1142 Insects. 



sited they were pale straw-colour, but in the course of three or four days they changed 

 to pale cinereous brown. On the 24th the eggs produced a fine brood of larva?, which 

 are now feeding on the leaves of the dandelion. — R. F. Logan ; Hawthorn Brae, 

 Duddingston, near Edinburgh, August 26, 1845. 



Capture of Polia occulta in Hyde Park. I found a specimen of this rare moth 

 on the trunk of an oak tree, this morning, in Hyde Park. It had nearly hidden itself 

 between the crevices of the bark. Unfortunately, the specimen is a little wasted, still 

 it will be a very acceptable addition to my collection. It is very singular that I should 

 have taken three of our rarest moths within the smoke of London ; namely, Catocala 

 Fraxini, Stauropus Fagi and Polia occulta. Several specimens of iEgeria Cynipifor- 

 mis have also been taken lately in the Park. — Samuel Stevens ; 38, King St., Covent 

 Garden, August 18, 1845. 



Cucullia Lychnitis, (Ramb.) I have annually, for the last three or four seasons, 

 obtained the caterpillars of this rare shark from off the leaves and flowers of the mul- 

 lein, found in a chalk-pit at Arundel, in Sussex ; but until this year have been very 

 unfortunate in breeding them. I have now succeeded in obtaining twelve or thirteen 

 fine specimens ; two that I bred this year have remained two years in the pupa state. 

 The larvae I get about the middle of August, and the perfect insect has appeared at 

 intervals this year from the middle of June up to the present time. The pupa? I keep 

 out of doors in a tub, in rather a warm corner of the garden, and protected from get- 

 ting too much wet. When at Arundel a fortnight since, I obtained a couple of dozen 

 young caterpillars, but I am sorry to say they have nearly all died in changing their 

 skins. This insect stands in some of the old collections as Thapsiphaga, Ochs., but the 

 latter is a totally distinct species, and not, I believe a native of this country. — Id. 



Parasitism of Chalcidites. In the ' Annals of Natural History,' xiv. 182, and in 

 ' The Zoologist,' 850, I have already mentioned Pteromalus domesticus* as infesting 

 the pupae of Lozotaenia Xylosteana, which moth, in the larva state, feeds on the leaves 

 of pear-trees and of peach-trees ; it also helps some species of spiders, of Telephorus 

 and of Cimicites, to destroy Tortrix viridana, and it may be often found with the pupae 

 of that moth, when the leaves in which they are inclosed are unrolled. But it confers 

 much more essential benefits on mankind, by consuming great numbers of Anobia, 

 and thus preserving the woodwork of houses, which is gnawn through and through by 

 these mischievous little beetles. In limiting the number of Tortrices it is assisted, 

 though but slightly, by a species of Tachina, by Hemiteles areator (which, with it, I 

 once reared also from the pupa of a Tinea named Astyages nigricella), and from two 

 other species of Ichneumonidae Genuini. It emerges from the moths earlier in the 

 season than from the Anobia, perhaps from being more exposed to the summer heat in 

 the former case. It appears during August in large swarms, with the beetles, its vic- 

 tims ; it is more slow in its movements than most species of Pteromalus, and it lives 

 throughout the year, at least the female may be always found, for I reared from pupa? 

 the only specimens of the male that I have seen. Hemiteles areator, and probably 

 also Hecabolus sulcatus, Spathius clavatus, and a species of Cryptus,f lend their aid 

 in diminishing the number of Anobia. — Francis Walker. 



* It appears to be identical with Pt. deplanatus (Nees d'Ess. Hym. Ich. aff. ii. 110), 

 and consequently the name I have given it is merely a synonym, the other having the 

 priority. 



| See Westwood's ' Introduction t<> Entomology,' ii. 143. 



