river, there may be no eggs laid, although the fact is as I have stated in the winter, and in a tank which was lately frozen over.-K.; Sudbury, February 11, 1861.

Note on Lampania zonalis.-This genus belongs to the estuary group of Cerithiidæ, with orbicular multispiral opercula. It inhabits sand and mud flats between tidemarks. The animal, in nearly all particulars, resembles Cerithium: there is no visible siphon, only a pallial fold; the whitish tentacles are ringed with dark brown; the muzzle is broad, annulated with dark brown, and fringed at the under edge with short whitish beards; the back of the neck is marked with square brown spots like the dark spots on the shell; the foot is short, truncate in front and lineated with dark brown. Lampania is inactive and crawls slowly; it is very tenacious of life, surviving removal from the water several days. It is a very ubiquitous mollusk: I have met with it at Macao and Hong-Kong in the South and at Ta-lien-Hivan and Shantung in the North of China. In the Sea of Japan I have followed it from the Korean Peninsula in the South to the island of Saghaleen in the North.—Arthur Adams.

Capture of Lepidurus glacialis in Lian-tung.-On the 12th of September we land on a projecting point, marked on the charts as an island, on the eastern side of the gulf of Lian-tung, about forty miles north of Hulu-Shan Bay. On leaving the boat near the rocky cape named Cape Vansittart, which is separated from the mainland by a flat sandy neck, we approach a rounded knoll, on the summit of which is a square watch-tower with Tartar horsemen grouped picturesquely around, a scene my artist friend, Bedwell, is desirous of sketching. In the distance are the angular cold gray peaks and ridges of a barren mountain-range, with here and there a gleaming streak, as of quicksilver, running down their sides as the sun shines on the water-courses and little winding streams. At the base of these lifeless granite masses stretches a level plain, green and fertile, where little straggling hamlets of low flat-topped mud-houses are snugly sheltered in long groves of trees. To this succeeds a sterile sandy belt with a chain of freshwater ponds, shallow and full of weeds, and with muddy open spaces between them, the natural resort of the curlew, the whimbrel, the plover and the suipe. Here also we see the spotted crake (Gallinula porzana, Linn.), a very sly little fellow, keeping close in the cover of the reeds and grass. The pretty but scentless Chinese pink, a little blue-flowered Iris, and a yellow, red and white mixture of the blossoms of the tormentil, the heads of Sanguisorba and the loose corymbs of the flower-of-yarrow, complete nearly all the plants that redeem the sandy soil from sameness and utter sterility. Nearer the sea long salt-water lagoons and shallow swamps extend, covered in some parts with a white-flowered sea-lavender and the blue stars of Aster tripolium, and from which the great white heron (Ardea alba) slowly rises, with bright yellow bill stretched out in front and long black legs stretched out behind, and after a few lazy flaps with his huge curved wings, alights again to resume his interrupted fishing. Equally familiar is his yet larger cousin in gray, the common heron (Ardea cinerea), and, standing on one leg, her loose snowy plumes waving in the breeze, the elegant white egret dreams of frogs and fishes. Sandpipers and greenshanks run piping and probing about the margin, and gulls and little terns (Sterna minuta) scream, quarrel and hover over the heads both of bipeds and birds. Now as

I stoop to collect some specimens of Limnæa, in one of the clear freshwater ponds with a bottom of sandy mud, my attention is arrested by an object which, at first sight, I

