1868. 



171 



I fancied,) neatly dissected away from their cards ; rows of tarsal and antennal 

 tips testifying to the dexterity of the unknown operator. The insects being merely 

 common species, and my curiosity piqued to discover what it was that caused the 

 mischief, I allowed the setting board to remain for a fourth night, during which a 

 sudden visit with a candle disclosed a large eanvig, unctuously scooping out the 

 abdomen of a Myrmedonia. " His end was pieces." — E C . R.] 



An economic use for the galls of Cynips lignicola. — I do not remember to have 

 seen it mentioned anywhere that ornamental baskets made of wire, and covered, 

 instead of beads, with rows of the galls of Cynics lignicola, are hawked about for 

 sale in the streets of London. 



The thought has struck me, that were the more regular specimens of this gall 

 carefully picked before the imago escapes, or rather before the titmouse disfigures 

 them in its search for the tasty morsel within, they might, after destruction of the 

 inmate by heat, serve as a cheap substitute for the turned wooden balls of similar 

 size, so often employed in ornamental woodwork. 



For this purpose they might be sorted according to size, and employed, par- 

 ticularly in cases where lightness would be desirable, and where their fragility 

 would not be exposed to too severe a trial : for instance, as inner borders on the 

 frames of looking-glasses and pictures, &c. — Albert Muller, Penge, S.E., Nov. 

 9th, 1868. 



Argynnis Lathonia at Margate. — It may interest many of your readers to know 

 that my friend, the Rev. G. Lewis, took at the above place, during September, two 

 fine specimens of A. Lathonia ; besides some dozens of CoUas Hyale. — Augustine 

 Gaviller, Manor Road, Stamford Hill, 21st October, 1868. 



Occurrence of Acherontia Atropos at Dumfries. — On the arrival of the mail train 

 on the evening of 27th September last, one of the employes about the station 

 noticed on one of the carriages a large insect at rest, which turned out to be A. 

 Atropos, and, through the attention of a kind friend, is now in my collection. It is 

 a very large specimen, measuring over five inches across the wings. — W.Lennon, 

 Crichton Institution, Dumfries, October 6th, 1868. 



Sphinx convolvuli and Acherontia Atropos at Folkestone. — I had a fine specimen of 

 8. convolvuli brought me last month by a boy. Acherontia Atropos has not been at all 

 rare, I have heard of several captures of larvae and images. One specimen of the per- 

 fect insect was found by a boy among the grass in the Warren, and brought to me. 

 I kept it a few days, and it died a natural death. It frequently emitted the sounds 

 peculiar to its species, always raising the thorax and bending down the head and 

 abdomen as it did so. When breathing its last it gave out a long succession of 

 sounds growing fainter and fainter, just like a succession of breathings, giving me 

 the impression that the noise was produced, not by friction, but by inspiration or 

 respiration of air. It made the noise when I first had it every time I merely touched 

 it with my finger, but when it got accustomed to such treatment, it never made it 

 without rather rougher handling.— Heney Ullyett, Folkestone, October, 1868. 



