8734 



Insects. 



floating at or very near the surface, the larvae being partly submerged ; and again, 

 as mentioned above, they sometimes select a floating leaf and construct a case under 

 it. In most instances they undergo their metamorphoses in the same case in which 

 they lived ; but in some they leave it, and select a bit of the leaf of Sparganium, &c, 

 about an inch long. In this they eat a hole, and then attach the piece to a living leaf 

 by a few silken threads, when it is prepared to undergo the wonderful change. — 

 Edward Parfitt; Devon and Exeter Institution. 



Economy of Galleria Mellonella, Lin. — I have lately bred a good many of this 

 species from a mass of cocoons that were forwarded to Mr. Woodbury, the apiarian, 

 from Norfolk. This gentleman handed them to me for identification. The mass of 

 cocoons, which was about the size of one's fist and very firmly spun together, was of 

 a rather dull white colour, and was not put together with any degree of regularity, 

 although, generally speaking, the ends from whence the moths would escape were 

 left free. The silk of which the cocoon was made is very fine and exceedingly tough, 

 so that they are with difficulty separated from each other. The end from which the 

 insects would escape, or rather have escaped, is closed by a double covering somewhat 

 similar to that of Saturnia Carpini, so that nothing could intrude itself upon the 

 sleeping pupae ; at the same time an easy exit was provided for the moths. The 

 cocoons were given to me on the 6th of March, and the moths began to come out on 

 the 30th of July, and continued coming out. until the 20th of August, so that they 

 remain in pupae from five to six months. Two larvae had not spun up when I received 

 them, so that I was able to make a description, of which I give a transcript. Larva 

 tapering from the head towards the tail, dull grayish yellow. Head and second seg- 

 ment reddish testaceous, shining ; this segment is divided in the centre by a pale 

 line, which is continued along the back ; beneath pale dull white. The abdominal 

 segment is divided into two lobes ; spiracles dusky. The whole larva sparsely scat- 

 tered with long hairs. Pupa reddish brown, the antennae and wing-cases very dis- 

 tinctly showing; a sharp serrated dorsal ridge runs as far as the fourth segment from 

 the tail, and is continued interruptedly to the apex, where it ends in four hooks 

 directed downwards; the anterior portion of this ridge is double. There are four stiff 

 setae in each segment directed downwards, apparently to assist the pupae in moving. 

 —Id. 



Remarks on Mr. Kidd's Note on Mounting Mines of Micro-Lepidoptera on Card- 

 board. — In the July 'Zoologist' (Zool. 8648) is a note by Mr. Kidd on a new 

 method of mounting the mines of small larvae on cardboard, which plan he considers 

 superior to that of Mr. Stone, who mounts them on glass, as exhibited by Professor 

 Westwood. Mr. Newman kindly showed me the specimen, and I must take exception 

 to the supposition that it is less cumbrous than those on glass. If the specimen I saw 

 was a fair sample I can only say that it was more cumbrous ; and as to being able to 

 see both sides of the mine, is it not generally considered that glass is transparent ? 

 Mr. Kidd will, I am sure, excuse me for calling his attention to a most important 

 error in his note. He alludes especially to Lithocolletis mines and to a Lithocolletis 

 mine in bramble. Now a mine of this genus is usually no very beautiful object, being 

 a mere inflated blotch, but I must confess that a bramble-leaf with such a miue would 

 be particularly interesting, as no species of the genus is known to affect this plant. A 

 little further attention to the note, and especially to Mr. Newman's postscript, con- 

 vinced me that all hopes of a novelty were premature, and that the mine in reality 

 was a gallery of the common Nepticula aurella, a conclusion at once confirmed by a 