6

regard as an unknown genus of bivalve Mollusca, but on placing it in a bottle of water the real nature of the creature becomes revealed; it is an Entomostracon: as a whale among minnows, so, said I, is my new genus among water-fleas; but again I was mistaken. I had not fished long before I brought to light a veritable Apus or shieldshrimp, and I saw at once that my supposed new genus was the young of it, thus illustrating very prettily the law in the development of organized beings, that the transition state of a higher form will represent the permanent condition of genera lower in the same class, for the Apodidæ are justly regarded as the highest among Entomostraca. When I get on board I examine my captures with the valuable aid of my friend Dr. Baird, or rather of his Monograph of Apodidæ,' and 1 find they belong to Leach's genus Lepidurus, which is furnished with a plate between the bases of the long caudal filaments. I find, moreover, that my specimens agree exactly with the description of L. glacialis of Kroyer, from Cape Krusenstern in North America: "The tail setæ are finely plumose, and the flap between them is of a somewhat square shape, short and toothed on its edges." I cannot find any account of the metamorphosis of the Apodidæ, or whether it is known that in the young state the shield is folded on itself longitudinally in the form of a bivalve shell, which entirely conceals the head, body and feet of the animal. There is but a single large black eye in these young ones, situated Polyphemus-like, in the middle of the forehead. The very young larvæ are of a pale horncolour, and swim in a steady manner forwards, the ventral edge of the shell being directed downwards. As they move through the water they partially expand and close the valves of the shell. Older and larger individuals are olivaceous, and are fond of lying on their sides in the sand at the edge of the pond, and now and then spin round and round by means of their protruded tail. The adult of Kroyer's shieldshrimp, as it may be called, keeps in deep water, and is voracious and predatory, not confining his attention to small things in the water, but even feeding on drowned dragon-flies.- Arthur Adams.

Eggs of the Genus Colias imported in Clover (see Zool. 7359).—I have for many years thought that the eggs of C. Edusa — the only species I have seen here — are imported along with clover seed from the Continent, and which is sown every year all over the Cotswolds. I can only account in this way for the appearance of this butterfly on our bills. My observations are chiefly confined to the neighbourhood of Cirencester, where I have seen this insect occasionally, either by the road-sides or in the garden, but not more than two or three in the season, until the year 1859, when they appeared in great numbers. I remember, in a walk of four miles along one of the roads which leads from Cirencester into the country, counting more than twenty, and they were seen in other directions. The sides of our highways on the hills have mostly been quarried, and in these spots a profusion of small flowers spring up, which no doubt attract these butterflies from the fields where we may suppose they have been bred. It is a beautiful and refreshing sight to see them pass and repass, and alighting on the various flowers, quite undisturbed in their peaceful and happy enjoyments. I think that all of those which I saw were males. I did hope, that having appeared in such numbers and in so inviting a region, I should have seen some the following year; but no, not one was on the wing. This may be accounted for by the extreme wetness of the season; and I understand on the south coast of Devon, where

they were in profusion in 1859, none were seen in 1860: this I know from my own observation in our locality. The practice of paring and burning the surface soil every third year would in a great measure prevent the permanent settlement of the species on our hills. The statement of Mr. Gregson seems to want further elucidation, to satisfy the minds of those who cannot understand how the eggs of a butterfly can be introduced into a seed protected by so hard an envelope. If the butterfly lays her eggs upon a leaf or some portion of the stalk of the plant, I think then there would be no difficulty in the case. The lucerne is not cultivated on the Cotswolds, and I know well what an attraction its flowers offer to numerous species of butterflies, having seen even small patches of it alive with them.-Joshua Brown; Cirencester.

[The interesting ingredient of the importation hypothesis will be found in the fact that the observations of a hundred years go to show that the egg is always laid on the leaf, and is always hatched within ten days of being laid, as I have stated in the 'Butterfly Number,' p. 6, line 48. How during these ten days can it get into a sack of clover seed ?-Edward Newman].

Eggs of the Genus Colias imported in Clover (see Zool. 7359). — I said in a paper read before the Northern Entomological Society, on the subject of disputed or imported species, that by carefully passing the bottoms, that is the last few pounds, of sacks of seed, under my glass, I had succeeded in finding more than one species of Lepidopterous eggs amongst the seed; but as that paper was lost at the Meeting, and only found again by accident, and returned to me by the friend who found it amongst his papers, and has never been read by any one except the said friend, or left my hand since, I am at a loss to think how Mr. Newman could construe a sentence incidentally used in the 'Intelligencer' into such a fact as he tells us I have discovered. In my paper I said I supposed that in dressing the seeds the eggs were loosened, sieved with the seed, and so reached England. I showed that it was quite impossible for certain species to reproduce themselves in certain localities without being seen annually by the sharp eyes that were on the look-out for them, instancing certain species in special localities, &c. A discussion ensued, ending in its being shown that the eggs, like the seeds, could not be injured by the weight of the seed upon them, &c.; and I believe the paper gave general satisfaction, and was said to have "opened quite a new point of view to look at disputed species from." I cannot help saying that, having quite satisfied myself on this question, I thought so little of the paper itself that I did not even know it was lost until I received it through the post, accompanied by a letter saying that my friend had read it and was well pleased with it.-C. S. Gregson; Stanley, near Liverpool, February 12, 1861.

