2076 Insects. 



bodied Crustacea, which are abundant during line weather, and had been captured at 

 the same time, was placed in the same vessel. It was a species of Gammarus, and 

 about an inch in length. The Gammarus would seem to have got tired of swimming, 

 and for a resting-place it fixed itself on the back of the pipe-fish close to the tail. 

 The fish had not been a consenting party to this arrangement, and soon evinced its 

 dissatisfaction by lashing the tail with great violence on each side, to dislodge the in- 

 truder. He, however, kept his hold, and so soon as the fish ceased for a few seconds, 

 he crept a little further up the back, as if aware that the velocity of movement was 

 less near the centre of the circle. The fish lashed the water again with great violence, 

 but without any good result ; and so soon as it stopped, the Gammarus crept up a 

 little nearer to the head. The Gammarus seemed to be the marine prototype of the 

 Old Man of the Mountain, whose pertinacity, in retaining his place on the back of 

 Sinbad the Sailor, is a portion of that lore of our boyhood that is never afterwards for- 

 gotten. The pipe-fish then changed its tactics. Instead of lashing with its tail, it 

 gave to its whole body the kind of movement it might have had if fixed on a Lillipu- 

 tian spit, and in the act of being roasted. The body was made to revolve round and 

 round on its longitudinal axis ; but the Gammarus still held on, and, at each interval 

 of rest, made a few steps further in advance. This was more than once repeated, un- 

 til, pitying the poor pipe-fish, we removed the cause of its annoyance to another ves- 

 sel. — Patterson } s ' Zoology for Schools,' p. 221. 



Occurrence of Vanessa Antiopa at Cromer. — I caught one specimen of this rare 

 butterfly hanging on to a wall. He seemed to be in a state of stupor, for when I took 

 him, which I was obliged to do with my fingers, not having any net in my hand at 

 the time, he did not make any attempt to escape, although he was decidedly alive at 

 the time. I thought at first that he had only just emerged from the chrysalis, but 

 that can hardly have been the case, since his wings were quite stiff, and had got rather 

 dirty. I took him in the beginning of September, 1847. — A. D. Michael ; 9, Red 

 Lion Square, March 1, 1848. 



Occurrence of Sphinx Drurcei at Bishop's Auckland. — I have obtained a fine spe- 

 cimen of Sphinx DrurEei. It is generally supposed to be an American species, and 

 my specimen was taken in a timber-yard near this place. — Joseph Duff ; Bishop's 

 Auckland, March 13, 1848. 



[The locality rather favours the idea of importation in this instance. — E. N.~\ 



On rearing Acherontia Atropos. — In the month of July, 1846, ten fine larvae of 

 this species were brought to me. I placed them in a large flower-pot, nearly full of 

 soil, in a hot-house, and in less than a week they had all burrowed. In the beginning 

 of August I got them all out from underneath the soil, in the chrysalis state, and put 

 them on the surface. I kept the soil very moist, and about the 15th of October one 

 of them changed, but produced an imperfect moth. Fancying this was caused from 

 the soil being too damp, I did not water it for a day or two, and then began again, 

 though not so much as before. By the 26th of October I had seven beautiful and 

 perfect specimens of the moth, the other two being cripples. — M. Cur tier ; Bevere 

 House, Worcester, March 1 , 1848. 



On rearing Plusia Iota. — I have read with much interest the remarks of the Rev. 

 William Turner (Zool. 2033), on the difficulty of rearing this moth from the caterpillar, 





