Insects. 775 



wings fuscous. Measures 7 to 1\ lines. This obscure species seems to have been 

 overlooked by our authors, or probably taken for a dark variety of P. simpliciana. — 

 William Bentley ; 3, Critchell Place, New North Road, October, 1844. 



Further Notes on the habits of Cossomis Tardii. In a former note (Zool. 702) I 

 stated that I had been fortunate enough to capture eleven specimens of Cossonus Tar- 

 dii, in the course of three weeks, at Mount Edgcumbe in Devonshire, my observations, 

 when it was written, only extending up to the 3rd of June. I also observed that the 

 " beech " was the tree to which they appeared most attached, which, as far as my re- 

 searches went, was true, inasmuch as in the Mount Edgcumbe locality, beech is al- 

 most the only tree cultivated. Since that time, however, I have traced their devasta- 

 tions along the southern coast of Cornwall, from Mount Edgcumbe on the east to Fovey 

 on the west, — a distance of twenty-two miles ; and have, moreover, found them in al- 

 most every tree, with the exception of the oak, but most abundant in the sycamore, out 

 of a single trunk of which I took fifty-four specimens. The number of specimens that 

 I captured amounted in all to about a hundred and fifty, varying immensely both in 

 size and colour. The female appears decidedly the rarest of the sexes. In the month 

 of July, when they were out of the wood, I captured them all in the earth which had 

 collected in the decayed stumps, where I found them congregated exceedingly close 

 together, and clinging to the interior of the trunks, generally about five or six at a 

 time. It is curious that during the whole four months, I only observed a single ex- 

 ample actually out of the hollow trees, which solitary specimen I found on the 26th of 

 September, crawling upon the bark of a beech tree at Mount Edgcumbe. They stick 

 very tight to the wood, and I killed several specimens in trying to disengage them 

 from their hold, many of them allowing themselves to be torn in pieces rather than 

 give up their position. For the first two months of the summer, all the specimens I 

 captured were quite perfect ; and it is a remarkable fact, that after that time, until the 

 end of September, they appeared, each consecutive week, more and more imperfect, 

 many of them wanting three, four, or even five legs, and in one instance I discovered 

 a living trunk, its antennae (by which alone it could show its "liveliness") only remain- 

 ing. How to account for this I cannot say ; but it is certainly a fact worthy of notice, 

 for, wherever I observed, it was the same, and therefore could not be the effect of 

 chance in a few solitary specimens, inasmuch as it did not merely hold in one, two or 

 three instances, but in all. — T. Vernon Wollaston ; Jesus Coll. Cambridge, October 

 12, 1844. 



Note on the Otter's breeding on the banks of the Trent. Your correspondent Mr. 

 Briggs, of King's Newton, is rather incorrect in stating (Zool. 714) that the otter ne- 

 ver breeds on the banks of the Trent. It has been known to breed on that river near 

 Burton, within the memory of many persons now living there. A female was caught 

 in a trap on the river Dove, about three miles from thence, in August last, which was 

 evidently suckling young at the time ; the male otter was also traced higher up the 

 same river, but not captured, nor were the young ones found. About ten years ago, 

 my cousin, the present Rector of Rolleston, shot two otters on the Dove, in this parish, 

 a male and female, as they were disporting together on the banks of that river ; and 

 within my own recollection, several others have been caught in this neighbourhood. — 

 Osivald Mosley ; Rolleston Hall, near Bur ton-on- Trent, October 18, 1844. 