[I have taken the liberty of striking out three paragraphs which bore rather severely on London entomologists generally, and on myself in particular; the first, because I stand alone in having introduced this matter to my readers, no one else having taken any part therein; secondly, because to any charges against myself I ought in courtesy to reply; and I believe I have not a single reader who would care a straw either for the attack or defence. Mr. Gregson's words, as originally printed, are these:-" I am quite ready to admit that the clouded yellows and other foreign eggs, which are imported in clover and especially in lucerne seeds, might not hatch for want of a high temperature, and so we should not have them amongst us."-'Intelligencer,' vol. ix. p. 56, the first line. I know nothing of Mr. Gregson's paper which was lost and is found again; in fact I now read of such a paper for the first time; but I would ask Mr. Gregson, as a favour to my readers and myself, to state explicitly,

and unaccompanied by any personal remarks (which seem to me quite as foreign to the subject as he considers the clouded yellows to our island), whether he has found the eggs of the genus Colias among the seeds of lucerne or clover, and whether he has reared the perfect butterfly therefrom? The great novelty of Mr. Gregson's discovery is the persistency of the egg state: in few butterflies yet observed has the egg state been found to last more than ten or twelve days: by what process, either agricultural or scientific, was the vitality of the egg thus prolonged ?-Edward Newman.]

Occurrence of Deilephila Galii at Worthing.-Seven specimens of this insect were taken here last autumn: four were bred from larvæ taken on Galium verum (bedstraw), near Shoreham.-W. Rickman; 2, Chapel Road, Worthing, January 12, 1861.

Observations on the Families Agaristidæ and Melamerida.—Mr. Newman's remark (Zool. 7227), that "it is unnatural to divorce Eusemia from Callimorpha and Chelonia," is a truth self-evident at first sight, but which admits of some modification on a closer inspection. It has been acknowledged by Herrich-Schæffer, and also to some extent, unwittingly, by Mr. Walker in the British Museum Catalogue,' several insects there placed in the midst of the Chelonida belonging truly, I believe, to the Agaristidæ. Like many other groups, I believe the Agaristidæ will be found to be by no means constant in the form of the antennæ, which has hitherto been considered one of their principal characters; and we shall find some of them possessing the Chelonian and some the Noctuidan type of antennæ. Their wing-venation approaches closely to that of the Noctuæ-Trifidæ, and differs in some obvious points from that of the Chelonidæ, to which, however, it is also not very distantly related. In the structure of the head and antennæ Agarista, Alypia, Eusemia, &c., remind us of the Rhopalocera, with which, however, they have little else in common; and in their legs and bodies, as well as the structure of their wings, they are much more nearly allied to the Noctuæ, to which some of the genera, Eudryas for example, form a complete transition. We thus see how impossible it is to class these singular insects satisfactorily, uniting as they do the characters of groups not usually placed in juxtaposition: I believe, however, that the most natural situation in which they can be placed is in close proximity to the Chelonidæ, which they will connect, in a circular arrangement, with the Noctuæ-Trifidæ, and also with the Rhopalocera.* In the British Museum table-cases, two years ago, were, and probably still are, to be found certain Australian insects of the genus Apina, Walk., classed with the Agaristidæ, while in the general collection down stairs these insects stand in the midst of the Chelonida: which is right will no doubt be determined when the transformations are known; but as Apina posseses the wing-venation, and sundry other characteristics of the Agaristidæ, I certainly incline to place it with them rather than with the Chelonidæ. In regard to some other insects, such as the curious little North-American Psychomorpha Epimenis, placed in the British Museum Collection among the Nyctemeridæ, we can take surer ground, since not only does it agree in the venation with the Agaristidæ, but the transformations and habits, as given by Abbot in the beautiful collection of drawings of North-American insects in the library of the British Museum, fully confirm the inference deduced from the structure of the perfect insect. The larva closely resembles that of Alypia octomaculata, which no one can doubt belongs truly to the Agaristidæ. Let any one now compare the transformations of Eudryas Unio (Abbot's drawings,

