Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/180

1346 number of larvae which may now be met with feeding at night.—S. Stevens; 38, King Street, Covent Garden, April 17th, 1846.

Capture of another specimen of Deilephila lineata at Hammersmith.—On my return from town yesterday I found another example of this rare Sphinx waiting my arrival ; it had been talten that morning amongst some strawberry plants, within a couple of hundred yards of my own house, and about the same distance from wher^ the speci- men taken a fortnight since, was found, this being the female, it is quite possible it may be the specimen that flew away when the boy captured the male : this is fortu- nately in fair condition. Mr. Dale informs me, by letter, one was taken by a gentle- man at Langport on the 18th, and another at Bristol on the 20th of last month.—S. Stevens; 38, King Street, Covent Garden.

Capture of Deilephila Celerio (Linn.) at Manchester. — In September, 1844, William Jamieson, an intelligent collector, captured two full-grown caterpillars rest- ing on grass, by the side of an old pit near Newton Heath, in which Equisetum pa- lustre, was the predominant plant. He placed them along with other caterpillars in his breeding box, soon afterwards they escaped, from the insecure state of the box, and no hope was entertained of ever seeing the imago ; however, on the 6th inst. his wife observed a large moth flying at dusk before the house, situate in a populous part of the town ; on the 9th a beautiful female specimen of Deilephila Celerio was taken resting on the window-ledge of the adjoining house, which I had the pleasure of setting and ad- ding to my collection. I possess another specimen, taken in the same district as the above caterpillars in 1838. On showing Jamieson, Westwood and Humphrey's plate of the genus Deilephila, he recognized the caterpillars, and remarked there were three or four blue eyelets on each side, not so near the head as represented in the plate, nor did the caterpillars appear so large : T have no doubt they found a suitable place for changing to the chrysalis, in an old brick wall full of crevices and close by his own door. Boisduval observes on this genus, "Puppa nuda, cylindrico-conica, humo vel quisquilus sepulta," and from the observations of other entomologists, they are exceed ingly variable in the time of their appearance, from three weeks to two years.—Robert J. Edleston, Cheetham, April 28th, 1846.

On the length of time taken by Sphinx Ligustri in the change from the larva to the pupa state.—Perhaps it will be of interest to learn the following occurrence with the chrysalis of a Sphinx Ligustri, of which I found the caterpillar in the latter end of Oc- tober, yet very little, perhaps five or six days old ; I took it home and fed it till the first days of November, and had hard work to get enough food, as by some nights' frost, a good deal of the vegetation was destroyed. The 3rd of November it went into the earth to change, and yesterday when I would take it out, it was about half-changed and still in the process of doing so ; this morning it had reached its perfection : it is a well formed chrysalis, only the wings seem to become a little smaller than usual ; so it has stopped under the earth for changing fifteen days, which is an occurrence never known to me, as in general the changing takes place in four or six days. — A.S. Lamek; Wandsbeck, November 19th, 1845.

Power of instinct in the Male Oak-egger Moth.—On the 8th of August, 1845, a male specimen of Lasiocampa quercus visited my room for two successive days at various periods, when the open window allowed it ingress, it was at length taken. I observed a second in the garden at noon day, making a straight course for the house, on return- ing to my study and opening the window it immediately entered ; it then struck me that some extraordinaiy cause must have induced its unusual visit. On examining