iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



9 



Pyg^ra bucephala feeding on common laurel. — Several records 

 have been made during the past year in Tlie Entomologist of Diloha 

 ccevideocepliala feeding on the common laurel Cemsus laurocerasiis ; I 

 can add another to the list, viz., Pygcera httcephala ; in July last I 

 observed a colony of these larvae feeding on the above named shrub, 

 which forms a fence to the station master's garden at Bickleigh, 

 Devon. — G. C. Bignell, Stonehouse, Plymouth, 13th Dec, i8go. 



Larv^ of a. caja hibernating. — Desiring to send some hibernating 

 larvae of A . caja to an American friend, I have fed a small brood during 

 the autumn. I soon saw they were progressing at very different rates', 

 and concluded some of them would spin and emerge this year, whilst 

 the others would hibernate as usual. Perhaps had I attempted to 

 force them a little some would have completed their changes. But 

 they were kept in a cold room, and none have spun up. Some of them 

 however, appear quite full fed, whilst others are in various stages of 

 progress, down to that state in which they are generally found in 

 early spring. I had an idea that hibernating larvae would all pass the 

 winter in exactly the same stage, but it has thus been dispelled. — John 

 E. RoBSON, Harlepool. 



Cymatophora fluctuosa. — The larvae feeds between united birch 

 leaves during September, when it is full fed. It is a difficult caterpillar 

 to dislodge, and takes a prodigious amount of beating out. It is 

 getting very scarce here now, and being so generally local, and where 

 it does occur hard to procure, I consider it one of the difficult species 

 to fill up a series. The larvae pupates between birch leaves in a state 

 of nature, and either between the same, or among the rubbish at the 

 bottom of the cage, in captivity. — A. E. Hall, Norbury, Sheffield. 



Tryph^na orbona. — I was much struck last May with some black 

 formiS of the larvae of Trypluena orhona feeding on Foxglove at Dela- 

 mere. They contrasted very markedly with some larvae of the same 

 species feeding on nettle and mixed herbage on the same ground. I 

 collected some of them, thinking they would probably produce good 

 varieties, but I was quite disappointed, for the imagines were of the 

 most ordinary forms. — Jos. Collins, Warrington. 



Tethia Retusa. — Judging from the desiderata lists one has sent 

 this species is much wanted. Possibly the following hints may 

 enable many to supply themselves with it : — 



