Insects.. 1679 



in a bottle. I placed them in a box, where they could have more room and freer ac- 

 cess to the air, and supplied them with plenty of green food, hut, from their previous 

 confinement, they seemed to have suffered so much, that I thought it better to destroy 

 them about ten days after, fearing they would otherwise be injured as specimens ; one, 

 which has a considerable quantity of green in its colour, is now in the British Museum : 

 these three were taken close to Easington, a village on the Yorkshire coast, about five 

 miles from Spurn Point. I was at the latter place on the 29th of September, 1846, 

 and from the quantity of dead specimens which the inhabitants had kept, as well as 

 the account they gave me, found that the newspapers had by no means exaggerated 

 the numbers in which these insects had appeared. — William Sherwood; Rysome 

 Garth, Patrington, Hull. 



P.S. I omitted noticing that one of the three locusts which I had in the box de- 

 posited several eggs in a large cluster, which is now in the British Museum. — 

 W. S., March 9th, 1847. 



The Caterpillar of Sphinx Convolvuli. — In August, 1814, I was reaping wheat 

 in a field, in the parish of Tibberton, Worcestershire, about five miles from Worcester, 

 and in that part of the field there was growing with the wheat a quantity of the plant 

 Convolvulus arvensis, amongst which I found two of the caterpillars of S. Convol- 

 vuli, full-grown ; I explained to the men that were reaping at the same time, that the 

 caterpillars would produce two beautiful moths ; unfortunately for me I had no 

 box to put them in, I attempted to secure them, but at night both escaped. — 

 Richard Weaver; 152, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham, March 4th, 1847. 



Capture of Dictyonota crassicornis on the coast of Suffolk. — During an entomologi- 

 cal visit to Lowestoft, last June, my attention was attracted by the profuse appearance 

 of a little hemipterous insect, which turned out, on after examination, to be the Dic- 

 tyonota crassicornis of Curtis. My object being principally to investigate the species 

 of Dyschirius, and trace out their habitats, it was my chief amusement to spend the 

 hottest parts of the day on the beach, and examine the hollow ridges at the base of the 

 cliffs and the small pits formed in the dry parts of the sand. These casual excava- 

 tions formed traps for a large quantity of insects, which, unlike the Dyschirii, had not 

 sufficient strength to bear up against the strong gusts of wind which occasionally 

 swept over the sand, and carried everything which was superfluous from off its even 

 surface. If, therefore, such insects as Harpali and iEgialice were oftentimes unable (as 

 was the case) to retain their positions, it is easy to understand why creatures so frail 

 and comparatively helpless as the Hemiptera should be wafted wholesale into the pits. 

 And such was the fact ; for every hole and hollow ridge on the beach to the south 

 of the town was positively teeming with the beautiful Dictyonotae, hundreds of which 

 might be seen lying on their backs, wafted from off the sand. Mr. Dallas informs 

 me that he has taken them at Brighton from the grass facing the sea, but I have 

 never before heard of their occurrence in such profusion as at Lowestoft. — T. V. Wol- 

 laston; Jesus College, Cambridge, Dec. 18th, 1846. 



Anomalous appearance of Insects. — The winter of 1845-6 was particularly mild, so 

 much so, that on the 20th of January I obtained a caterpillar of P. Brassicae which 

 was feeding on brocoli : in a few days afterwards it became a pupa, and emerged 

 on the 15th of the following May. The mild winter was succeeded by an unusually 

 hot summer, and (from the many interesting communications in the ' Zoologist') it 

 would appear that one or both of these circumstances were favorable for maturing 

 many Lepidoptera which are of rare occurrence. Nor shall I be surprised if the com- 



