THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 457 



garden, and in the following Jane found the empty pupae 

 cases sticking out of the mortar on the outside (not one, but 

 a dozen or more). I next tried them by putting some larvae 

 in a large garden-pot, about fifteen inches deep, with a little 

 mould in the bottom, then some pieces of decayed willow, 

 and covered it with glass. I found this plan succeed 

 admirably, rearing all the larvae. Cossus larvae invariably 

 feed in the trunks of large trees, seldom going higher than 

 five feet from the ground, and in the autumn months may be 

 found full fed under the bark of the trees infested with them, 

 some inch or two under the ground. With ^sculi it is very 

 different, as they are found at the top of high ash or elm 

 trees; they feed on the sap or centre of the small branches, 

 varying in thickness from one's finger to one's wrist. Their 

 presence may be ascertained by the small pellets of pink 

 frass lying about under the trees. I noticed some trees so 

 infested two years since in Tuffnell Park. Myself and others 

 obtained permission to cut some of the branches, which we 

 kept in a damp place, and from which we succeeded in 

 rearing many ofthe perfect insect. I went to the same trees 

 in July, and took twenty dozen imagos from one tree ; they 

 were all in the topmost branches of a large elm. I divided 

 the specimens 1 secured with two or three brother entomolo- 

 gists who accompanied me, and we could have taken as many 

 more if*we had required them. I notice that the trees in my 

 neighbourhood are much infested with the larva? this autumn. 

 I have found the larvae of ^sculi in the branches of elm, ash 

 and pear, and in the small trunks or stems of whitethorn, 

 lilac and box. — J. Russell; 18, Mount Pleasant Road, 

 Hornsey. 



Larvae of Bomhyx Quercus feeding on Ivy. — It may be 

 interesting to some of your readers to know that some little 

 time ago I found the larvae of B. Quercus feeding on ivy in 

 the garden. Is not this a very unnatural food-plant for this 

 species ? The larvae in question must, I think, have been 

 produced from some eggs which I threw away during the 

 summer. 1 suppose, on being hatched, they began to 

 feed on the first thing that came to hand, which happened to 

 be the ivy. I cannot otherwise account for their strange 

 choice. — M. A. J. Pitman ; Oxford House, Kidhrooke Park 

 Roady Blackheath. 



