Insects. 



6503 



Capture of Deilephila Galii.— In the ' Zoologist ' (Zool. 6066), it is stated that a 

 specimen of this insect is in the Taunton Museum : it was presented to the Museum 

 by John Woodland, a gentleman now residing at Bridgwater, who has iuformed me 

 that it was taken in a garden at Taunton ; he has also lately shown me another 

 specimen, which was taken in the same or a neighbouring garden, some time in the 

 last summer.— Thomas Clark ; Halesleigh, March 4, 1859. 



Agrolis Prcecox. — Your correspondent " Talpa " (Intel, y. 132) states that he has 

 been unable to find the larva of this insect ; as I have had little difficulty in obtaining 

 it in plenty, I will endeavour to enlighten him as to my method of procuring them. 

 Let him visit the sand-hills on the coast some fine warm day about the end of May, 

 when he will not fail to observe the tracks made by the larva? crawling on the sand at 

 the edges of the patches of dwarf willows ; by tracing one of these he will find it 

 abruptly terminate at a small hillock or upheaving of the sand, under which is the 

 larva. Having once become acquainted with them he need not trace the tracks, but, 

 avoiding making too many tracks himself, carefully search for the hillocks or burrows, 

 where he will have no difficulty in procuring as many as he likes. I have taken in 

 this way upwards of eighty in an hour, and there is little difficulty in rearing them ; 

 mine fed well on the willow, the perfect insect appearing in August. — G. A. Almond ; 

 50, Oliver Street, Birkenhead. — From the 4 Intelligencer.'' 



Notes on Xanthia ocellaris. — Having given attention to this reputed British 

 species, and availed myself of all the information I can concerning it, I find that the 

 statement as to its being British is liable to doubt, and as many of the facts connected 

 with it are not generally known I have forwarded you the result of my researches, for 

 the benefit of those who are interested in the question. The first so-called British 

 specimen was, I understand, captured at Brighton in 1856, and was forwarded to 

 Mr. Doubleday for confirmation, but the owner being a dealer in foreign Lepidoptera, 

 and his word not being thought reliable, it was not then admitted into our lists. Last 

 year five specimens, which were asserted to belong to this new species, were taken at 

 Brighton and Deal, but as they do not possess the characteristics, which, according 

 to M. Guenee, they should possess, the question naturally arises, Are not the so-called 

 specimens only varieties of Xanthia gilvago mistaken for X. ocellaris? In order to 

 investigate this inquiry, I will refer to each of the cases, but before doing so it is ad- 

 visable to give a description of X. ocellaris, so that we may better understand the 

 question at issue ; the one I give is extracted from M. G uenee's ' Noctuelites : ' — " This 

 Xanthia is perfectly distinct from X. gilvago: it differs in the anterior wings, which 

 are more pointed at the tip, the costal portion of which is hollowed in its veins, which 

 are usually lighter than the ground-colour, in its posterior wings, which are of a purer 

 white, and only duskied by some gray hairs on the border of the abdomen. The black 

 of the reniform stigma is almost always ocellated and the lines more distinct." With 

 the above description as a criterion, I have examined the specimeus captured by 

 Mr. H. Pratt, of Brighton, and find that, although it agrees with X. ocellaris in some 

 of its details, in others it is totally deficient : it agrees in the upper wings being more 

 pointed at the tip, in the costal portion being slightly hollowed, and in the hind wings 

 being duskied by gray hairs proceeding from the abdomen; but in the black of the 

 reniform stigma being ocellated, in the veins being lighter, or the wings of purer 

 while, it differs much. Mr. Allis and the Members of the Entomological Society to 

 which I belong are of opinion that it is only X. gilvago, in which I fully concur. 



