EDWARDSIA W- ALBUM. 157 



after having been dislodged by a heavy rain or high wind. He also 

 notes the oft-observed tendency of larvae in confinement to feed up 

 quickly and produce small imagines, owing to the difficulty of keeping 

 the food sufficiently fresh. One wonders whether the larvae do prefer- 

 ably choose the lower branches of elms, as noted by Krieghoff, Stange, 

 Kretschmer, etc. One suspects they are as abundant in the upper 

 branches, although one cannot reach them. Greene observes that, when 

 the seeds of the wych-elm are nearly ripe, the larva is fully grown. He 

 suggests taking an open umbrella, placing it on the ground, and then, 

 he says, grasp a branch, thrash it well over the umbrella, and, if the 

 insect occurs in the same plenty as at Piayford, you will rarely fail to 

 find from three to as many as ten larvae. Dixon strongly animadverts 

 on this form of obtaining larvae, and notes (Ent. Rec, x., p. 131) that 

 the destruction to the elms by this kind of collecting is deplorable, and 

 that any keen collector can always get as many larvae as he needs for 

 scientific purposes by careful searching. For the man who requires 

 scores for business purposes — trade or exchange — and destroys other 

 men's trees in the attempt to exterminate the insect, he expresses his 

 hearty contempt. Eaynor states (in litt.) that the larvae are sufficiently 

 abundant in the larval stage, on wych-elms, at Hazeleigh, for one to 

 get, generally, 30 or 40 in an afternoon, towards the end of May, at 

 the same time that the larvae of Mellinia gilvago are to be obtained in 

 numbers on the same trees ; he adds that they are usually fullfed 

 by the last week in May or first week in June, and feed on the 

 common, as well as the wych, elm. Thornewill notes finding 

 larvae at Calverhall, near Whitchurch, actually feeding on the 

 seeds of wych-elm. We have repeatedly found fullfed larvae, in 

 confinement, whilst seeking a place for pupation, that have come 

 across a newly-formed pupa on their travels ; in such cases they 

 invariably eat the pupa before settling down for their own pupation. 

 The following dates will give lepidopterists some idea of the time at 

 Avhich fullfed larvae are to be found: — Larva in May, 1901, in the 

 Piazza Beccaria, Florence (Tolemei) ; larvae received from near Berlin, 

 April 10th, 1907, well grown in the second and third stadia. In 

 Britain w T e note — towards the end of May, at Hazeleigh (Raynor) ; 

 June lst-6th, 1857, near Piayford (J. G. Greene) ; larvae in June, 

 1857, in West Wickham Wood (Tugwell) ; May 23rd, 1858, in West 

 Wickham Wood (Bryant); a hundred larvae, June 4th, 1858, in Maltby 

 Woods, near Sheffield (Batty) ; ninety larvae, June 2nd, 1858, at Roche 

 Abbey (Smith) ; several, mid-May, 1859, in West Wickham Wood 

 (Barrett); May 21st, 1859, in Maltby Woods (Batty); larvae abundant 

 in June, 1870 and 1871, at Coombe Glen, Bristol (Wheeler) ; larvae 

 common, middle of May, 1872, at Wofferton (Lucas); larvae abundant, 

 May 30th, 1874, in Chattenden Woods (A. H. Jones) ; larvae, June 

 7th, 1876, in Chattenden Woods (Bower) ; larvae, May 16th-18th, 1880, 

 in Chattenden Woods (Porritt) ; June 10th, 1882, in Chattenden Woods 

 (Mera) ; abundant, June 13th, 1888, mostly fullfed, at Burton-on-Trent 

 (Thornewill); larvae, April 29th, 1893, in Chattenden Woods (Tutt); larvae, 

 May 12th, 1893, in Chattenden Woods (Bower) ; larvae, May 27th, 1893, 

 at Newball (Carr) ; larvae, June lst-l8th, 1894, at Lydney (Stanger- 

 Higgs) ; about the middle of June, 1894, a nearly fullfed larva at 

 Church Stretton (Newnham) ; larvae, June 5th-10th, 1895, at Chatten- 

 den ; larvae abundant last week of May, 1896, in Hunts (Battley) ; 



