whether he found the food-plant néar Arthog; if not, I think I can solve the problem. Last year, in order to rear absynthii, I took up several roots from this place and planted them in my garden, on the opposite side of the estuary to Arthog, about one and a half or two miles as the crow flies. This would be nothing of a flight for C. absynthii. I make this suggestion, as I know of no absynthium growing wild in that neighbourhood.—CHas. E. PARTRIDGE; The Castle, Portland.

NOCTUA DEPUNCTA AND TETHEA RETUSA IN DEVON.-Among common insects taken at sugar, on July 2nd, was a fine specimen of N. depuncta; and from a larva taken off sallow, on June 15th, I have reared T. retusa.— M. CRASKE; Newacott, Bridgerule, Devon, August 6, 1890.

DILOBA CERULEOCEPHALA ON PRUNUS LAURO-CERASUS.-In answer to Mr. W. E. Butler (Entom. 263), I have many times found larvæ of Diloba cæruleocephala feeding on common laurel, and have reared the imago from specimens so found.-WALDEGRAVE; 13, Montagu Place, Montagu Square.

I found, this spring, half a dozen larvæ of Diloba cæruleocephala on a cherry laurel. They were in their last skins, and there was nowhere near any other possible food for them. How they can eat it without setting free the poison (that of our laurel-bottles), or that they are proof against it, is equally difficult to understand. I have seen an odd Tortrix larva on laurel occasionally; I think they affect rather oldish leaves.-T. A. CHAPMAN ; Hereford.

FOOD-PLANTS OF PLUSIA IOTA.—Mr. Edmonds informs me that the larva of Plusia iota will eat buckthorn, blackthorn, willow, sallow, poplar, birch, plantain, groundsel, dock, carrot, and walnut! I have already recorded hawthorn as a food (Entom. 204), and with these additions it would appear that the larva is polyphagous, and anything but fastidious in the matter of diet.-RICHARD SOUTH.

SIREX GIGAS IN HANTS.-I saw a fine specimen of Sirex gigas, on Tuesday last, the 5th inst., flying about a camp at Rushmoor, near Aldershot, but was unable to capture it, as, after a good chase, it disappeared in a pine wood, from whence it had probably come.-CHARLES MAXTED; 7, Church Terrace, Castelnau, Barnes, August 11, 1890.

SIREX GIGAS IN DURHAM.-On the 8th of August last, I noticed this insect flying about fir trees at High Force. On the 11th of the same month, Mr. R. Calvert, of Bishop Auckland, had a living specimen brought to him. This example was captured in a solicitor's office in the town, and was said to have crept from the folds of a lady's dress.-RICHARD SOUTH. - As I expect very

LEPIDOPTERA OF KENT: INFORMATION WANTED. shortly to move to Shorncliffe Camp, I should be extremely obliged for any information regarding Folkestone, Deal, Dover, or the Marshes, as far as Lepidoptera are concerned.-C. E. PARTRIDGE; The Castle, Portland.

COLLECTING ON THE NORTHUMBERLAND COAST.-Alnmouth is a small town, situated on the coast, about a mile from Bilton Junction, easily accessible from London by day or night trains, the journey occupying about eight hours. Sand-hills stretch for miles on both sides of the town; there are also some nice salt-marshes about the river-mouth. Lepidoptera were very abundant at sugar on several nights, fifty and sixty specimens on one patch of sugar being not at all unusual. The flowers of the common

rush were very attractive; so also was ragwort, which grows in rich masses. Although no important rarities were captured, some very fine varieties of common species were secured, which well repaid the trouble taken. Amongst others, the following species occurred:-Lycana icarus, beautifully bright vars. of female. Cidaria immanata; a nearly unicolorous slatey form. Eubolia limitata (= mensuraria); very dark and strongly marked. Melanippe montanata. Larentia didymata. Leucania pallens, L. impura, L. straminea, L. lithargyria. Apamea leucostigma (= fibrosa); very variable. Miana bicoloria (=furuncula); all shades of colour, from nearly white to brown. Cerigo matura (= cytherea). Agrotis valligera, A. tritici; very bright. Triphana comes (= orbona), T. orbona (= subsequa), T. pronuba; some nice vars. Noctua baia, N. umbrosa, N. xanthographa; vars. Cleoceris viminalis; a beautiful bright form. Xylophasia monoglypha (=polyodon); from very pale to quite black. I was only able to spend four days collecting, but I think the locality would well repay careful work.-J. H. LEECH; 29, Hyde Park Gate, S.W., August 10, 1890.

