THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



343 



CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS 

 THE FAUNA OF PLYMOUTH. 



By Mr. G. C. Bignell, M.E.S. 



(Reprinted by permission of the author from the 

 Transactions of the Plymouth Institution and Devon 

 and Cornwall Natural History Society, 1881.) 



HYMENOPTERA, ICHNEUMONIDiE. 



Arranged according to the Rev. T. A. Marshall's Cata- 

 logue, published by the Entomological Society of 

 London, 1872. 



Part I. 



(Continued from page 308 .) 



Cryptus. — 

 htgubris. 

 analis. 

 rufiventris. 



signatorius. Bred from an old bramble 

 stem, 6th May, 1878. 

 Mesostenus. — 



obnoxius. Bred from Zygoma fiUperuluhe 

 cocoons, in whicn they remain during 

 winter, and emerge from the middle to 

 the end of June (19th June to the 3rd 

 July, 1879.) 

 Hemiteles. — 



tenebricosus. Taken at Plymbridge, 5th 

 June, 1880. 



similis. 



formosus Bred from spiders eggs (agelena 

 brunnea), 14th July, 1878. 



cingulato r. 

 Agrotherentes. — 



liopei. 

 Heminaclius. — 



fasciatus. 



(To be continued.) 



" When we first went to look at our new 

 home at Nazareth, a.Morpho Menelaus, one of 

 the most beautiful kinds, was seen flapping 

 its huge wings, like a bird, along the veran- 

 dah. This species, however, although much 

 admired, looks dull in colour by the side of 

 its congener, the Morpho Rhetenor, whose 



wings, on the upper face, are of quite a 

 dazzling lustre. Rhetenor usually prefers the 

 broad sunny roads in the forest, and is an 

 almost unattainable prize, on account of its 

 lofty flight ; for it rarely descends nearer 

 the ground than about twenty feet. When 

 it comes sailing along, it occasionally flaps 

 its wings, and then the blue surface flashes 

 in the sunlight, so that it is visible a quarter 

 of a mile off. There is another species of 

 this genus, of a satiny-white hue, the Movpho 

 Eugenia. This is equally difficult to obtain ; 

 the male only has the satiny lnstre, the 

 female being of a pale lavender colour." — 

 Bates " Naturalist, on the River Amazon." 



THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SEA- 

 SON IN THE LIVERPOOL 

 DISTRICT. 



By Dr. Ellis. 



A few extracts from my journal for 1881 

 may prove of interest to some of the readers 

 of the Young Naturalist as a contribution to 

 the subject of the abundance or scarcity of 

 insects during this year. So far as I can 

 judge, the season has been one of great 

 abundance of some species, as P. rapce and 

 1 . 9iapi f JV. zonaria (imagines and larvae), 

 lilcodaria sangui/ialis, Eubolia Uneolata, &c. 



February 20th. H. leucophearia very 

 abundant in Eastham Wood, three of the 

 specimens captured being the dark form 

 in the " illustrations of the varieties of 

 Lepidoptera." 



March 13th. Aphodius conspwrcatus and 

 A prodromus in swarms on the Wallasey 

 Sandhills. 



April 15th (Good Friday). Nyssia zonaria 

 in swarms everywhere on the sandhills. In 

 addition to the Apkodii mentioned March 

 13th, A inqvAnatus was in profusion all 

 over the sandhills. Larvae of Bombyx rubi 

 have been very abundant. 



