THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
197 
C. Splendana. The larva is now abun- 
dant in the fallen acorns ; these should 
be collected as soon as possible, as those 
in which the larvae are fall off before the 
sound ones are ripe, and are of course 
now much easier to find. 
E. Nebritana. Bred from larvae in 
green peas. 
D. Plumbagana. Amongst flowers 
near Beckenham. 
S. Pariana. On flowers of golden rod. 
M. Purpurella. Abundant at West 
Wickham, by sweeping birch. 
M. Unimaculella. Do. 
M. Sparinanella (8). Beaten from birch 
in the same locality, on the 1st of May. 
O. Sparganiella. A few, mothing. 
P. Gibbosella (2). Beating oak at 
Darenth. 
P. Rhododactylus. Mothing in garden. 
P. Trigonodactylus. Do. 
With many others too numerous to 
mention. 
It may perhaps be interesting to notice 
the great scarcity this year of some of 
the usually very common Lepidoptera; 
amongst these we may mention C. mor- 
pheus, Blanda, Cubicularis, and L. 
Adustata, generally abundant here, whilst 
P. Aurijlua, A. Segetum and Exclama. 
tionis, commonly pests in this neighbour- 
hood, as everywhere else, were either 
entirely absent or only represented by a 
single specimen. lu the early part of 
the season larvae, especially of Noctuse, 
were very abundant, but we have not 
found (with the exception of N. Xantho- 
grapha) that the images were equally 
common, or even so numerous, as usual. 
Though many complaints have been 
made this season of the scarcity of Noc- 
luae at sugar, it has not been so with us, 
their numbers having been in this locality 
greatly superior to 1860. On the whole, 
it is our opinion that this year must be 
considered as decidedly less productive 
of insects than the preceding one, and 
can hardly have realized the hopes of 
many who expected a favourable season. 
— C. & J. Fenn, Clyde Villa, Lee; 
Sept. 8. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
“ The Willows.” — Of all our genera 
of plants none probably furnish food to 
the various races of insect-life so abun- 
dantly as the willows {Salices). Beetles, 
plant-lice, scale-wings, sawflies, gall- 
gnats, Cynipes — all come for sustenance, 
in one stage or other of existence, to the 
willows. M. Brez, in his ‘ Flore des lo- 
sectophiles,’ enumerates no fewer than 
one hundred distinct species that affect 
the representatives of the genus Salix. 
Our Easter friend the “ palm,” as we call 
it in the North (<S. capraa), is probably 
preyed upon more than any one of the 
genus. Leaves, stem, root, branches, 
form objects of interest and support to 
the insect community. Even now the 
green rose-like tufts at the end of the 
shoots, the work of a little Cecidomyia, 
are everywhere visible, and give beauty 
to the branches on which they are 
formed: the leaves, again, that were 
pierced by a sawfly in the early summer, 
give evidence of having done their share 
of feeding, by their empty hollow blisters ; 
for the larva has fed to the full, and has 
bored into the soil below to wait till May 
returns to assume its winged period of 
existence. I cannot at present identify 
the sawfly that is instrumental in forming 
these curious blisters. The larva and 
cocoon are all I at present know, but 
should our ‘ Intelligencer ’ be in existence 
another year, — and most sincerely do I 
hope it will, — I shall have pleasure in 
giving a fuller history than present ob- 
servations will enable me to do. The 
larva is slightly hairy, pale yellow with 
the head blackish, and a few minute 
black dots on the anal and subanal seg- 
ments. The cocoon, which is usually an 
inch or two below the surface of the 