AN ADDITION TO THE LEPIDOPTERA OF SHETLAND.-Whilst spending a few days at Lerwick, in June, I captured on the shores of Bressay Island a few specimens of Dicrorampha plumbagana. The weather was cold and wet, and insects remarkably scarce, the only Macro I took being E. curzoni. I was in hopes of finding that the Diptera and Hymenoptera of the North of Scotland were darker than those from the South of England, like the Lepidoptera and Trichoptera, but such does not seem to be the case; the only fly that appears to show any variation from southern forms is Rhagio scolopaceus. The principal flies I saw in the Shetlands were Pedicia rivosa, Tipula oleracea, T. lunata, Limnobia nigrina, Erioptera obscura, Chrinonus dolens, and Eristalis intricarius; Bombus smithianus being the only bee.-C. W. DALE; Glanvilles Wootton, August 2, 1890.

URTICATING HAIRS OF LEPIDOPTERA.-As a further contribution to the literature of this subject I may add my experience with the cocoons of Cnethocampa processionea. A few days since I was engaged in clearing out some cocoons of this species from a breeding-cage in which the moth had been reared some years ago. I had not long commenced my job when I felt a severe stinging about my eyes and back of the neck. To obtain relief, as I thought, I bathed my face, &c., with warm water; but this only seemed to increase the irritation. As soon as I could obtain some strong liquid ammonia from the nearest chemist, I applied this to the parts affected. The effect was very rapid, relief being experienced immediately, and I was quite free of the trouble in a short time.-H. MCARTHUR; 35, Averill Street, Fulham.

THE CHESHIRE PLAGUE OF CATERPILLARS: A MYTH.—I am able to state, not merely from personal observation, but from exhaustive enquiry, that no extraordinary appearance of caterpillars has occurred in Cheshire this year. Berries-perhaps more especially gooseberries-have been generally a heavy crop; apples and pears will be much below the average; while "stone" fruit must be put down as almost a failure. A Kelsall correspondent describes the situation as follows:-"The paragraph quoted," he writes (see Entomologist' for August, 1890, page 260), "is like many others we meet with in newspapers: some penny-a-liner imagined it! Fruit trees were damaged by frosts in May, not by caterENTOM.-SEPT. 1890.

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pillars." Personally, I have found larvæ in Cheshire to be scarcer than for many years past. On the 15th of August I went to Delamere Forest for a few hours' beating; from oak the result was nil; from birch I only beat a solitary caterpillar of Amphidasys betularia, one of Hylophila bicolorana, about half a dozen Cabera pusaria instead of scores, and three or four more of common Geometers. This result I put down to the year's prevalence of cold and wet weather. To the same cause I attribute an extraordinary mortality among the caterpillar inhabitants of my flowerpots and breeding-cages.-J. ARKLE; Chester.

ODONTURA PUNCTATISSIMA ABUNDANT.-I never saw this Orthopteron so common as it is now in our woods. — C. W. DALE; Glanvilles Wootton, August 2, 1890.

RHIZOTROGUS SOLSTITIALIS AT CHESTER.-This beetle was very plentiful close to Chester, on the Dee banks, last July. Up to last year it was unrecorded in the list for Lancashire and Cheshire, when it was discovered in the locality just quoted. To those unacquainted with the insect it may be interesting to say that this beetle looks exactly like a small cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris), a species to which it is allied.-J. ARKLE; Chester.

SOCIETIES.

