6 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
Theristis caudella. — Yesterday after- 
noon I visited Dartford, and took two 
specimens of this insect. I saw no Pic- 
taria. — H. T. Stainton ; March 31, 
1857. 
Captures at Light. — I have been 
tolerably successful with this mode of 
capture ; and besides commoner species 
1 have taken Tceniocampa rubricosa , one 
T. mimosa, Ceropacha Jlavicomis, and 
Piston prodromaria : of the last-named 
species (which came to the light freely) all 
the specimens I have taken are males. — 
S. Binuham, Bank, Newnham ; March 
30. 1857. 
COLEOPTERA. 
Although the Coleopterist need never 
hybernate (for there is much to be done 
even in the depth of winter if he goes the 
right way to work), it generally happens 
that his leisure hours are so valuable for 
internal, operations “ when hoary Christ- 
mas walks the frozen earth,” that he is 
practically, so far as the outer world is 
concerned, asleep, and is only awakened 
from his slumbers by the return of 
spring. It is, however, a glorious 
arousing for him ; and, as he rubs his 
eyes after his long repose and turns out 
under the open canopy of heaven, how 
does he feel his blood begin to glow 
afresh, and his latent ardour for the chase 
to revive ! Buried, perhaps, in musty 
old Tonies — ranging from the Syslema 
Naturcc of 1707 down to ‘ Satnouelle’s 
Useful (?) Compendium’ — during the six 
months that have elapsed, nearly blind 
from poring under the microscope, and 
with back half broken from the bending 
over his boxes and drawers, he is startled 
all at once to find that the winter is past, 
and that he must emerge sub Jove, for 
the times of refreshing are at hand. 
Nets and bottles (long forgotten things) 
are again in request; decoctions of gum 
tragacanth and arabic have to be con- 
templated, whilst pins of every aspect 
under the sun are marshalled forth in 
glittering array ; and from the instru- 
menta belli of our hero’s approaching 
campaign his thoughts spontaneously 
wander to the field of action, anxious 
to be informed as to where it should at 
first be situated. 
This is, indeed, an important question 
to our Anglo-Saxon beetle-hunters; so 
let us pause for a moment and con- 
sider it. The year is yet young ; 
April has but just commenced ; it 
is evident, therefore, that high and 
bleak spots should be avoided ; the 
mountains and moorlands, indeed, have 
not even begun “ to don their vernal 
dress:” so let us start with it as a self- 
evident axiom, that wherever the sun’s 
power is greatest, there will our game be 
found. Places with a warm southern 
aspect, well sheltered from the north and 
east, should now be searched; they will 
scarcely ever fail to yield us some slight 
reward for our labour; and in maritime 
districts such positions will very shortly 
teem with life. Sandy cliffs, facing the 
south, commence very early in the season 
to show indications of the Coleopterous 
life which they contain, and by looking 
closely into the warm nooks and hollows 
at their base, quantities of species may be 
obtained, particularly amongst the Geo- 
dephaga, many of which will probably 
become scarce as the year grows old. 
Such places cannot be too rigidly 
searched during the present month ; and 
there is certainly no kind of investigation 
at once so luxurious and easy as to expa- 
tiate one’s entire length (which in some 
of us is considerable) on a dry and shel- 
tered slope directly exposed to the sun, 
whilst the chilly equinoctial blast is ex- 
pending its fury on the downs above us, 
and to examine critically the rejecta- 
menta and loose vegetation which are 
