Insects. 



5961 



Two Novelties for the next Edition of the ^Insect Hunters J* — There are 

 many very minute insects and beetles which come out only at night. These 

 are very interesting to the entomologist, but at the same time very difficult to 

 catch. Toads are not unfrequently turned into beetle-traps, and made to catch 

 these little night insects. A brigade of skirmishing toads is turned loose into 

 the garden in the evening: the toads, unconscious why so much kindness is 

 shown to them, do their best to get a good meal ; but in the morning their 

 master comes and makes them eject all their night work, which he does without 

 hurting them. In this way many curious and rare specimens of minute nocturnal 

 insects have been obtained. I have heard of a capital way to catch night-moths, with 

 little trouble: it was practised by a brave-hearted and gallant artillery officer,— alas! 

 now no more. He lived in a charming country house near St. George's Hill, at Wey- 

 bridge. The woods thereabouts are full of curious insects, and he used to catch the 

 moths by smearing the trunk of a tree with sugar and beer boiled together. A lantern 

 was then placed near the trap ; the moths, attracted by it, came flying round, and 

 were caught by the sticky mixture. — Buckland's Curiosities of Natural History, 



Occurrence of Sphinx Nerii at Brighton. — T have lately had the pleasure of placing 

 in my cabinet a magnificent specimen of Sphinx Nerii: the insect was accompanied 

 by the following note: — "The specimen of Sphinx Nerii was taken on the 16Lh of 

 August, in a room in Mount Sion Place, at the back of where I live, by a friend of 

 mine. Being a large moth, he secured it under a half-pint tumbler, in which it had 

 been all night when I first saw it: it appears to have flown in at a window, attracted 

 by light. Mr. Samuel Stevens was at Brighton on the day it was brought to me, and 

 saw the insect while it was still alive." — Lewis Tidy ; 16, Crown Gardens, Brighton, 

 January 20, 1858. This note will, I think, establish the claim of this individual 

 specimen to a place in a British collection. — A. F» Sheppard ; 16, North Buildings, 

 Finshury, January 22, 1858. 



Trochilium Vespiforme (Linn. ?), Asiliformis (Fab.). — Mr. Gardner (Zool. 5924) 

 wishes to make it appear that this species is almost unknown upon the Continent. If 

 he is ignorant of the fact, I beg to inform him that he will not find any great difficulty 

 in procuring specimens from Paris, " set in the British style." I have seen them in 

 M. Becker's boxes as well as in the Paris collections. The larva of this species feeds 

 upon the poplar, and its rarity is probably more apparent than real. Mr. English once 

 found several pupae-cases protruding from an aspen in our woods, which, from their 

 size, 1 have no doubt belonged to this species. I took three specimens in our garden, 

 all of them near the trunk of an aspen used as a support to a tree, and which was 

 brought from our woods, and have met with one or two others in this neighbourhood. 

 — Henry Douhleday ; Epping, January 14, 1858. 



Proposed Generic Name for the Phlogophora meticulosa of our Collections. — It is 

 very possible that on the Continent the genus Phlogophora, Treitschke aud Boisduval, 

 and consequently of our cabinets, is described by some other author or authors under 

 another title ; but as I am not aware of the fact, not having an opportunity of examining 

 any works relating thereto (and until this is ascertained), I propose that the alterations 

 in our lists should stand as follows: — 



Phlogophora, Treit., Boisd, 

 lucipara, Hubn., Linn., ^ c. (Euplexia lucipara, Sieph.), 

 empyrea, Huhn., Treit, 

 XVI, P 



