0731 



Insects. 



them to Mr. Henry Doubleday, who writes that "it is certainly new to Britain, and 

 extremely near to Leucania punetosa and L. putrescens." — R. M. Stewart ; 3, Park 

 Place, Torquay. [A specimen of this insect has been forwarded to me, to be named, 

 by Dr. Battersby, of Torquay ; it was taken at dusk, in the middle of July, hovering 

 over the blossom of the blackberry, on the cliffs. I presume this is the insect taken 

 by Mr. Stewart, and this is undoubtedly L. putrescens. L. punetosa is a redder 

 insect, with a less distinctly marked black streak from the base of the wing. L. pu- 

 trescens is a native of the South and West of France. Herrich-Schaffer and Guenee 

 both place it next to L. obsoleta. — Ed. ' Intelligencer/] 



Capture of Hadena peregrina in the Isle of Wight. — I have much pleasure in 

 recording the capture of a second specimen of the above insect : I took it on the 

 23rd ult., at sugar, within a few yards of the place where Mr. Bond captured his spe- 

 cimen last year: it is a female and in beautiful condition. I am indebted to 

 the courtesy of Mr. Doubleday in naming the insect. — R. MacLachlan ; 1, Park 

 Road Terrace, Forest Hill, September 7, 1859. 



Xanthia gilvago, fyc. — I have again bred a few specimens of this insect from the 

 larva. I am unfortunately unable to give a description of it, farther than to say that 

 it so closely resembles that of X. ferruginea that I cannot separate it. Both feed on 

 the seeds of the wych elm, and it is impossible to distinguish them at that early stage 

 — at least, I cannot. In the ' Intelligencer ' (vol. ii. p. 94) I gave a description of what 

 I then supposed to be the larva of X. gilvago: it turned out to be X. ferruginea. 

 However, the description there given will answer equally well for X. gilvago, so far 

 as I can judge at present. My specimens of the perfect insect, which differ much from 

 others that I have seen, are small, which I account for in the following way. The 

 seeds of the wych elm appeared a fortnight earlier than usual, owing to the uncommon 

 warmth of the season. This warmth was followed by a sudden and protracted frost, 

 and the seed perished by wholesale. It was, therefore, with the utmost difficulty that 

 I could supply them with food, since, as far as my experience goes, they will not eat 

 the leaves. For the same reason, I doubt not, I have been uuable to find a single 

 pupa. I have bred a fine series of X. cerago, from the catkins of the sallow, and shall 

 be happy to supply, as long as they last, any collector with bred specimens of it, or 

 any of the following, viz , X. silago, Trichiura Cratajgi, Hypogymna dispar and 

 Tethea subtusa. — J. Greene ; Cubley Rectory, Doveridge, Derby. 



Description of the Larva of JEupithecia absinthiata. — It would be impossible to 

 give an accurate description of the almost endless varieties of this most variable larva ; 

 they run so closely into each other that it would be an almost Herculean task to 

 separate them. The ground-colour is either yellowish green, deep rose-colour or dirty 

 reddish brown, with a series of reddish lozenge-shaped spots down the centre of the 

 back, generally becoming faint or confluent towards the head and tail. In the green 

 variety these spots are often entirely wanting. On each side a number of narrow, 

 slanting, yellow stripes, forming a sort of border to the dorsal spots. Spiracular line 

 waved, yellow. Body wrinkled, thickly studded with minute while tubercles, and 

 somewhat more sparingly with short white hairs. Segmental divisions yellow, thick 

 and stumpy, tapering but little. Feeds from the end of August to the beginning of 

 November, upon the flowers of common yellow and hoary-leaved ragwort (Senecio 

 Jacobaia and S. crucifolium), the hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), the mug- 

 wort (Artimesia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), golden rod (Solidago 

 virgaurea), &e. The pupa, which is encosed in a tightly-spun earthen cocoon, has the 



