8530 



Insects. 



letter, and said that, although he did not like to give a positive opinion without seeing 

 the insect itself, he believed it was L. Desvllesi, a species of which but very little is 

 known. Dr. Boisduval's specimens were taken near Havre. Soon after I received a 

 letter from Dr. Staudinger, who said it was a species which he dicj. not possess, but 

 was most probably L. Desvllesi or L. Nickerlii. At the request of the Rev. H. Bumey 

 I have written these few lines for publication in the 'Zoologist,' but the identity of 

 the Welsh insect with L. Desyflesi cannot be proved till they have been compared. — 

 H. Doubleday ; Epping, April 18, 1863. 



Description of the Larva of Phlogophora meticulosa. — When touched or annoyed 

 it feigns death, turning its head on one side until it touches the side of the body, and 

 I have sometimes seen this larva form a compact ring. Form somewhat leach-like, 

 the head small, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments gradually larger, those following much 

 larger, the 12th gibbose, but not humped on the back: smooth, velvety. Colour of the 

 head pale obscure green, semihyaline, reticulated with darker lines : colour of the body 

 apple-green or olive-brown: in either case it is densely sprinkled with very obscure 

 whitish dots; there is an interrupted, very narrow median white line on the back, 

 and a broader obscure whitish Hue on each side, just below the spiracles, better 

 defined on the 12th and 13th segments, and terminating in the anal claspers; 

 the spiracles are whitish, surrounded by a delicate black line; the legs and claspers 

 semihyaline-green. Feeds on Senecio vulgaris (groundsel), the cultivated Chrys- 

 anthemums, Primula vulgaris (primrose) and a variety of low-growing herbs. I 

 am indebted to my friend Mr. Doubleday for a supply of these larvae ; they 

 fed throughout the mild winter of 1862-3, and are full-fed now, at the end of 

 April. It spins a slight web on the ground in April or May, and changes to a 

 smooth brown chrysalis; the moths appear in May and June, and a second 

 brood is out in September. The larvae vary from bright green to olive-brown. — 

 Edward Newman. 



Amara brunnea, Gyll.— The claim of this species for a place among the British 

 Coleoptera appears to rest on the following reference in Dawson's ' Geodephaga 

 Britanriica,' p. 127, " Stated by Mr. Haliday to have been taken at Portmarnoch, in 

 . Ireland, by Messrs. Tardy and Furlong ;" since, although Stephens' description (Man. 

 38, 276) is apparently correct, the exponents of the species in his collection are wrong. 

 Dawson (loc. cit.) mentions this circumstance, and refers them to his A. orichalcica, 

 A. bifrons of Gyllenhal ; but he also is in error, for, of the five specimens representing 

 Amara brunnea in the Stephensian cabinet, the four upper insects are certainly 

 A. rufocincta of Sahlberg, and are evidently the species considered as A. brunnea by- 

 Stephens, whilst the fifth only is A. orichalcica, a large dark specimen in a disguised 

 condition. With reference, therefore, to the Irish specimens, on which Dawson 

 relies, it appears, from enquiries I have made, that on the death of Messrs. Tardy and 

 Furlong, their collections came into the possession of the Royal Dublin Society, from 

 whom, in consequence of a circumstance hereafter mentioned, I have obtaiued the 

 loan of one of Mr. Furlong's type specimens with the name "brunnea" attached, for 

 which assistance I am much indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Birchall, Dunlop and 

 Wright. This insect is also decidedly Amara rufocincta of Sahlberg, a species not 

 included in Dawson's work, but added subsequently by him in one of the Entomolo- 

 gical Annuals. My attention was drawn to the matter by seeing the species marked 

 in a list of Geodephaga belonging to Mr. E. Graham, of Preston, and, on ray asking 

 for some explanation as to its identity, &c, that gentleman kindly lent me his speci- 



