90 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 
until some agriculturist with an eye to improving the drainage of his 
land, straightened the bends, which, awakening the stream from its 
lethargy, sent it hurrying along carrying the sedges with it, and alas ! 
P. festuccE too. — J. Collins. April 6th, 1891. 
Time of Appearance of Acontia luctuosa. — In reply to the 
Rev. E. C. Dobree Fox, Acontia luctuosa is very uncertain in the date 
of its appearance at Reading. Sometimes it is out at the end of June; 
in another season the middle of July is the time for it, and occasionally 
it is the beginning of August before I get any. It is very tormenting in 
this way. — W. Holland. April ;^rd, 1891. 
Referring to Mr. Holland’s account of the uncertain appearance of 
Acontia luctuosa, I may mention that two years ago I took a lovely 
example at light in my house, at about i a.m. I have never seen the 
insect here before or since. C. Fenn, Lee. April, 1891. 
Retarded Emergences. — I took a large number of larvae of 
Cyjnatophora riaens in the New Forest during July, 1888, the 
greater part of which emerged in the spring ot 1889, but not all. I 
have kept ;-ome half-dozen pupae ever since, with the result that one 
emerged yesterday, and I hope that the remainder will do the same. Is 
not this a most unusual length of time for pupae to lie over? at least for 
this species. — Joseph H. Carpenter, Johnson Villa, Gleneagle Road, 
Streatham. April 2Zth, 1891. 
In 1884 I fed up larvae from 25 ova of Endroinis versicolor, from 
which I reared in 1885 (April 19th) i $ and (April 20th to 25th) 8 $ ; 
and in 1886 (April 3rd to 20th) 12 $ only, giving a total of 21 
specimens. From another lot that I fed up in 1888, I reared in 1889 
(March 30th to April 4th) 2 (p only; and in 1890 (March 22nd to 
April 4th) 5 ? and (April i6th) i p , giving a total of 8. In both cases, 
the larger number of moths emerged in the second year after the larvae 
had fed up, but whereas, in the first case, those that lay over until the 
second year were all males, and those that came out in the first year 
were nearly all (all but one) females, in the second case it was just the 
other way about, males the first and females the second year. — R. Adkin, 
Lewisham. June, 1891. 
Respecting Miss Kimber’s note {ante p. 39) on Endromis versicolorjrag 
over in the pupa state, I recollect, about fifteen years ago, in course of con- 
versation with the late Mr. Tester of Balcombe in Sussex, who was well 
known at that time as an intelligent collector, that he told me he was 
then breeding E. versicolor, which had been in the pupa state for five 
years. He also told me that Notodonta cariJielita frequently lie over, 
and I believe it is an acknowledged habit among the Notodo?itidcE . — 
C. Fenn, Lee. April, 1891. 
Mr. Carpenter of the observatory here kept a note of Sesia bembeci- 
formis in 1889, and he found they emerged (and were taken drying 
their wings) on the poplars in the observatory garden between 5 and 
8 a.m., none appeared after the latter hour. Last year he did not see a 
single specimen, although from the dust, etc., at the bottom of some of 
the trees, it would appear that larvae were in the wood. Does this 
insect remain two years in the larval and pupal stages ? — T. Maddison, 
South Bailey, Durham. March, 1891. 
With regard to Mr. Maddison’s query ; the analogy of other internal 
feeders such as Cossus ligiiiperda and Zeuzera cesculi suggest that 
