Insects. 581 



tion will be easily perceived. Mr. Quekett considers that the propulsion in one direc- 

 tion of the fluid acted on by the movement of the cilia, is chiefly effected by this pecu- 

 liar arrangement. — J. W. 



Enquiry respecting Pontia Brassicce and Chariclea, Could any of your readers 

 point out some real and permanent distinction between Pontia Brassicse and Chariclea. 

 I caught several specimens last month, which appear to agree with Stephens' descrip- 

 tion of P. Chariclea, some of P. Brassicse, and others intermediate between them. The 

 chief points of distinction given by Stephens, are the colour of the apical spot on the 

 anterior wings, the integrity of its inner edge, the deeper colour of the under surface 

 of the posterior wings, and the smaller size of P. Chariclea, most of which characters 

 appear to vary more or less in nearly every specimen. If therefore these distinctions 

 are not permanent, is there snfficient to constitute it a separate species? And may not 

 it and the intermediate varieties be considered as belonging to P. Brassicse, the varia- 

 tions being caused by the early appearance and other circumstances? — G. S. Gibson; 

 Saffron Walden, May 3, 1844. 



Note on Nonagria crassicornis. I have been making a few observations on the man- 

 ner in which the eggs of Nonagria crassicornis are deposited, which I send for ' The 

 Zoologist,' thinking they may prove interesting to entomologists. I took a female at 

 Hammersmith on the 23rd of September ; she deposited thirteen eggs on a piece of 

 chip projecting into the box, three of them hatched on the 4th of April, five on the 

 6th, four on the 7th, and the last one on the 8th. The larvae, on being placed on the 

 young reeds, soon made their way to the roots and disappeared under the earth. They 

 were about a quarter of an inch in length, of a fawn colour, rather darker on the back, 

 the head of a light brown colour, and a scutellation on the first segment of the same 

 colour. The body tapers from the head to the tail, and has several short hairs on the 

 segments. Also on October 23 I took a pair of the same species in copuld. I then 

 procured a quantity of reeds, which I planted in a box, and placed it in a large cage 

 along with the female moth, where she lived until the 4th of December. When the 

 eggs of the first moth hatched, I cut down the reeds and carefully examined them, to 

 ascertain if any eggs were deposited among them, as on several occasions the moth ap- 

 peared to be depositing her eggs. After a strict search I discovered upwards of two hun- 

 dred and fifty eggs, all upon the upper side of the leaves, at the edge, and nearer the 

 point of the leaf than the stem of the reed. They are deposited in single rows upon the 

 leaves, (in one instance I found thirty-five eggs in one row), and as the edges of the 

 leaves curl over in drying, the eggs are as it were concealed in a tube, and are not to 

 be found without some trouble. They all hatched between the 10th and the 15th. 

 The fact of the eggs being deposited on the leaves, and remaining in that state all the 

 winter, will, I think, in a great measure account for the scarcity of the species, as in 

 case the reeds are cut down or destroyed before the time for the eggs to hatch, the 

 whole brood must inevitably perish, and thus the species may become extinct in a lo- 

 cality. — Henry Longley ; 1, Eaton Place, North Row, Park St., Grosvenor Square, 

 April 16, 1844. 



Note on the capture of Anticlea berberata at Epping. I captured a beautiful female 

 specimen of Anticlea berberata in our own field, on the 2nd of this month. I believe 

 this is the first time this rare moth has been taken near London. — Henry Doubleday, 

 Epping, May 6, 1244. 



