4192 Insects. 



Micro Lepidoptera taken near Clevedon. — The following were among my best cap- 

 tures during the early part of the past summer: — 



Eulia ministrana, Norton Wood, end of May, flying at dusk. 



Halonota trigeminana, beginning of June. 



Retinia Buoliana, reared from shoots of Scotch fir, second week in July. 



Ephippiphora perlepidana, near Walton Castle, third week in May. 



Cnephasia obsoletana, July 19. 



Syndemis musculana, one specimen by beating, Norton Wood, May 31. 



Chrosis tesserana, Walton Down, middle of June. 



Micropteryx mansuetella, cliffs towards Ladies' Bay, beginning of June. 



Nematopogon metaxellus, by beating, Norton Wood, end of May and beginning 

 of June. 



Psecadia decemguttella, one specimen, July 4, at the root of a beech-tree on Wal- 

 ton Down. 



Depressaria ultimella, May 25, by beating. 



Gelechia cinerella, July 19. 



Coleophora lixella, Walton Down, July 4. 



Elachista albinella. 



Lithocolletis Corylifoliella, Norton Wood, by beating, beginning of June. 



Pterophorus microdactylus, end of June and beginning of July, on Walton Down 

 and Elton Hill.* 

 „ tetradactylus, Walton Down, beginning of July. 



Together with some Nepticulse &c, which I have not as yet satisfactorily determined. 

 — Alfred Merle Norman ; Clevedon, Somerset, December 23, 1853. 



Mortar Cocoon of Cerura Vinula. — The instance of a puss-moth caterpillar form- 

 ing a cocoon out of the tuber of a po^to, when apparently driven to it by necessity 

 through being confined in a glass vessel (Zool. 4107), brought to my recollection a 

 most curious freak of this creature which I once had the pleasure of seeing. At the 

 time (September, 1847), I was a boy at Winchester, and the following is an extract 

 from my note-book : — " While walking round ' Meads,' I saw on the wall something 

 which I mistook for a piece of mortar, but seeing that it looked newer than the rest of 

 the wall, and projected a little from it, I pulled it off, and to my astonishment found 

 it to be the cocoon of the puss moth, most admirably made out of the rotten mortar." 

 Not the least curious part of the story is, that the moth came out quite perfect. The 

 caterpillar, I imagine, had lived on a poplar growing close by, which was too young 

 to allow of its forming its cocoon on the stem, and therefore it was driven to what I 

 believe to be a totally novel expedient in insect architecture. — Id. 



Capture of Larvce of Dianthcecia carpophaga. — When I was in Derbyshire in July 

 last, I took between thirty and forty larva? of Dianthaecia carpophaga feeding upon 

 the seeds of Silene inflata. It is generally, I believe, considered to be a very rare in- 

 sect, but from observations which I have made during the last two years, I have reason 

 to think it not nearly so rare (at least in the larva state) as it is generally thought to 

 be. I have taken it in Flintshire, Derbyshire, Bucks and Herts ; and have good rea- 

 son to think that it may be found wherever Silene inflata grows in any abundance. 

 The larva lies coiled up between the calyx and the seed-vessel of the plant. It is a 

 very delicate caterpillar, and extremely difficult to rear. Though I have occasionally 

 taken the larva for some years past, 1 never succeeded in rearing it, until last year, 

 when 1 i<»uk a considerable number in Herts and Bucks, but only bred five moths, and 