*The Hypsida connect, in a similar manner, the Chelonida with the NoctuæQuadrifidæ.

tab. 221) with those of the two insects just mentioned, and he can scarcely fail to come to the conclusion that it also belongs to the same family, although it has recently been placed with the Glottulidæ, to which it certainly has considerable affinity. Several other insects among the Chelonidæ in the British Museum-such as Anaphela luctifera; possibly the genus Ovios; and Phægorista, Massaga and Rhosus among the Pericopida-will probably eventually be classed with the Agaristidæ. Two new species described by Mr. Walker in the genus Melanchroia appear likewise to belong to this family, and also Josia Noctilux, J. continua and J. separata, which, though they have somewhat similar colouring, entirely depart from the typical structure of the Melameridæ. In the family just mentioned, as arranged at the British Museum, Dioptis hesperoides would also appear to belong to the Agaristidæ; and the entire genus Dioptis seems to want revision, having apparently little in common but the style of colouring. The group Agyrta, including Micilia, Dux, &c., have two pairs of well-developed spurs to the hind tibiæ, with the venation of Ctenucha and the latter genera of the Euchromide, with which they should probably be associated. D. vinosa, D. Ergolis, &c., have one pair of minute spurs to the bind tibiæ, with venation approaching the Pericopidæ, and should probably be placed in that family; while D. glaucopis, D. sobria and D. umbrifera possess the structure of Josia monilis, &c., and belong unquestionably to that genus. It is much to be desired that some entomologist visiting South America would seek to verify Stoll's figures of the transformations of Dioptis Micilia and D. cœlestina. It seems scarcely possible to suppose that some error has not taken place with regard to these insects and the two species of Melanchroia which he figures on the same plate, both the larvæ and cocoons resemble so closely those of the Limacodidæ, and the two pupæ seem much too robust for such delicate insects as D. Micilia and D. cœlestina.-R. F. Logan; Duddingston, Edinburgh, December, 1860.

Occurrence of Lithosia caniola of Hübner in Devonshire and in Ireland. - Mr. King, of Torquay, called upon me a few weeks since with some insects collected in Devonshire and Cornwall, from which I picked out a worn specimen of a Lithosia which appeared distinct from any recorded British species: I believe it to be L. caniola of Hübner, &c.,-a species not uncommon in France, and very likely to occur here. Mr. Barrett took four specimens of the same species in Ireland last August, one of which he kindly sent me to examine. Although in much better condition than the one which I have, it is not fine; but I think there can be little doubt of its being L. caniola, a species likely to be overlooked from its dull colour, which would lead many to consider it one of the common species in faded condition. My friend M. Guenée, who has had all my Lithosiæ for examination, has just sent a paper upon the European species of the genus Lithosia for publication in the Transactions' of the Entomological Society of France: as soon as it appears I will send a few remarks upon the British species for insertion in the 'Zoologist.'— Henry Doubleday; Epping, February 11, 1861.

Description of the Larva of Hemerophila abruptaria.-Ground-colour pale grayish or greenish drab. Segmental divisions pink. Down the centre of the back a series of purplish blotches, becoming confluent on the anterior and posterior segments, on the latter almost evanescent. Back, belly and anal plate sparingly spotted with black. Immediately preceding the latter a black belt encircling the whole body. In the centre of each ventral segment some spiracle-like spots. Belly greenish. Spiracular lines dusky. The body tapering gradually towards the head. Capital segments