238 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



On a variey of an Agrotis. — Whilst reading the interesting reports 

 of the "Entomological Society of London," in the "Young Naturalist," for 

 November, I was struck with the following: "Mr. EL Goss exhibited for 

 Mr. W. J. Cross an extraordinary melanic variety of Agrotis segetum" &c. 

 Why I note this, was the fact that Mr. Cross had sent his wonderful 

 capture for my inspection after it had been returned him as a " melanic form of 

 Agrotis segetum," with a request that 1 would examine it and tell him what 

 it was a variety of. On seeing it, I was at first dazzled by its splendour, 

 rich dark and darker mouse colour ; silk hardly expresses the bright gloss 

 upon it, satin does better ; but I saw at a glance it could not be " A, sege- 

 tum" that species belongs to a group of Ag'rotida having light and sometimes 

 somewhat hyaline under-wings on the males, a group that is without any 

 discoidal lunule on the inferior wings, see Exclamationis, Lunigera, Saucia, 

 Suffusa, Ripce, Segetum, &c, amongst our British species, whilst the specimen 

 said to be Segetum in the report above, has not light under-wings aud has a 

 lunule thereon, and the form of the insect is broader and squarer than any 

 Segetum I ever saw. In fact it is the exact form of Agrotis corticea, which 

 species 1 had no hesitation in naming it when returning it. Under 

 ordinary circumstances it might not be worth noting, but this is a most 

 wonderful insect and will no doubt cause more interest to be felt in it in the 

 future, when variation is better understood than it seems to be at present, 

 and having been named and noted at the Entomological Society of London, 

 it will be hard to correct the error later, I have therefore thought it best to 

 set it right now.— C. S. Greoson, Rose Bank, Fletcher Grove, Liverpool. 



Captures near Manchester. — In August I devoted a little time at 

 Dunham, near Manchester, to collecting larvse of Ckosroeampa porcellus, 

 which were feeding on Galium saxatile, and of which I secured a few ; but 

 my greatest pleasure was derived in capturing a specimen of Staphylinus 

 stercorarius in the afternoon, running in the sunshine through a tuft of 

 Festnca duriunscula ; it is the first capture probably near Manchester of this 

 species. I also found Luperina cespitis just stretching in the same locality. 

 A specimen of Bermestes friscJri paid a visit to our kitchen but as one of my 

 family caught a glance of it, its progress was soon arrested, it is now filling a 

 gap in my collection. Two of my sons, John and Herbert, succeeded in 

 getting some very nice specimens of Aphodius fmtidus on the moors about 

 Stalybridge. I was rather late in the field for the larvse of D. galii, but 

 however I found two at Wallasey, and my son Herbert found two. We also 

 found several dead ones at Blackpool, some of my friends were more fortunate 

 and found a few living ones. — Joseph Chappell, 29, Welbeck Street, 

 C-on-M, Manchester, Oct. 16th, 1888. 



