110 THE ENTOMOLOGISTS WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
Balaninus nucum. On hazel. 
Apoderus avellaiise. On hazel. 
Hylastes ater. Uncommon. 
Dorytoinus tiemulse. Scarce. 
Rliynchites betuleti. On hazel. This 
splendid little green gem seems rare. 
Aplielocnemia nuhila. Not common. 
Aga|iunthia Caidui. Scarce. 
Chrysomela 10-punctala. Not uncom- 
mon on willows, but local. 
Haltica helxines. Abundant on wil- 
lows. — George Stockley, 4, Leachdule 
Place, Old Ford, E. ; Dec. 28, 1858. 
Coleoptera on Fir Trees. — Perhaps 
many of your readers think that the 
beating-stick and umbrella may now be 
fairly laid aside; hut it is full time to 
resume them: the fir woods are now 
most productive in every order of insects, 
especially Coleoptera, which are all Coc- 
cinellida;, at least I have only seen one 
other, a small Curculio. Gcometra larv® 
are abundant; and of Coleopteni C. oh- 
longo-gutlata and Ck. verrucalus are in 
abundance. I shall be glad to send those 
to any Coleopterist who may be in want 
of them. — G. 11. Crotch, Weston-super- 
Mare ; Dec. 30, 1858. 
OBSERVATIONS, 
Larm of Xerampelina.—ln September 
jMr. Bingham kindly sent me some eggs 
ol C. xerai/ipelina ; I supposed that they 
would, like those of E. fuscanlariu, re- 
main unhatched till the flowers of the 
ash appeared. I, however, looked at them 
from time to time: on the 7th of De- 
cember I was surprised to find a larva 
crawling about the box. I gave it privet, 
ivy, groundsel and chiekweed, but it de- 
clined them all, and died of starvation. 
On the 24th, upon again looking into the 
box, I found that all the remaining eggs 
had hatched during the night, and un- 
fortunately all but three of the larva: 
crawled out through an almost invisible 
chink: these three, I am sorry’ to say, 
like their predecessors, declined most 
positively to feed, and perished miserably. 
Does any one know anything of the habits 
and food-plant of this larva? Does it 
really feed on ash at all? My eggs were 
kept in a cold room, in which there 
has only once been a fire. I hope Mr. 
Bingham has been more fortunate. — 
Rev. H. Harpuk Crewe, Drinkslone, 
near Woolpit, Suffolk ; Dec. 28, 1858. 
Acherontia Atropos in Worcester- 
SUIRE. 
I believe nothing has been published 
respecting the occurrence of this species 
in Worcestershire. During the past sea- 
son it has been tiiken here rather freely 
in the larva and pupa state, but confined 
entirely, from all that I can gather, to 
potato plots. Two of the imago, I hear, 
were captured on board a barge, two 
others at the railway station, and three or 
four in other situations. Several persons 
who have had pupa; have not been suc- 
cessful in breeding them. 1 have col- 
lected and obtained ninety-two larva and 
pupm, from which I have bred fifty per- 
fect specimens and thirteen cripples; the 
remaining twenty-nine died, excepting 
one, now waiting its final change. I had 
also one fine female brought to me, which 
was captured in Witley Park, near to the 
residence of Lord Ward. Much has been 
written respecting all the females being 
barren that emerge previous to the ensu- 
ing spring, but this is not strictly correct: 
this one I opened, and therein I found 
eighteen or twenty eggs, all of which ap- 
j)cared perfect, of full size, round, and of 
a pale green colour. I did not separate 
them from the membranous receptacle 
ill which they ajipeared ; 1 have them in 
safe keeping at this time. It is my cus- 
tom, for the better preservation of all 
Heterocera that will bear it, to extract 
the contents of the abdomen, saturate the 
intern.il part with an arsenical prepara- 
