Insects. 3777 



of all nocturnal Lepidoptera when in the dark, and a flowering Ivy-bush full of Noc- 

 tua? seeking their food in an autumn night, seems to glow with countless little stars, 

 and is a beautiful sight. Mr. Gurney will find a saturated solution of oxalic acid 

 much more effectual in killing Sphinges and moths than Prussic acid. — /. W. Doug, 

 las; Lee, Kent, December 16, 1852. 



Occurrence of Chcerocampa Celerio in Staffordshire. — I obtained a specimen of 

 this rare moth on the 25th of September last ; it was taken in a house on the out- 

 skirts of the town. It probably was slightly worn before its capture, but its appear- 

 ance was certainly not improved by its treatment afterwards. Without doubt the high 

 temperature of the late summer will cause the development of many rare species with 

 us should the winter prove propitious. — R. W. Hawkins ; Rugeley, Staffordshire, No- 

 vember 17, 1852. 



Occurrence of Chrymodes Templi near Huddersfield. — Perhaps some of our ento- 

 mological friends may be pleased to learn that I have taken two specimens of Chry- 

 modes Templi. I trust that it will again turn up next year in such numbers as that 

 it may be useful to others as well as myself. — J. Johnson ; Denby Parsonage, near 

 Hwldersfield, November 15, 1852. 



Capture of Agrotis subgothica in Nottinghamshire. — T have recently obtained a fine 

 specimen of Agrotis subgothica, taken in October last in Nottinghamshire. — Edwin 

 Brown; Burton-on- Trent, December 20, 1852. 



Occurrence of Agrotis lunigera in Scotland* — The insect to which I propose for 

 a few minutes to direct the attention of the Society, is interesting both on account of 

 its rarity, and from its having only hitherto occurred in the British Islands, where 

 it seems to be widely distributed, though the localities in which it has actually been 

 observed are " few and far between,'' being limited to one in Ireland, one in England, 

 and one in Scotland. It is now more than twenty years since Stephens first described 

 it in his ' Illustrations ' from specimens found near Cork, in Ireland ; and since that 

 period it had not been seen for a series of years. In the summer of 1848 it was again 

 taken taken near Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, by Mr. Maitland ; but previously to 

 this, on the 8th of August, 1844, while examining a spruce fir at Duddingston, which 

 had proved very attractive to the Nocture throughout the season, in consequence of 

 being covered with Aphides and honey-dew, I took a very singular Agrotis which I 

 could make nothing of, but fancied might be lunigera. In the following year I sent 

 it to London to receive the fiat of the English entomologists, who said it was a re- 

 markable variety of A. exclamationis. Not satisfied with this, however, I sent it to 

 Mr. Doubleday, who forwarded it to M. Guenee. That entomologist has recently re- 

 turned the insect, having described it in his work on Noctuae, forming part of the 

 * Suites a Buffon,' as Agrotis lunigera var. A ; so that we have now a third, and a 

 Scotch locality, for this interesting species, which is still further confirmed by a wing 

 that I picked up on Arthur's Seat, which is undoubtedly that of the same insect. 

 There is a rather singular circumstance, worthy of notice, connected with the insect, 

 which is that both in the Isle of Wight and on Arthur's Seat, it is accompanied by 

 another species of Agrotis not found in the intervening districts, — the A. Obelisca of 

 the ' Wiener Verzeichniss :' showing the intimate connexion there is between a loca- 

 lity and the species which inhabit it, occasionally, as in the present instance, irrespec- 



* Kead before the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, April, 1852, 

 XI, I 



