2364 Insects. 



difference in the habits makes it doubtful if our insect and Freyer's be really identical. 



The President called the attention of the meeting to a letter from Dr. Davy, pub- 

 lished in the ' Barbadoes Agricultural Keporter,' relative to an insect which attacks the 

 tubers of the sweet potato. Specimens of the insect, which is of a genus near to 

 Cryptorhynchus, were shown by the President, who also exhibited specimens of a Ca- 

 landra near to C. Oryzae, which destroys the grain of Sorghum vulgare. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a large series of insects, collected near Para by Messrs. 

 Wallace and Bates.— E. D. 



Occurrence of Melitcea Dia in Warwickshire. — A correspondent informs me that 

 five specimens of Melitaea Dia have been sent to him as British, and as having been 

 captured in Mr. Weaver's old station, in the vicinity of Birmingham : he further adds 

 that they have all the appearance of British specimens. It will be a source of great 

 gratification to me to find Mr. Weaver's statement on this subject corroborated, and I 

 shall be anxious to publish every particular as soon as ascertained. — Edward Neivman. 



Note upon four European Species of the Genus Cucullia. — In ' Lepidoptera Britan- 

 nica,' Mr. Haworth introduced as British the following species of Cucullia, — tanaceti, 

 W. v., lucifuga, Esp., lactucae, Esp., and umbratica, Imw., — copying the Fabrician 

 or Linnean descriptions of each, and giving no information on his own authority about 

 them : every succeeding writer upon British Lepidoptera has followed Haworth ; and 

 Mr. Westwood, the latest author who has noticed them, has added nothing new. 

 Being unable to detect any difference in the specimens of the four supposed species 

 contained in the cabinets of my friends Mr. Stephens and Mr. Bentley, I long ago 

 suspected that they were all referrible to Cucullia umbratica ; but not then possessing 

 authentic continental specimens of the four species described by Fabricius, I could not 

 speak with any certainty about them. Through the kindness of my friend M. A. 

 Pierret I now possess fine bred specimens of each, and my supposition has proved cor- 

 rect. All the specimens preserved in British cabinets under the names of lactucae, 

 tanaceti, lucifuga and umbratica, belong to the latter species, as do figures 6, 8, 10 

 and 12 in plate 49 of Westwood and Humphrey's ' British Moths.' When my Cata- 

 logue was printed I did not possess an authentic specimen of lactucae, and doubtingly 

 gave it as a British insect : it must, however, be discarded for the present from the 

 British list. I may just add that any entomologist having once seen genuine exam- 

 ples of the four species could never afterwards confound them : in fact, the veriest 

 tyro in Entomology would at once see the distinguishing characters. — Henry Double- 

 day ; Epping, January 22, 1848. 



Larva on the Leaves and Catkins of Sallows, 8fC (Zool. 2199). — These larvae pro- 

 duced Cosmia trapetzina, Cymatophora viminalis, Euthalia elutata, Peronea divisana, 

 Lozotaenia laevigana, L. xylosteana, L. roborana, L. acerana, Ditula semifasciana, 

 Pseudotomia populana, Paecilochroma piceana, Anacampsis populella, A. sororculella, 

 Hub. (Ericae, Westwood). From beech leaves I reared Lozotaenia cinnamomeana. 

 From last year's stems of Artemisia vulgaris, inside which the larvae feed, I reared 

 Spilonota focnella. From rose leaves I reared Lozotaenia oporana, Spilonota aquana, 



S. , n. s. All the above appeared in June and July. — /. W. Douglas; 19, 



Nelson, Square, Peckham, December 28, 1 848. 



