1354 Insects. 



From the numbers which have been taken in this neighbourhood during the present 

 season it would appear that, although O. leucographa is no doubt very local, it abounds 

 in certain districts ; and the fact of its very early appearance will account for the im- 

 perfect condition of most of the specimens heretofore captured. I should imagine the 

 larvae feed upon some plant peculiar to limestone, as the moth appears to be confined 

 here entirely to the magnesian limestone tract, west of Doncaster. O. munda also 

 abounds in the same locality. O. opima appears to prefer the rich loam and warp near 

 the banks of the Don, while O. gracilis abounds chiefly on the peat lands of Potterie 

 Car, — a reclaimed bog. O. populeti occurs with Glcea rubricosa in a moist, boggy 

 wood, not more than two hundred yards from Sandal Beat, — a wood situated on dry, 

 sandy gravel, with a slight covering of peat, — where miniosa is found, but populeti 

 never seen. O. munda, leucographa, and populeti have appeared in much greater num- 

 bers than usual this season, while instabilis, opima, and gracilis have been unusually 

 rare. It is a singular fact, that out of fifty-nine specimens of O. munda, which Mr. 

 Evans reared from larvae, there was not a single variety, all were marked exactly the 

 same with the twin spots very faint ; they were fed on poplar leaves. I have now a 

 brood of O. opima feeding heartily on poplar, they have shed the first skin and assumed 

 the green stripes. — John R. Haivley ; Hall Gate, Doncaster, May 7th, 1846. 



Capture of Lepidoptera in Scotland. — Agrotis suffusa, one Feb. 23rd, and one Feb. 

 28th, sugar, Boyd's Planting. 



Calocampa exoleta, fourteen specimens, Feb. 16th to 28th, sugar, Boyd's Planting 

 and Torwood. 



Calocampa vetusta, seven specimens, Feb. 14th to 25th, sugar, Boyd's Planting and 

 Torwood. 



Anisopteryx jflBscularia, one, Torwood, Feb. 16th. 



Phigalia pilosaria, seven specimens, Feb. 14th to 25th, Torwood and Boyd's 

 Planting. 



Larentia multistrigaria, common, Torwood and Boyd's Planting. 



The Agrotis suffusa are quite fresh specimens, and some of the exoleta and vetusta 

 are also very fine. 



The sallows have been in blossom at Torwood since the 14th of February, but none 

 of the Orthosice seem to have found them out yet. — H. T. Stainton ; Lewisham, 

 March 10th, 1846. 



Empis borealis, (Linn.)— This insect is recorded in Curtis's ' British Entomology,' 

 p. 1 8, to have been taken in Wicklow early in May by Mr. Tardy. I have found it at 

 the end of April on Bleasdale Moor, near Lancaster, and also at Hammerfest, Fin- 

 mark, in July. — Francis Walker. 



Immense Natural Beehive. — In a cavern on the right bank of the Colorado, about 

 seven miles from Austin, there is an immense hive of wild bees. On a warm day, a 

 dark stream of bees may be constantly seen winding out from the cavern like a long 

 dark wreath of smoke. The stream often appears one or two feet in diameter near the 

 cliff and gradually spreads out like a fan, growing thinner and thinner at a distance from 

 the cavern until it disappears. The number of the bees in this cavern must be incal- 

 culably great, probably greater than the number in a thousand or ten thousand ordi- 

 nary hives. The oldest settlers say that the hive was there when they first arrived in 

 the country; and it is quite probable that it existed in the same state many years pre- 

 vious to the settlement of this country. It was estimated that there are many tons of 

 honey and wax in this immense hive ; and if its contents could be extracted readily. 







