28 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
were very scarce, and, after all my trouble, 
the lame had in every case already 
assumed the pupa state, so that all my 
labour was thrown away, and another 
year must elapse before we get the 
larvae. 
My cases of Inconspicuella have been 
kept out of doors, and the last few days 
their inmates have been making’ their 
appearance. I have also bred a few 
females from the cases found ou beech 
trees at Dunham Park, but not a single 
male ; this is my fifth year, and no males. 
The female from these cases is quite 
distinct from Inconspicuella Q ; though 
the cases are larger the females are 
smaller, and the anal tuft is not half the 
size that it is in Inconspicuella. In May 
I hope to send you a very distinct species 
that feeds on the trunks of fruit trees at 
Bristol ; unfortunately these also are ail 
females, and no males as yet. 
You seem to be in doubt as to the 
food of these case-bearing insects ; it is 
the fine powdery lichen that is met with 
on most trees, walls, old palings, &c. ; 
ou it I have fed Pseudobombycella, Tri- 
quetrella , Inconspicuella, Melanella, Ar- 
gentimaculella , &c. 
Passing the wall where Xysmatodoma 
argcntimaculvlla occurs, I gathered a few 
of the larva; in their queerly formed bags; 
I hope you may rear them, — they require 
damp. — R. S. Edleston, Bmvdon, near 
Manchester ; April 12. 
[We once took a case-bearer on the 
stem of a plum tree, at Lewisham, and 
bred therefrom an apterous female. The 
case was rounder than the case of In- 
conspicuella, and we fancied it ought to 
have produced a new species ; this may 
be identical with the species which in- 
habits fruit trees at Bristol ; such a 
frequenter of orchards ought to be named 
after Pomona, and if the species be yet 
unnamed we would propose the appella- 
tion of Solenobia Pomona ?.] 
Chimabacche Fagella . — 1 was struck, 
in my entomological exclusions lately, 
with the contrast between the habits of 
C. Fagella and C. Phryganella. The 
male of the latter is one of the most 
active little beings in creation, flitting 
about, on a sunuy November day, hither 
and thither, in a way that would do 
credit even to an Adela ; now C. Fagella, 
on the contrary, slumbers all day against 
the trunk of some tree, and, as far as 
I can see, all night too. I found a 
great many asleep as I was sugaring the 
other night, and on my return with the 
lantern there they still were, and still 
asleep I finally left them. The females 
crawl up the trees at night, and then the 
males exert themselves just enough for the 
purposes of copulation and nothing more. 
Yet I am persuaded that those powerful 
wings cannot be really idle all the 
twenty-four hours, and I fancy they 
must fly in the morning twilight; but 
I should have expected them to fly in 
the day time if I did not know to the 
contrary. — R. C. R. Jokdan, M. D., 
Spring-grove Terrace, Edgbaston, Bir- 
mingham ; April 10. 
Polyommatus Acis. — In 1835, ’3<S and 
’37 I could take Polyommatus Acis (the 
Mazarine Blue) in plenty, but have 
never seen the species since. 1 fear that 
both it and Chrysophanus Dispar are 
gone. — T. Parky, Merthyr ; April 15. 
HYDRILLA PALUSTRIS ANI) AGROTIS 
FENNICA. 
To the Editor of the 1 Intelligencer .* 
Sir, — As the only British specimens of 
Hydrilla palustris and Agrotis fennica 
are in my cabinet, I wish to say a few 
words in reply to the assumption (in the 
‘Intelligencer,’ No. 132) that they arc 
foreign. Hydrilla palustris was taken 
by Mr. Goodwin (a young man who 
formerly lived hero and used to collect 
lor me), in a moist place at Slocktou-in- 
thc-l'orcsi, about four miles from here, 