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.-August 6th, 1890.-Capt. Henry J. Elwes, F.L.S., Vice-President, in the chair. Major-General George Carden, of Surbiton, Surrey, and the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, S.W.; and Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe, Bart., of Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, were elected Fellows. Prof. Meldola exhibited a male specimen of Polyommatus (Chrysophanus) dorilis, Hufn., a common European and Asiatic species, which had been taken at Lee, near Ilfracombe, in August, 1887, by Mr. Latter. At the time of its capture Mr. Latter supposed the specimen to be a hybrid between Polyommatus phloeas and one of the "Blues," and had only recently identified it as belonging to a well-known species. Mr. Stainton, Mr. Jenner Weir, and Colonel Swinhoe made some remarks on the specimen, and commented on the additions to the list of butterflies captured in the United Kingdom which had been made of late years. Mr. W. F. H. Blandford exhibited, and made remarks on, four specimens of Athous rhombeus, Ol., bred from pupa, recently collected by himself in the New Forest. The Rev. Dr. Walker exhibited a large collection of Coleoptera which he had recently made in Iceland. The following_genera, amongst others, were represented, viz. :- Patrobus, Nebria, Byrrhus, Aphodius, Philonthus, Barynotus, Chrysomela, Agabus, Creophilus, and Carabus. Mr. Champion, Dr. Sharp, and the Chairman made some remarks on the collection. Capt. Elwes exhibited three species of the genus Atossa, Moore, three of the genus Elcysma, Butl., and three of the genus Campylotes, West.,-all from the Himalayas and North-eastern Asia. The object of the exhibition was to illustrate the remarkable differences of venation in these closely-allied forms of the same family. Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. Warren, Mr. Moore, and others took part in the discussion which ensued. Mr. P. Crowley read a paper entitled "Descriptions of two new species of Butterflies from the West Coast of Africa," and exhibited the species, which he proposed to name respectively Charaxes gabonica and Cymothoe marginata. He also exhibited several other new

species from Sierra Leone, which had been recently described by Miss Sharp in the 'Annals & Mag. of Nat. Hist.-H. Goss, Hon. Sec.

THE SOUTH LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. -July 24th, 1890. J. T. Carrington, F.L.S., President, in the chair. Messrs. R. Augustine Clark, M.A., A. Hewk, and W. G. Bryant, were elected members. Mr. Turner exhibited Noctua festiva, Hb., from Hampstead, and a variety of the larvae of Biston hirtaria, Leach, the usual brown pigment not having developed. Mr. Joy, Collix sparsata, Hb., from Wicken Fen, and larvæ of the same species, which he had fed on knotgrass. Mr. Wellman, a short series of Calymnia affinis, L., bred from larvæ taken at Chattenden; also living larvæ of Dianthacia nana, Rott., D. cucubali, Fues., and D. carpophaga, Bork., from Caterham. Mr. R. Adkin, a bred series of Moma orion, Esp., from the New Forest. Mr. Moore, a dark variety of Arctia caia, L., the larvæ from which it was bred having been taken at Rotherhithe. Mr. West, Apamea ophiogramma, Esp., and remarked that he had found the larvae of this species feeding in his garden at Streatham on ribbon grass. Mr. Carrington exhibited botanical specimens from Southend, Essex.

August 14th.-W. H. Tugwell, Vice-President, in the chair. Mr. H. W. Street, was elected a member. Mr. Wellman exhibited Emmelesia unifasciata Haw., bred from larvæ obtained at West Norwood in 1888, the species having been two years in pupa. Mr. South, Hypsipetes sordidata, Fb., one being strongly banded with red and having a reddish patch at the base of the primaries, bred from a larva found in Buckinghamshire; in another the same markings were reproduced in a colour almost white; the larva from which this was bred was found in Devon, and both larvæ were fed on sallow. With reference to the first example Mr. South stated that he had had some hundreds of this species through his hands, but had never met with this particular form before. Mr. South also showed an unusually dark form of Larentia didymata, L., from Durham, where it had been exceedingly common. Mr. R. Adkin, Cleora glabraria, Hb., bred, from the New Forest, and Coccyx tædella, Clerck., taken on the occasion of the Society's excursion to Leatherhead. Mr. Moore, two varieties of Abraxas grossulariata, L. Mr. Tugwell, on behalf of Mr. G. T. Porritt, larvæ of Eupithecia extensaria, on substituted food, Artemisia abrotanum. Mr. Tugwell also exhibited a box of Arctia caia, L., of which he stated he had bred some hundreds this season and only obtained one variety, the wings of which did not expand. Mr. Hawes, living larvæ of Argynnis selene, Schiff., and A. euphrosyne, L., which were about to hybernate. Mr. Jenner Weir, living larvæ of Psyche villosella, Och., and drew attention to the different kind of material from which the cases had been constructed; one singular case was formed entirely from pieces of rush, each about one quarter of an inch in length, and although he had had this specimen about two months it appeared not to have added to its case; most of the cases had been commenced with the fragments of grass and heath afterwards used. He also showed one larva from which he had removed the entire case, and had supplied it with strips of coloured paper, from which in a few days it had formed a new habitation; the coloured paper had also been used by another specimen, which had not been deprived of its case. During the last two months most of the specimens had doubled the length of their cases; the case was always made from the feeding or proximal end, and never from the distal end, from which latter the imago

