THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
3 
Hydrocampa rivulalis. Dur. 
The following interesting account 
of a species very likely to occur in 
this country has been kindly for- 
warded to us by Professor Zeller, 
from Meseritz : — 
“ On the 18th. of Junea.c. I searched 
in the reeds of a ditch near our town. 
Among the two common Hydrocampce 
a small specimen struck me by its 
whiteness, and to satisfy myself 
whether it was not a worn Parapoynx 
Strattotata* I chased it. After it 
had dropped to the surface of the 
water I captured it at last, and found 
it was none of the three species men- 
tioned. On examining the species in 
my collection, I found to my"surprise 
that it was llydr. Rivulalis Pup. fe- 
male, of which I possessed six speci- 
mens, from Tuscany and Corsica. On 
the 20th. I visited the same spot, and 
in the space of half an hour captured 
three Inales. When they were stirred 
out of the reeds they attracted my 
attention by their small size and 
whiteness ; but as that is the appear- 
ance of JTyr. Siaynata too, I could 
not feel certain as to their being the 
desired species, until I saw them sit- 
ting, in which case they showed no 
lark stripes and had a broader cir- 
cumference. I believe I saw two or 
hree more, which flew to the other 
iide, and perhaps by dropping down 
* Such is the name of this genus, which 
ruenee has changed in the hurry of the 
loment to Paraponyx, which we see has 
een preserved by English Authors. 
into the water disappeared in my 
attempts to drive them to my bank, 
the ditch being too broad to overleap. 
The four specimens not being quite 
fresh, their best time must be with 
us about the middle of June. I hope 
to discover the second brood in August 
next. 
This species was first described and 
figured by Duponchel, (Lep. d ’ 
Europe VII, p. 341. pi. 233 .Jig. 5.J 
who used to consider it a local variety 
of llydr. Potamogata. Herrich- 
Schjefeer seems to have known this 
species only from Duponchel’s figure, 
but is correct in not allowing its iden- 
tity with H. Potamogalis, ( Schmitt, 
v. Europe. Pyral. p. \\.) and Guenee 
(Pyral.p. 27 5 ) pronounces Dupon- 
chel’s statement to be inconceivable. 
A full description has been pub- 
lished by myself in the Entomolog. 
Zeitung. vol. X, ^1846 J p. 233, from 
a specimen caught at Pisa, on the 
6th. of May. Since that time I 
have received five more specimens, 
taken in Corsica. Guenee says this 
species occurs in Southern Prance too. 
hTow since Eydr. Rivulalis, which is 
readily distinguished from H. pota- 
mogata by its small size, and the 
greater breadth of its wings, the 
markings of which are finer than in 
potamogata, (though not so fine as in 
Duponchel’s figure,) inhabits our 
cold north-eastern part of Europe, it 
is easily understood, that it will have 
a far wider range over the more tem- 
porate countries, and will consequent- 
ly not be wanting in England. I 
thought this communication would 
