THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
187 
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OBSERVATIONS. 
Lepidoptera. 
Pupae of L. Quercus . It may be 
a well known fact, but I have never 
met with it in any book, — that the 
sexes of the “Oak Eggar” (Z. 
Quercus) are easily distinguished in 
the pupa state, — the cocoon of the 
male being smoother and lighter in 
colour than that of the female. This 
was an invariable distinction in all the 
instances I have seen. C. E. Haskins^ 
Haileylury School, Hertfordshire. 
Camphor almost useless. I have 
long suspected that this was a fact 
but still had a notion that it might 
make the drawers of a cabinet suffic- 
iently uncomfortable to prevent par- 
asitic insects from choosing them for 
their abode ; though we all know that 
when once parasites have effected a 
lodgment, camphor is not of much 
use to turn them out. 
On Thursday January 1st. I had 
occasion to go to a store box, and the 
bag of camphor in the corner being 
somewhat in the way, I moved it, 
and found beneath it a full fed larva, 
apparently of a species of Tinea, 
which had chosen the under surface 
of the gauze as a place whereon to 
spin a sort of cocoon. The larva fell 
to the floor on being broken in upon. 
I cannot, therefore, venture a guess 
as to its species. I should observe 
that the camphor bag was three parts 
full at the time. 
I think that this fact plainly shews 
the uselessness of camphor, as an 
agent for preserving insects from the 
attacks of parasites. Probably the 
best, if not the only way, is to keep 
them thoroughly dry. 
I have the cocoon I have mentioned 
as I took it from the box, and shall 
be most happy to show it to anyone 
who may have the curiosity to see it. 
E. Lovell Keays. 4, j Charring ay 
Villas, Green Lanes, Tottenham, H. 
Entomological Latin. I am not so 
sure that you are right in your critic- 
ism on my use of the word V-nigra, 
which you say ought to be V-nigrum. 
Let me, however, first premise that 
having seen it spelled both ways in 
different catalogues, I adopted the 
former mode as the most euphonious, 
and the most in unison with the name 
of the genus Orgyia, without a single 
thought as to which might or might 
not be in reality the correct way, — so 
that even if I was right, I take no 
credit to myself for it, as it was 
merely a hap-hazard choice. As it is 
a good many years since I took my 
degree at Oxford (second class in 
classics) I laid the case before an able 
scholar of my acquaintance, and ho 
