C792 



Insects. 



appear to me to be nocturnal : if the insect is upon the surface, the moment it is ex- 

 posed to the light it rushes down and takes refuge in a crack in the turf or at the 

 bottom, between the turf and the glass, and never seems to run about in the light if it 

 can help it. I suspect that it would be found roving about at night, if searched for by 

 the aid of a lantern. It nibbles at pieces of meat which I put into the glass, and when 

 the turf becomes dry sucks apparently with avidity any moist substance introduced. 

 Its habits are very like those of Lebia crux-minor and Drypta, which I formerly kept 

 for some two or three months in the same manner, but they do not show the tendency 

 to congregate and creep into the same hole which I observed in Drypta. — J. A. Power ; 

 52, Barton Crescent, October 26, 1859. 



Occurrence of Quedius auricomus at Paisley. — Mr. Morris Young, of Paisley, has 

 discovered a habitat near his home for this beautiful Brachelytron : it is adorned with 

 two patches of golden pile on the exposed part of each abdominal segment, and by 

 this very conspicuous character may be distinguished at a glance from every species of 

 Quedius with which we are acquainted. It was first recorded as British in the first 

 volume of the ' Entomologist's Annual.' — Edward Newman. 



Occurrence of Latridius nodifer and Corticaria borealis in the North of England. 

 — I captured, about the middle of October last, a single specimen of Latridius nodifer, 

 Westwood, and a long series of Corticaria borealis, Wollaston, by tearing up the 

 patches of Convolvulus arvensis growing on the sea-banks, and shaking them over a 

 sheet of paper. — Thomas John Bold; Angas' Court, Bigg Market, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 November 10, 1859. 



Capture of Vespa arborea in Cumberland. — In working up my wasps I find several 

 females of Vespa arborea, Smith, all captured in Cumberland, during the month of 

 July. When there in April, May and June, I invariably took all female wasps, in 

 hopes of finding V. arborea, but, after the most careful examination, I cannot find 

 that I have taken it at any other time than in July, when the females were certainly 

 by no means rare. Can it differ so much from its fellows as not to appear till mid- 

 summer? — Id.; November 18, 1859. 



The Hatching of the Larva of a Chrysopa. — " Twenty eggs of a species of Chrysopa, 

 which hatched on the 20th of June, have afforded to me a different result than that 

 which Schneider and others have mentioned. Thus instead of, as with them, a smaller, 

 rounder top of the egg being loosened, there was seen in each egg a straight slit, 

 extending nearly half its length, not however quite reaching to the micropyle, and at 

 the upper end of this slit was a shorter transverse, sidelong fissure, through which the 

 exit of the larva was made. The larva cast its skin in the act of exclusion, and left 

 behind it in the cast skin the saw with which (as in Osmylus) the slit was made. The 

 saw is nearly in the form of a carpenter's axe, but having a more curved edge, which, 

 beneath, is drawn out at one end to a point, and is rather irregularly furnished with 

 sharp teeth. The upper end of the edge forms a peculiar round, projecting, sharper 

 toothed flap. The young larvae did not burst direct from the eggs, but crawled down 

 along the thread. It appears to be a general law that the larvae cast their skins in the 

 exclusion from the egg, and leave the skin in the slit in the egg, as I have before 

 attentively observed in Osmylus." The above very interesting note by Dr. Hagen 

 appears in the last part of the Stettin ' Entomologische Zeitung,' and may not, except 

 in the English dress, meet the eyes of many readers of the 1 Zoologist' — ./. W. Douglas ; 

 Lee, November 14, 1859. 



E. Newman, Printer, Devonshire Street, BishopBgate, N.E. 



