80 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



and with only four faint white spots, and no rings round them on the hind- 

 wings. Is this a common variety, as I took one almost similar a few years 

 ago. — E. Hutchinson, Kimbolton, Leominster. 



(This is the var. Arete, Mull. It is not uncommon in some places, Dover for 

 instance, but is not generally common. — Ed. Y.N.) 



Saturday, March 13th. — Observed leucopkearia mAfagelta on Oaks, at 

 Richmond Park ; hard frost, skating on the ponds ; picked up a dead thrush, 

 absolutely starved to death, it had tried' to get water from a frozen spring on 

 Wimbledon Common ; wrens were searching round the tree trunks for insects, 

 all birds very tame. — J. Henderson, Heme Hill. 



March 14th. — Single specimens of ascularia, P. pilo&aria, leucopkearia, 

 on fences. March 20th : in Surrey Woods, warm weather brought moths 

 out, 7 leucopkearia, 3 progemmaria males, and one female laid 50 eggs, 3 

 mscularia, 7 leucopkearia, Tortrix kyemana abundant. — C. H. Watson. 



Preservation or Colours in Dragonflies. — Can any of the readers of 

 the Young Naturalist give me a recipe for preserving the brilliant colours 

 in dragonflies ? I captured a large number of beautiful specimens in Argyll- 

 shire last season, but find that they have since lost much of their beauty. As 

 I intend being in the same locality again this season, and hope to take some 

 more specimens, I shall be glad of any information as to how I could preserve 

 their brilliant colours.. — John Mack ay, Glasgow. 



MR. BUCKLER'S DRAWINGS AND THE RAY SOCIETY'S 



NEW VOLUME. 



The Eev. J. Hellins, The Close, Exeter, being anxious to complete as far 

 as possible the descriptions of larvss of British Macro-lepidoptera, which the 

 late Mr. Buckler, owing to the suddenness of his death, left unfinished, would 

 be thankful to any entomologist, who would kindly furnish him with an example 

 or two of the larvae of any of the following species : — Atropos, Celerio, Elpenor, 

 Porcellus, Stellatarum, Fuciformis, Bombyliformis, Statices, Geryon, Z. trifolii, 

 Cribrum, P. arundinis, Testudo, Ilicifolia, Bictceoides, Dodonea. Should the 

 perfect insect be bred, Mr. Hellins does not wish to retain them. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



R.B. — It is you who are wrong. True, Doubleday gives priority to Guenee's name of 

 Molybdcola, and the error arose thus. Guenee named it on the 14th August, 1861, and 

 as it was called Sericeain the Entomologists' Annual for 1862, it would seern at first sight 

 that Guenee's name had priority, but Gregson described and named the species in 

 the Entomologists' Weekly Intelligencer, on the 27th October, i860. 



