6284 



Insects. 



feeds indiscriminately upon those plants that have flowers, and those that have not, 

 and will sometimes completely hollow out the flower-stalk, it almost invariably forms 

 its cocoon in a plant without a flower. The pupa must be kept very moist, or you will 

 not breed the perfect insect. It is best, if possible, to cut oflf the stem with the pupa 

 in it, but if it slips out, as it is very likely to do, the best plan is to lay it upon some 

 damp earth, in a tolerably close-fitting tin box. I have seen the pupa so low down in 

 the stalk, as to be partially submerged in the water. The perfect insect should always, 

 if possible, be stuff*ed, as it is more subject to grease than perhaps any other moth, and 

 will undergo numberless immersions in turpentine and magnesia without being cleansed. 

 — //. Harpur Crewe, — From * The Naturalist' 



Occurrence of Synia musculosa at Brighton. — On the 10th of August I had the 

 good fortune to capture a female specimen of the above rare and beautiful insect; a 

 friend with me the same evening took two others, male and female ; the same friend a 

 few days before took a female specimen of Pieris Daplidice ; another person here on 

 the 5th instant also took this insect, which I saw alive. — T. Thorncroft ; Brighton^ 

 August 18, 1858.— /i/. 



Occurrence of Acronycta Alni near York, — In 1856 a larva of this species feeding 

 on the willow, was taken in the Museum Gardens by Mr. Brown, which he succeeded 

 in rearing the following year. On the 16th of August, 1857, I was equally fortunate 

 in taking another in our garden, which fed on lime, from the pupa of which, on the 

 30lh of last May, emerged a beautiful specimen of this rare insect. On the 13th ult. 

 Mr. Prest found a fine larva, which went down a few days afterwards, and on the 29th 

 ult. Mr. Robinson obtained a larva, which was found on a blade of grass, the only trees 

 near it consisting of oak and the common nut. Mr. Allis has also met with this species 

 near York. I may here remark that although the ' Manual ' states that all the Acro- 

 nycta larva) spin cocoons, such was not the case with any of those which I now record, 

 all the pupae being on or under the earth, without the least appearance of a cocoon. — 

 Robert Anderson; Coney Street, York, September 2, 1858. — Id. 



Larva of Dasycampa rubiginea. — In the course of last month I bred four specimens 

 of D. rubiginea, from eggs laid in a pill-box by a female, taken at sallows near 

 Mario w, last spring. The larva, when full fed, is remarkably c^'lindrical, and tapering 

 towards the head; the colour is a dark olivaceous-brown (not a yellowish brown) ; the 

 hair is exceedingly fine, and shines like gold in the sun, and is confined to the sides, 

 reminding one of ihe larva of A. megacephala, so that it appears almost a naked larva ; 

 the blackish spots on the back appear, at first sight, circular, but on examination are 

 more nearly square, and are composed of two rhombi, divided by the dorsal line. 

 The larvae fed on the leaf of the Orleans plum, and were curiously concealed during 

 the day-time among the leaves; so that, though I had them in a glass cylinder, I 

 could seldom find more than one visible at a time. In regard to this species feeding 

 on the plum, a very fresh specimen of the insect was taken near this place, on the bole 

 of a damson tree, at sugar, and another specimen in an orchard, which facts are 

 suggestive. The eggs appeared to hatch too early for the oak to be their common 

 food. The perfect insect seldom appears here much before the end of October or 

 beginning of November. — B. Smith; Marlow, October 6, 1858. — ^Intelligencer,'' 



Occurrence of Xanlhia ocellaris on the Coast. — No less than five of this insect have 

 been taken this autumn: one by Mr. Tidy, on the 18th of September; one by Mr. 

 Pratt, on the 21st; and one by Mr. Turner, on the 24th ; all near Brighton : two by 

 Mr. Harding, near Deal, about the same date. Mr. Smith, a Brighton collector, took 