emerged. In one instance, where he had made the experiment of cutting off the distal end, the larva, being unable to repair the breach, forsook the case and made another habitation. Mr. Bouttell exhibited a pale form of Zygana filipendulæ, from Leigh, Essex, and Hesperia lineola, taken at Southend in 1882, which he had discovered in his series of H. thaumas. Mr. Turner, H. lineola, taken on the Society's excursion to Leigh, and Mr. Nussey the same species, including a very pale example from Shoeburyness. Mr. Tugwell expressed an opinion that the species occurred on the salt marshes, and those taken on the hills were specimens that had been blown from the salt marshes. Mr. South said the species was plentiful at Tancarville, some two or three hundred yards from the River Seine, in a limestone quarry, and there was no character of salt marshes whatever; Mr. Barker said he had taken a specimen in Sussex, on the chalk. Mr. T. R. Billups, Coleoptera from Tancarville, taken by Messrs. Leech and South; a specimen of Chrysomelida rutilans, Woolaston, taken alive in the Borough Market, October last, and stated that the species was a native of the Canary Islands, and had probably been imported with potatoes from those Islands; Glypta rubicunda, Bridg., a species of Ichneumonidæ new to Science, bred by Mr. Elisha from a larva of Argyrolepia maritimana; a spider's nest from which he had bred Hemiteles fulvipes, Gr.-the nest was taken by Mr. R. Adkin, at Leigh, Essex; a cluster of cocoons formed by Apanteles spurius, Wsm., attached to a sprig of heather, and from which the living insects were emerging in some numbers; also a specimen of the white rose bedeguar gall and its maker, Rhodites rosa, L., with one of its parasites, Calimome bedeguaris, L. Mr. Cockerell, larvæ of Eriocampa cerasi Pach., feeding on leaves of pear, received from Banstead, where they were doing considerable damage; hellebore was recommended as a remedy. Mr. Cockerell said the species was common in America as well as in this country. Mr. C. A. Briggs, specimens of Cicada montana, Scop. Mr. Perks, a specimen of Bagous tempestivus, Hbst., from Leigh, Essex. Mr. B. W. Adkin, a spray of oak leaves almost entirely covered with the galls of Neuroterus fumipennis, Hartig. Mr. Billups, Helix incarnata, Miller, and a white variety; Suc cinea putris, L., and the variety linnoidea, Bandon. Mr. Cockerell then read a list of animals and plants observed in the Leigh district, between Southend Pier and Hadley Castle, July 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1890, showing a total of 160 species and 22 varieties.-H. W. BARKER, Hon. Sec.

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BIRMINGHAM ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-July 21st, 1890. The President, Mr. W. G. Blatch, in the chair. Mr. W. Harrison, of Harborne, was elected a member. Mr. G. W. Wynn showed Charocampa porcellus, taken at Sutton Coldfield last June. Mr. G. H. Kenrick showed pupæ Satyrus semele, and a larva of Eriogaster lanestris. Mr. R. C. Bradley showed a short series of Sesia cralroniformis. Rev. C. F. Thornewill showed a series of Thecla rubi from Cannock Chase, two specimens of which possessed a light brown spot in each of the fore wings. Mr. W. G. Blatch showed Sesia culiciformis from Wyre Forest. Mr. P. W. Abbott showed unusually large Larentia cæsiata taken on Exmoor. Messrs. E. W. Wynn and E. C. Tye gave an account of a short holiday spent collecting Lepidoptera in Wyre Forest, last June. Among other interesting species taken are Melanippe hastata, Eupisteria obliterata (= heparata), Tephrosia luridata (= extersaria), Agrotis strigula (= porphyrea), &c. COLBRAN J. WAINWRIGHT, Hon. Sec.