434 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



usual number of claspers. Besides the species above- 

 mentioned, I have seen, recently hatched, larvae of other 

 species of Genuina?, in the possession of Mr. Bartlett, and 

 they have all shown the same characteristics. If we leave 

 this section, and turn to the second great group of Noctuae, 

 the QuadrifidaB, we find that the greater part of the larvae are 

 half-loopers throughout their lives, such as the larvae of 

 the genera Plusia and Catocala; whereas in the Noctuae, 

 which are most nearly allied to the Bombycina, the larvae 

 have always the usual number of claspers, and are also, like 

 the larvae of Arctia and Chelonia, more or less hairy. The 

 conclusion I draw from these facts is, that Geometrae are, 

 what I think I may term, undeveloped Noctuce ; therefore 

 their proper position, instead of being between the Bombyces 

 and Noctuae, would be somewhere afte?' the latter group. 

 Beginning with the Bombyciformes, we find the larvae having 

 five pairs of claspers, from the egg upwards (T. derasa and 

 batis are, however, exceptions). We then find, in the Genuinae, 

 larvae which, on first coming into the world, possess but 

 three pairs of claspers, but which on attaining maturity are 

 possessed of the usual number thereof; and, lastly, in the 

 Minores and Quadrifidae we have larvae who are semi-loopers 

 throughout their lives: from these we naturally merge into 

 the true geometers. I merely start this as an hypothesis, and 

 leave it to wiser heads than mine to work out, if they consider 

 it worth while. I should like to have the opinion of some 

 one who has had more experience than I in rearing Noctuae 

 from the egg; and shall be obliged to any gentleman, who in 

 future may rear any of this family, if he will note whether they 

 possess the characteristics I have mentioned or not. — B, 

 Lockyer. 



Batoneiis Populi: a Mite Ivjurious to the Aspen in 

 Scotland. — At the end of May last, Mr. George Norman, of 

 Forres, a gentleman well known as an ardent and successful 

 cultivator of Scottish Entomology, kindly sent me a batch of 

 aspen galls, accompanied by a note, that they were growing 

 in vast profusion on Sir A. Gordon Cumming's estate, near 

 Shicil, on the banks of the Findhorn, and that the branches 

 of the aspens were covered with them in all stages of growth. 

 My corrCs})ondent also informed mer that the aspens were 

 probably of natural growth — quite wild ; and, in reply to my 



