136 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[June 



ing everything back. I hope to get off for D. cwsia at the end of the 

 month. — E. R. Curzon, Dublin. 



Ballycastle, Ireland.— I did well during my run up to Bally- 

 castle, and took a nice lot of Taeniocampas, including some good forms 

 of r. rubricosa ; also a long series of Zonaria larvae. E. abbreviata was 

 common, and 5. lobiilata fairly so. I took some Pieris napi large and 

 very dark. The weather is very unsettled, sleet is falling to-day, and 

 a gale is blowing. I can do little till it gets warmer. 1 hope to have 

 a new Tortrix for you in July ; I have seen one taken last year, and hope 

 to obtain it. — Id., May i6th, i8gi. 



feed on fine grasses in stony places along the railway bank. In 1889 

 they were abundant at the end of April. I find them do best on 

 whitethorn in confinement, but they are not an easy larva to rear, any 

 damp food proving fatal. It is still a darker green than lichenea, with 

 a yellow instead of white spiracular line. They remain like this till 

 the last moult, after which it is impossible to attempt a description. 

 No two larvae are alike, they exhibit every shade of green, brown, 

 slate, red, and rarely, brilliant rose colour, and every possible com- 

 bination of these colours, even in the same larva, some being beauti- 

 fully chequered all over. I can assure you that 100 or so full-fed 

 larvae are a sight not easily forgotten. — E. R. Curzon, Howth, April 

 loth, 1 89 1. 



M. ARTEMIS. — I am busy collecting M. avteiiiis larvae here in Water- 

 ford, but the cold weather is keeping them very much back. — Id. 



Last autumn I saw a female of Aischna cyanea settling on a bank 

 overhanging a pond in Epping Forest, it moved several times, and 

 remained at each place three or four minutes, and kept applying the 

 end of its abdomen to the bank all the while as though depositing its 

 ova. It was so intent upon the operation that I was able to capture 

 it with my hand. I took off" some of the mould from the bank, but 

 could discover no ova in it. What was this dragon-fly probably 

 doing? — F. ]\IiLTOx, 164, Stamford Hill, N. 



Larvae. 



Epunda nigra. — The larvae of Epiinda nigva are just beginning to 



Neuroptera. 



