'•] 145 
lonld have fallien. There was no lime tree, I may observe, within twenty yards 
the spot. It fed well, and throve accordingly, till the 27th, on which day, 
^ng previously ascertained that its features were still a desidei^atum in Mr. 
skier's (Lepidoptero-) ancestral portrait gallery, I dispatched it per post to that 
itleman to sit — or rather recline — for its likeness. I enclosed in its travelling 
riage a piece of dead bramble-stick for its edification, if constructively inclined, 
route. Of this it appeared to have availed itself without loss of time, for Mr. 
jkler writes me word that, on its arrival at Emsworth next day, it had half 
ied itself therein, and was hard at work throwing out the dust of its excavation, 
ih some difficulty it was safely withdrawn from its " Adullamite " habitation in 
le cave," and duly depicted. Again at liberty, after a slight refection to recruit 
strength, it speedily returned to its engineering, which it prosecuted so 
orously, that it soon emerged at the other end of its tunnel, and turned a 
neless pupa after all upon the debris of its work on the 1st August. 
P.S. — Thus far the individual A. alni in question ; whose capture further set 
searching to learn as much as I could of the history of this somewhat eccen- 
I species. Perhaps a summaiy of the results, as gleaned from the pages of the 
)logist. Intelligencer, Magazine, and Entomologist, may interest some of your 
ders. 
I find the capture of about 75 specimens recorded since 1844 ; of which 57 
-e taken in the larval and 15 in the perfect state, — the pupa having been met 
h only three times. The earliest recorded captm-e of the larva is by Mr. Hawley, 
July 27th, 1846 (Zool., p. 1659), so that mine on the 20th of the same month 
at be regarded as exceptionally early, — one of the results of a precocious sum- 
:. Mr. Douglas, indeed (perhaps in error ?) writes of it as occurring in the 
V Forest on oaks in June (Zool., p. 3587). It has been met with at Sutton 
k, near Birmingham, as late as September 10th, 1851 (Zool., p. 3334). Mr. 
by, of Wetherby, alone seems to have noticed the earlier stage which I have 
jmpted to describe. He writes (Entom., Sept., 1865, p. 287), " Whilst beating 
Bishop's Wood, near Selby, on the 27th of July, I had the good fortune to 
ain one larva of A. aVni, feeding on alder ; it was changing its skin for the last 
e. I must confess I could not make it out until after the change, so totally 
ike in colour, and also minus the clubbed hairs, with the exception of two very 
ill ones on the second segment." The trees and bushes, from which the larva 
been taken, and upon which it is said to have fed, have been oak, elm, alder, 
el, hawthorn, beech, lime, Spanish chestnut, horse-chestnut, sycamore, black 
lar, sallow, willow, and bramble ; apparently showing a general preference for 
fom- first named. It has also been picked up upon buckthorn, holly, dock, and 
3S ; upon gateposts, walls, palings, and, lastly, upon a gentleman's coat. At 
it a dozen seems to have chosen a death by starvation to the prison-faro offered 
n. 
Whimsical as appear to be its tastes in the matter of diet, its vagaries in 
3ring apon the next stage of its existence are even more remai-kable. In fact, 
'ould seem to set about the work of pupation without any fixed rale or principle 
n-oceeding, at least in a state of captivity. Thus (premising that rotten wood 
the formation of its cocoon seems generally to have been regarded by its captors 
