Insects. 3061 



of my friend Mr. Doubleday's list, "the captured specimens were looked upon as va- 

 rieties of other species " : or, in other words, their specific differences had not been 

 detected. I have no means of knowing whether such was actually the case amongst 

 the entomologists of the north, other than the above: but the council of the Entomo- 

 logical Society having directed the society's collection of British Lepidoptera to be 

 arranged in accordance with my catalogue of those insects, recently published by the 

 Trustees of the British Museum, a number of Haworthian specimens became eman- 

 cipated from their hiding-places in ungainly boxes ; and amongst them were several 

 Cheiinatobiae. My friend, Mr. Bond, in looking over the genus Eupithecia as re- 

 arranged, caught a glimpse of the insect referred to, both genera being placed in the 

 same drawer, and directed my attention to one of the specimens of brumata, assuming 

 it to be a boreata. On reference to ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 305, I find a male 

 variety of brumaria described by Haworth, agreeing with boreata, with the remark, 

 " Forte distincta species ;'' and the observation, " I received this strong variety from 

 Captain Lindegren, who has frequently assured me, that he considered it a distinct 

 species." I have this day collated the specimen in question with boreata, and find 

 it to correspond. As Haworth's description appeared in 1810, the insect has been in 

 our cabinets, unknown, upwards of forty years ! — /. F. Stephens ; Eltham Cottage, 

 Foxley Road, Kennington, February 10, 1851. 



Note on Hibernia rupicapraria. — This insect is exceeding abundant around here, 

 attaching itself exclusively to the hawthorn-hedges. I never met with the females be- 

 fore the end of last month, when I took the sexes in copula ; and on Saturday evening, 

 the 8th of February, about twenty more. They did not begin to make their appear- 

 ance until a little before nine o'clock, when by close observation I detected them 

 crawling along the hawthorn twigs ; I noticed also that they went to the very tip, 

 where they quietly remained until joined by the males. They are very easily dis- 

 turbed, as on the least movement of the bush they at once fell to the ground. The 

 males are found either creeping up the grass underneath the hedge, or suspended from 

 the bush. — John Scott ; London Works, Renfrew, February 10, 1851. 



Note on the Habits and Transformations of Aglia Tau. — This moth which belongs 

 to the tribe of Endromidse, is one worthy of remark, both in larva and imago state. 

 Among the many insects I have had the pleasure of rearing, some from the egg to 

 the imago (as in the present instance), and many from larva, during many years so- 

 journing with my family in Switzerland, this is one which afforded us much interest 

 and satisfaction : interest, on account of the extraordinary changes from egg to imago ; 

 and satisfaction, as it is an insect which has seldom been raised from larva, much 

 less from egg. It is worthy of notice here, that the A. Tau is a rather local insect. 

 It is found in local situations in the canton of Valais, it is likewise so in the canton of 

 Vaud ; and I will here remark that it is seldom met with (except here and there a stray 

 specimen) throughout the whole length of the Lake Leman, on the Swiss side of the 

 Lake, except in one forest near Lausanne. This forest is situated at about half an 

 hour's walk from the town of Lausanne, in a northerly direction, and is called the 

 Forest of Sauvabelin. It is in this forest that I am sure any entomologist will be 

 amused by the sight of these fine Aglias, and perhaps a few words on the insect may 

 be useful to any who should feel disposed to visit that place. The A. Tau is so abun- 

 dant in this forest, that any person visiting it, any day from about the 24th of April 

 to the 3rd or 4th of May, before twelve o'clock, can hardly fail to see the insect flying 

 about and dodging to and fro like the Bombyx Querciis, but seldom higher than four 



