Insects. 2033 



you may imagine, plume herself a little upon her good fortune and adroitness. Up- 

 on my return I was much gratified at finding it to be a capital specimen of Vanessa 

 Antiopa, which had no doubt been attracted to the spot by some willows which grew 

 at the bottom of the garden. From observations published in a former number of the 

 1 Zoologist,' I find that prior to the years 1814 or 1815 this species had not been seen 

 for near forty years. It doubtless is one of those insects which, like many others, from 

 some yet undiscovered cause, appears in greater profusion at certain intervals of time ; 

 but may not the capturing of so many specimens as have been recorded of late in your 

 invaluable journal be in some measure accounted for by the increased cultivation of 

 that delightful science, entomology ? As a proof of this, in some years I have taken 

 Colias Edusa and Hyale in the greatest profusion, but by diligently seeking in the 

 proper locality never remember to have failed in meeting with two or three specimens 

 annually. — William Courtis ; Ponders End, Enfield, Middlesex, February 8, 1848. 



Capture of Deilephila lineata at Hale, Lancashire. — I fortunately met with this fine 

 insect in the possession of a boy, who found it sitting on a clod of earth, whilst plough- 

 ing last spring, and succeeded in obtaining it. — C. S. Gregson ; Rose Bank, Fletcher 

 Place, Edge Lane, near Liverpool. 



Capture of Graphiphora Pyrophila near Liverpool. — I took this rare insect hover- 

 ing above thistles, outside ray kitchen garden, on the 15th of August. — Id. 



Difficulty of breeding Plusia Iota. — Mr. Curtis, in his note on the difficulty of 

 rearing Plusia lota from the larva (Zool. 1986), appears to ascribe the failure to a 

 parasitic fly ; and that it was so in the particular case to which he refers there can be 

 no doubt, but it cannot be admitted as a general solution of the difficulty. For the 

 last five or six years I have found larvae of this insect : in 1846 T could not have taken 

 less than thirty of them ; in other years six or eight ; last year the number was still 

 less ; but I have never been able to breed a single moth. Now, in the first instance, 

 it is contrary to experience to suppose all of these were stung ; and in the next place, 

 if they had been so the fact could have scarcely escaped detection, as the larvae are 

 nearly smooth and of a clear light colour; comparatively speaking I have observed 

 very few so infested. But it may be objected that, if I never bred the moth, how do 

 I know that the larvae were those of Tota ? a fact which I did not ascertain until last 

 summer, though I had before suspected it. The form of the larvae led me to conclude 

 they must be Plusiae, and the only species of that genus which I have ever met with 

 here are Iota (very sparingly), percontationis, Gamma and chrysitis : the last three I 

 have bred from larvae differing from those of which I now write, and therefore I con- 

 jectured they must be lota, though I could not be certain. Finding that eveiy at- 

 tempt to obtain the perfect insect from these larvae failed, I next endeavoured to pro- 

 cure eggs of Iota, which I did in 1846 : these hatched early in July, and the young 

 larvae ceased to feed about the end of August. I had also a much more numerous 

 brood of percontationis, which discontinued to feed about the same time. From some 

 cause or other (probably the very cold ungenial spring of 1847) most of my young 

 larvae perished : only two of percontationis and seven of Iota survived, showing (as 

 far as a single instance can) that Iota is the more hardy of the two. Percontationis 

 changed to pupae towards the end of May, and the perfect insects appeared about the 

 middle of June. Iota fed equally well, and appeared quite as healthy as Perconta- 

 tionis until after the last moult, when, though they fed as freely as before, they began 

 to assume the appearance of my hitherto-unknown larvae : the segments became more 

 tumid, and their hitherto beautiful green changed first to a whitish, and afterwards to 



