7296 Radiata, ^c. 



inches in length, brilliantly stained with Antwerp blue, merging into the general 

 colourless translucency. The crest or " sail,'' is collapsed, and is only slightly tinged 

 with pink, and the long pendent ooid-like ai)pendages (tentacles, &c.) are reduced, 

 probably by the action of the waves on the shore, to their mere bases. Mr. Hughes 

 found the specimen the day before yesterday, washed up on the beach at Babbicombe. 

 It was alive, but not in vigour, for he lifted it and brought it home in his hand with 

 impunity, not having the fear of Mr. G. Bennett's experience before his eyes ; never- 

 theless, when put into an aquarium, it gave tokens of life for many hours, by forcible 

 contractions at intervals. The species has been found on our western shores before, 

 but its occurrence is suflSciently rare to be put among the noiabilia of the 'Zoologist.' 

 — P. H. Gosse ; Sandhurst, Torquay, October 31, 1860. 



Correction of an Error in the Food-plants of the Larva of Notodonta dictcea. — 

 Mr. Newman (Zool. 7257), on the authority of Mr. Huckett, gives Betula alba as 

 one of the food-plants of the larva of Notodonta diclaea. This assertion has been 

 previously made by various collectors, and this tree is included in the list of food- 

 plants in several entomological works. I cannot, however, help thinking that there 

 is some mistake. I have been in the habit of taking this larva ever since I was 

 a little boy, but always on some species of poplar or sallow. Many and many 

 a birch tree have I thrashed and examined, and though on them I have found eggs 

 and larvae of N. camelina, N. dictaeoides and N. dromedarus, never at any time or by 

 any chance have I seen the slightest trace of N. diclaea, nor have I ever met or heard 

 of an entomologist at home or abroad who had done so. It is quite unnecessary for 

 me to say that it is the farthest from my wish to cast any doubts on the accuracy or 

 veracity of my brother-knights of the net Messrs. Newman and Huckett, but 1 do ask 

 ihem to tell us in the pages of the ' Zoologist,' whether they have ever found or fed a 

 larva of N. dictaea on birch, or whether they make the assertion upon hearsay ? and 

 I make the same request of all the readers of the * Zoologist ' in all parts of the world. 

 It is no use perpetuating an error. Some of the older entomological authors were very 

 careless and inaccurate in their lists of the food-plants of Lepidoptera, and it has been 

 far too common a custom for succeeding writers to copy their assertions without 

 proving by their own practical and optical experience whether they were correct. 

 — H. Uarpur Crewe ; Drayion-Beauchamp Rectory, near Tring, November 12, 1860. 



[I am really obliged for the correction of this very manifest error, and have no 

 hesitation whatever in acknowledging it to be so. Thinking it important that the same 

 volume that contains the error should also contain the correction, I have thought it 

 desirable to insert Mr. Crewe's letter here, although rather out of the usual course. 

 The error is not a copied one : and I may here state, once for all, that every part of 

 my descriptions are made without reference to any prior description, unless such fact 

 is explicitly stated. For every error detected by my readers I alone am responsible, 

 and shall feel grateful for all corrections. — Edward Newman^. 



Printed by E. Newman, 9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsgatt Street, London. 



