THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
199 
doubtless many of the Sussex and Kent 
species come from the other side of the 
channel. Who knows but that the Lan- 
caster Machaon went to have a nap on a 
railway carriage, and awoke at Lancas- 
ter?— J. B. Hodgkinson, 41, St. Peter s 
Square, Preston ; September 11, 1856. 
Calathus mollis. — If any Coleopterist 
wishes for specimens of this insect, I 
shall have much pleasure in supplying 
him within the next three weeks. — Geo. 
Wailes, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Sept. 13, 
1856. 
Do the Lithosice larvce eat anything 
but lichens P — It seems difficult to 
believe that a larva which is naturally and 
habitually a lichen-feeder will at times 
eat the leaves of trees and plants. The 
Rev. Joseph Greene says in the ‘Zoolo- 
gist’ for this mouth, p. 5252, that he 
has reared the “unknown larva” of L. 
griseola from plantain. Did he see it 
eat the plantain? and has any one else 
seen any Lilhosia larva eat leaves of any 
tree or plant? I feel rather incredulous 
on the subject, but at the same time the 
fact may be so ; and as Mr. Naish 
naively observes, “ facts are stubborn 
things.” The following passage in a 
letter in ‘ Sir Robert Peel’s Memoirs’ 
about not being too credulous, and at 
the same time not too doubtful, of what 
we don’t wish to believe, is one that each 
entomologist should learn by heart: “I 
have learnt by long experience the ne- 
cessity of distrusting informa- 
tion, and at the same time of not neglect- 
ing statements which one is inclined to 
disbelieve.” — H. T. Stainton ; Septem- 
ber 9, 1856. 
MEMORABILIA FOR SEPTEMBER. 
Coleoptera. — By T. V. Wollaston . — 
The sweeping-net (how does the heart 
of a Coleopterist vibrate at the thought!) 
should now have no repose. Its climax 
of usefulness has arrived, and these are 
the days when its virtues should be put 
to tbe test. The woods, at all times more 
or less prolific, are never richer in the 
“glorious races” than at the present 
season ; and it would seem as if the in- 
sect minims, renewed with fresh vigour 
after the summer heats, had assembled in 
the greenwood glades for a parting dance, 
ere the general decay of vegetation, and 
the autumnal frosts (those stern fore- 
runners of Winter’s iron reign) warn 
them that their time is short, and that 
they must soon either hybernate or die. 
The grass beneath trees, whether in 
plantations, shrubberies or woods, is now 
very prolific ; and numbers of species 
may be captured, especially amongst the 
smaller tribes, which occur but sparingly 
when “ the year is young.” The Aniso- 
tomidce attain their maximum in the 
autumn, and may be obtained by brushing 
the vegetation, about sun-set; but they 
are more abundant in the midland and 
northern counties than towards the south. 
In Scotland, and the higher, oolitic dis- 
tricts of England, they may be frequently 
swept from off the short grass of open 
fields, and in other exposed situations. 
The Alomarice, again, and several of the 
Curculionidce (especially the Apions ) are 
rampant, and may be taken in the utmost 
abundance amongst the rank vegetation 
of hedges and woods, — various species of 
them often congregating together to a 
remarkable extent. The Hallicce, also, 
and some of the Galerucce , show wonder- 
ful signs (though only for a limited 
period) of restored numbers and strength ; 
and the G. Viburni devours the foliage 
of the Guelder roses in sylvan spots, — a 
few raked stalks, surmounted by skeleton- 
leaves, being frequently all that remains 
to tell whose jaws have been thus unro- 
man tically at work. 
The thickets, particularly where the 
common sloe abounds, may be beaten for 
the Orchesice : it is in such localities that 
the rare O. minor is to be taken. The 
