avail itself of the shipping, and take a passage on 

 board ? This is certainly possible, and we may therefore expect it to land on any spot 

 between the Land's End and the Port of London, Up to the present time it does not 

 appear to have chosen many localities for such a purpose : Kingsbridge, Deal 

 and Hastings are the only spots apparently which it has selected. If we reject the 

 idea of its being conveyed by shipping, let us see what distance it must fly in order to 

 reach the above localities. Kingsbridge, in Devon, is about one hundred miles from 



