800 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



maria, B. rhomboidaria, Tt. cratxgata, C. Mlineata, 

 M. montanata, A. grossulariata, T.chrysophyllata, 

 N. augur, N. pkcta, N. rubi, M. bmssicx, X. 

 polyodon, and T. pronuba at sugar, and flying 

 at dusk. The weather has been anything but 

 fine lately. — P. T. Deakin, Edgbaston. 



S. illunaria is not double brooded here, 

 but I have some specimens out to-day from 

 ova laid by a female in May. They were fed 

 in the house till they were half-grown, and 

 then taken outside. Most of them changed 

 in a rolled up leaf of willow. Though they 

 are much smaller than the spring brood, as 

 the summer brood always is, they are not 

 nearly so pale and faded looking as are some 

 South of England specimens in my collec- 

 tion. — John E. Robson, Bellerby Terrace, 

 West Hartlepool. 13 July, 1880. 



A. atropos Making a Noise. — Last even- 

 ing I went with my friend, Mr. C. P. Hob- 

 kirk, F.L.S., to a little pleasure resort about 

 seven miles from here, called " Blaike Lee," 

 to arrange for the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Excursion to that district on August 2nd. 

 While there one of the young ladies con- 

 nected with the place showed us a fine speci- 

 men of Acherontia atropos, which she said had 

 been caught on the grounds two years ago. 

 I awaited without question for some state- 

 ment as to whether it made any kind of 

 noise. Presently she came to the point, and 

 said that they had great difficulty in killing 

 it. They tried all means, and at last one of 

 the visitors ran a knitting needle into its 

 thorax, and held it in the steam of the boiling 

 kettle, and "how the poor thing screamed, it 

 was dreadful to hear it." These are her own 

 words, and she could have no object in 

 making an exaggerated statement. — S. L. 

 Mosley, Huddersfield. 



Captures at Taunton. — The following 

 are some of the Lepidoptera I have taken 

 here since the commenc.emert of the year : 

 January 5 and February 3 being mild, I 

 sugared in the evening, and took a few 

 specimens of C. vaccinii, C. spadicea, and S. 

 satellita ; and on gas lamps, C.brumata. On 



March 5, T. instabilis, T. stabilis, T. cruda, &c 

 began to emerge in my breeding cage. On 

 the 10th and 13th, P. napi, G. rhamni, V, 

 urticx, V. p jlychloros, and V.atalanta were on 

 the wing. JEgeria was common in the woods 

 throughout May ; and from the middle to the 

 end of the same month, E. cardamines (males), 

 A. euphrosyne, L. alexis, N. lucina, S. alveolus, 

 T. tages, Z. trifolii, E. omicroiiaria, A. Candida ta, 

 A. remuiaui, C. tonerata, L. marginata, M. 

 montanata, C. fcrvugata, N. pulvevaria, E. : 

 glyphica, &c. , were common. L. sinapis and 

 L. argiolus were scarcer than usual. On June c 

 11, I caught forty A. selene, "twenty Euphrosyne, • 

 and a few S. alveolus, A. linece, L. pamphilus, 

 V. maculata, A. rubidata, P. petraria, C. russata, 

 &c. Nearly all the specimens of A . euphrosyne 

 were worn, but those of A . selcne fresh. By 

 beating a few oaks on the 15th and 17th, I 

 obtained a good many larvae of T. quercus, L. j 

 monacha, T. instabilis, C. trapezina, A. pyra- . 

 midea, and many ethers, including two or ; 

 three H. thymiaria. A large number of pupse 

 of Tortfix viridana also fell from the oaks, 

 three-fourths of which produced ichneumons. 

 I also beat out of an oak on the 15th a fine 

 specimen of Aplecta herbida, the only one I 

 have met with here. — H. M. Parish, 

 Taunton, Somerset. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Sirs, — I enclose a dead animal out of my! 

 aquarium. I would be very much obliged if 

 you could tell me what it is, or what it woulj 

 have turned into. I have caught several of 

 all sizes, but they never lived beyond a few 

 days. Also I would like to know what is the 

 best and most easily procured food on which 

 to feed a common newt, which I caught the 

 other day — Yours, &c, E. A. Bryans. 



Sandbach, July 7. 



[The animal :,ent is evidently the larval | 

 stage of some kind of insect, but we canno|| 

 say what, probably belonging to the Ncu- 

 roptera. The best food for a newt is smallj' 

 earth-worms. — Eds." 



