8470 



Insects. 



with those of Melanippe procellata, from Clematis, after dark. They are long, slender 

 and tapering towards the head, which is small, flat and rounded. Ground colour very 

 pale grayish brown. Dorsal line dark brown, very conspicuous and broad on the head, 

 thence tapering to the end of the 4th segment, where it generally becomes invisible, 

 reappearing, however, as a gray spot just behind the intersections of the segments, 

 and on the 10th segment broadening into a conspicuous black spot, which tapers to a 

 point forwards. Similar spots, but much fainter, can be traced on the 9th and 8th 

 segments, and sometimes on the 7th. On the hinder part of each of the middle seg- 

 ments is a pair of spots of the same colour as the gray spots before mentioned, with 

 which they form a triangle. Spiracular line slender, pale, edged each side with dark. 

 Sides below the spiracles paler and rather ochreous. Spots and spiracles couspicuous, 

 black, ringed with pale. Ventral line pale, rather broad, edged with a dark line of 

 considerable but variable breadth. There are numerous longitudinal lines, and on 

 many specimens transverse dorsal shades, especially on the middle segments. In some 

 examples all the above markings are very indistinct, except the conspicuous black 

 spot on the 10th segment. These larvae come out at dusk to feed, usually holding on 

 the edge of a leaf, and at the slightest touch dropping off, without leaving any silken 

 thread to return by; when on the ground they curl into a regular St. Catherine's 

 wheel. They are very lively at night, but quite the reverse by day. In habits they 

 closely resemble the larvae of M. procellata. The cocoon is rather slight and subter- 

 ranean. The imago began to appear early in May, and continued till the middle of 

 June. I had no difficulty in pairing them off, but what I may term their inveterate 

 habit of " child-dropping," gave me great trouble ; though nice Clematis sprigs were 

 prepared, they persisted in scattering their eggs in the earth at the foot of the glass 

 cylinder in which I kept the food, and as the eggs are brown it was difficult to collect 

 them. In this habit the insect differs altogether from M. procellata, which lays its 

 large white eggs upon the edges of the Clematis leaves. The imago. is not very lively. 

 — F. Beauchamp. 



Ichneumoned Eggs of Pygcera bucephala. — On the 3rd of July, 1858, I found a 

 batch of fifty-eight eggs of Pygaera bucephala on the under side of a birch leaf. I did 

 not then know what they were, so I made the following description of them : — Size 

 intermediate between those of Lubricipeda and vinula, hemisperical, prolonged 

 into a very short cylinder at the base; the cylindrical part brown (just the colour 

 of glue), the remainder, and by far the greater part of the egg, bluish while, 

 with the lop, however, conspicuously black ; the whole surface shining, and (examined 

 through a lens) appearing as if enamelled. On the 2nd of August small black 

 ichneumons made their appearance in the winged state, having gone through all 

 their changes in the egg-shell. I preserved the egg-shells with a number of the flies, 

 which I shall be happy to present to you or to any of your readers. — Id. 



Divorce and re-union of Platypteryx falcula. — About two in the afternoon I found 

 a pair of these insecls in copula. They separated, owing to my having endeavoured 

 to remove them into another place, at about 5 p. m. About dusk the female laid three 

 or four eggs. Next morning I found them again in copuld, and they voluntarily 

 separated about 1 p.m.; after which the rest of the eggs were laid. — Id. 



Occurrence of Noctua sobrina at Rannoch.—Mv. G. H. Wilkinson exhibited a box 

 containing a specimen of Noctua sobrina, taken by John Stafford at Rannoch, at 

 sugar, in August last. — Proceedings of the Northern Entomological Society, October 4, 

 1862. 



