5542 Insects. 



Larva of Laphygma exigua. — Mr. Bond having kindly consented to exhibit, at the 

 Entomological Society, two bred specimens of Laphygma exigua, and likewise to read 

 a short and imperfect description of the larva?, with their dates of change, I place at 

 your disposal a copy of the same for the ' Zoologist.' I never myself saw the larvae : 

 the description was written by a lady. The larvae were kept separate ; therefore, there 

 is no doubt of the correctness of the description. 



Laphygma exigua. 



Female, captured. about July 18, 1856 ; laid three or more eggs, which hatched in 

 about three weeks, were full-fed, and went down about September 12th ; came out 

 October 22nd and 24th. 



Description of Larva : — Pinkish brown back, pinkish yellow underneath ; a row of 

 black spots down the back ; two rows down each side, between which are white 

 spiracles on rather a darker ground than that outside the rows of black spots ; head 

 and tail a greenish hue: length of full-grown larva 1 inch. The larvae fed on plan- 

 tain, rolled up in the leaves at the roots, concealing themselves from observation. 

 There were five pupae discovered in all, two of which were each twice as large as either 

 of the other three; these three smaller all came out L. exigua, as above; the larger 

 two still remain alive as pupae. The above description applies to the smaller larvae ; 

 the larger were also described, and differed slightly: their habits being the same, 

 1 imagine they were introduced with the food when young. — Alexander Wallace ; 

 5, Green Terrace, Clerkenwell, February 20, 1857. 



The supposed new CEstrus. — I was not a little surprised to see announced in the 

 * Zoologist' (Zool. 5438) the discovery of a new species of the CEstrus or bot-fly, and 

 as this remarkable family has been an object of my especial care and consideration, as 

 the third and sixth volumes of the 'Transactions of the Linnean Society' testify, I 

 looked at it with no small curiosity and astonishment, and which, so well described, has 

 brought me to the conclusion that it was not a new species, as its ingenious author 

 supposes, but a variety only of that very varying insect, the CEstrus veterinus of my 

 enumeration, which has been the stumbling-block of many; Fabricius, for instance, 

 has made no less than three species out of these varieties, and Dr. Leach has made 

 two, one of which, his CEstrus Clarkii, in honour of ray name, I satisfied him was one 

 of this multiform-coloured insect. Linneus himself, who first described it, committed 

 the first blunder, in calling it the CEstrus nasalis, apprehending strangely that it 

 inhabited the nostrils of the horse : as this proved a gross error, I was reluctantly 

 obliged to change its name, and to give it the above, as relating to animals of burthen, 

 from the verbs veho, vecto, to bear or carry, and my rectification has been generally 

 adopted on the Continent: other writers have also blundered about it, so that it might 

 very well bear the name of CEstrus erratorum. It has been observed to deposit its 

 eggs on the breast of the horse, and in its larva state, of which I have had many, it 

 inhabits the stomach of the horse, with three other species of this genus. I used to 

 find the chrysalis under dung, in the fields about Worcester. If your obliging corre- 

 spondent will transmit it to London to my address, as given at foot, I would examine 

 it, and confirm these remarks or otherwise, and send him other coloured specimens of 

 it. — Bracy Clark; 18, Giltspur Street, London, February 2, 1857. 



Capture of Nomada ochrostoma in the North of England. — I have taken a series of 

 the very beautiful Nomada ochrostoma, Kirby, in the immediate vicinity of this 

 village : they frequent a mixed colony of Halictus rubricundus, Audrena cineraria 



