THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
21 
description of the mine agrees exactly 
with that I have before me. The habit 
of the larva is decidedly different from 
the one in Scotch fir, for this begins its 
mine by boring a hole about the centre 
of the leaf on one side, choosing almost 
always the concave, or inside of the leaf; 
it then, from this hole, begins to work 
upwards on one side, leaving a sort of 
midrib ; when it has worked up as far as 
it thinks proper it returns to the mine 
and begins a new one on the other side 
of the midrib, and sometimes works down- 
wards from the hole towards the base of 
the leaf, so that the hole is about the 
centre of the mine ; but, as you remark, 
they are very clean in their work, for you 
can scarcely find any excrement. The 
larva in Scotch fir is very different in its 
habits : beginning at the apex of the leaf 
it eats away all the parenchyma, and does 
not make parallel miues as the other kind 
does : it is a similar larva, but much 
smaller. — Edward Parfitt, 4, Weirjield 
Place , St. Leonard's , Exeter ; April 15^ 
1856. 
MEMORABILIA FOR APRIL. 
Lepidoptera. — The rapidly advanc- 
ing season daily brings out additional 
species, and before the close of the en- 
suing week, unless the skyey influences 
prove extremely unfavourable, Pieris 
Brassicce and Napi will be abroad. In 
forward seasons, where holly abounds, 
Polyornmalus Argiolus has beeu known 
to occur the third week in April. Those 
who have pupae of the Emperor Moth 
( Saturnia Carpini) must now examine 
their cages, as the perfect insect will now 
be making its escape from its long 
imprisonment. 
Gastropacha Ilicifolia should now be 
looked for at Cannock Chase, its best 
known habitat, but it is probably “at 
home,” as the Germans say, on various 
other of our Northern Moors. Tt was 
on the 27th of April that a specimen was 
captured at Cannock Chase last year. 
In the South of England the Humming 
Bird Sphinx ( Macroglossa Stellatarum) 
now reappears after hybernation, and 
may be seen disporting himself in gar- 
dens on sunny afternoons. Hybernated 
specimens of the rarer Sphingina will 
also occasionally be met with by the 
“ lucky ” ones. Ceropacha ridens is one 
of the rarer Nocturn now to be obtained ; 
it may be allured by sugar or attracted 
by light. 
Coleoptera. — By J. W. Douglas . — 
Rotten wood is just now in right order to 
search, not too wet, not too dry. And 
what a rich treat it is to dig into a tree 
whose wood is in all the stages of decay 
betweeu sound timber and fungus! 
Larvae or perfect insects await the 
tapping of the Coleopterist ; Dorcus, 
Elaters, including Ludius ferrugineus ; 
Sinodendron cylindricum, &c., in ash ; 
Bolitophagus agaricola, Hypophlceus 
bicolor , Tetratoma fungorum, and many 
others in elms ; Gnorimus variabi- 
lis, and various Elaters in oaks, may 
serve as examples. A tree in a state of 
decay is a perfect treasure to a beetle- 
hunter: in the incipient stage of de- 
struction, the bark and the space imme- 
diately beneath it, are sometimes full of 
beetles, Salpingus, Biphyllus, Tiresias, 
Mycetophagus, Pliloiophilus, &c., and 
when decomposition is further advanced 
and Fungi appear, there is a further in- 
crease of genera and species. 
From rotten branches of oak, picked 
up in Richmond Park in April, I have 
reared Conopalpus lestaceus. 
Trees just felled attract many beetles. 
At Hainault Forest, on the 9th April, 
1841, 1 took twenty-six specimens of 
Cucujus dermestoides under the bark of 
an oak partially stripped : these are all 
long ago dispersed, and last year I went 
to try and get a new supply, but acres 
upon acres of ground have been entirely 
