6310 



Insects. 



brownish tint, with the middle tail feathers projecting ahout three inches, and the 

 others had attained very nearly their adult state, the under parts being white with the 

 exception of a few dusky markings remaining more or less on the throat and breast: 

 in this plumage they are very rarely met with on this coast. The single pomarine 

 specimen that I examined was also in rapid progress to maturity, the whole of the 

 under surface of the body being mottled with white and dusky brown. All these birds 

 •were shot from the boats engaged in the herring fishery, as the skuas, like the common 

 gulls, follow up the shoals of fish as they approach our shores, but not with the same 

 honest intention of gaining their own living as their kindred species, whom they too 

 often bully out of their well-earned meal, as the sea eagle pounces on the osprey. — 

 H. Stevenson; Nonvich^ November 6, 1858, 



Colias Edusa near London. — On Wednesday, October 27th, I took a fine male 

 specimen of Colias Edusa in my garden, apparently fresh from the chrysalis. I have 

 recorded this fact, thinking it somewhat remarkable in this locality, so near London. 

 Since writing the above my sou has taken anotber specimen of C. Edusa in the 

 Camden Road, leading to the villas. — Joshua Dix ; 29, St. Paul's Road, Camden 

 Square, N.IV., October 30, 1858. 



[Many oiher instances have occurred within the last fortnight, but I have not 

 room for them. — E. Newman. 1 



On the Food plant of Polyommatus Artaxerxes and P. Agestis. — Much has been 

 stated by Mr. Logan and Mr. Wailes (Zool. 6276 and 6278) to prove that P. Agestis 

 feeds on the Helianthemura ; facts prove to me the contrary. That the perfect insects 

 frequent the blossoms of that plant I do not dispute, but this does not prove that the 

 larvae feed on it. Now for a fact or two : the Deal sands (a tract of waste land about five 

 miles in length by half a mile in width), from one end to the other, is a great station 

 for Erodium cicutarium ; here P. Agestis may be found in hundreds, and it is here 

 that I take the larvae. These sands are adjoining marshes of some miles in extent, 

 on which there is no Helianthemum at all: leaving this part of the country, and 

 travelling inland, we shall find the Helianthemum in abundance, and P. Agestis is 

 quite wanting, or very rare. Another instance: at Dartford Heath, in Kent, the 

 Erodium is foimd in some plenty; here P. Agestis may be found also; but the 

 Helianthemum is rare on the Heath. Again, on the sides of Darenth Wood the 

 Helianthemum grows in abundance; here but one or two of P. Agestis have been 

 found, and they had evidently got astray. On the sand-hills P. Agestis and the 

 common blue keep company; so fond are they of the Aramophila aniudinacea that 

 these two species are always found silting on it to rest at night and flying among it by 

 day, and one might arrive at the conclusion that it is their food-plant: seldom are 

 they found on their food-plant, the Erodium. It is well known that the common blue 

 settles on the common rush, but that does not prove it is their food-plant The reason 

 why P. Artaxerxes is found in such numbers on Arthur's Seat is because it is a great 

 station for Helianthemum vulgare. Mr. Logan says P. Agestis is as much attached 

 to the Helianthemum as to the Erodium : I think these facts prove the contrary ; or 

 why is not P. Agestis found in plenty where the Helianthemum grows in abundance? 

 Again, I am informed by Mr. Logan that the larva of P. Artaxerxes will spin up 

 against the face of a rock or in coufiuemenl : 1 have bred a great number of P. Agestis, 



