1654 Insects. 



caterpillar of S. Ligustri. The person who found it, stated she got it out of the ground, 

 but when putjnto the breeding-cage, it refused to bury itself, or eat, and died in the 

 course of a short time. I see the end of July is the earliest period for the appearance 

 of the perfect insect, mentioned in the Zoologist for this month, and I imagine this 

 caterpillar must have been produced from eggs, laid at, or previously to that time. — 

 A. Greenwood ; Chelmsford, November 3rd, 1846. 



[I particular request information about the larva of Sphinx Convolvuli : it is almost, 

 if not entirely, unknown to British Entomologists. — E. Newman]. 



Occurrence of Sphinx Convolvuli, and Acherontia Atropos, near Ipswich. — Having 

 observed in the Zoologist, some accounts of very rare insects, I thought the following 

 might not be wholly void of interest. I have obtained a specimen of the death's-head 

 moth (Acherontia Atropos), which was caught at Aldbro', and which was kept alive 

 several days on some potatoes, on which the caterpillar of this insect feeds. I have 

 also received two specimens of the convolvulus hawk moth (Sphinx Convolvuli), the 

 first of which, was found on removing some leaves of deal : the latter was brought me 

 October the 9th, by a poor woman, into whose house it had flown. Both these last 

 specimens were caught in Ipswich. I write this, because, not having observed in the 

 Zoologist, an account of these insects from that locality, I thought it might be worth 

 inserting. — R. J. Ransome ; Ipswich, November 25th, 1846. 



Capture of Sphinx Convolvuli, in the Isle of Wight. — Having read in the Zoolo- 

 gist for September, accounts of the capture of this rare moth, I forward you an account 

 of a capture I made last September. I was spending a few days at Sea View, near 

 Ryde, Isle of Wight, and in the garden belonging to the house, there were several 

 patches of a species of (Enothera, with very large white blossoms, growing close to the 

 ground, these blossoms appeared to attract them very much (for I did not see them 

 hover over any other plant in the garden). In one evening, I saw five or six over it, 

 but captured two only. I visited the spot every evening, and although I saw several 

 more, I was not fortunate enough to take any ; but I took another specimen in the 

 day-time, while at rest at the foot of a fir-tree, amongst the grass, my attention being 

 drawn to it by some children, who ran to inform me, that there was a " large bat lying 

 under a tree,'' this was an extraordinary large specimen, measuring five inches and 

 nearly one-eighth from tip to tip of the wings. — Robert Davis ; Belgrave Place, Pimlico. 

 Capture of Sphinx Convolvuli, near Bristol. — On the 28th of August, I had a spe- 

 cimen of this fine insect brought me, which had been captured on a wall, and on the 

 31st of the same month another specimen was brought me, taken among beans; and 

 on the 10th of September, I had the pleasure of capturing one myself, hovering over 

 Salvias ; and on the 12th, another on Petunias. About twenty other specimens were 

 taken by collectors in the immediate neighbourhood. — P. H. Vaughan ; Redland, near 

 Bristol. 



Occurrence of Acherontia Atropos near Bristol. — On the 12th of October I bred a 

 female specimen of this insect from a larva that I found beneath an ash tree on Durd- 

 ham Downs, on the 24th of July ; it changed to pupa on the 1st of August. A spe- 

 cimen of the larva was also taken at Henbury near Bristol, but unfortunately it died 

 before it arrived at maturity. — Id. 



Capture of Sphinx Convolvuli near Maidstone. — Three specimens of this insect wei 

 caught at Beuming, near Maidstone, between the 20th of August and the 6th of Sep- 

 tember last ; one was captured over a plant of the Marvel of Peru, and the two other 

 were found in the day-time, in a pickle-jar on a shelf, which most probably had hac 

 6ugar in it.- E. M. Attwood. 



