genera; if so used it is not, at any rate, Cimex of Linné, but is a misappropriation and misleading. I apprehend this is not the only misapplication of an old generic name.

The question of Acanthia versus Salda, which similarly has adherents for or against respectively, as cited by Reuter, turns in some aspects partly upon the solution of the previous question Cimex or Acanthia.

While I still differ from my respected friend Reuter, I can yet agree with him in saying "Wir stehen ja noch nicht am Ende der Wissenschaft." Names are only appliances and outworks that Science uses in erecting her temple, yet it is rationally important for progressive stability that revision, restoration, and addition should be made on just principles. What constitutes a genus is still a matter of individual opinion: the rage is to magnify specific differences to generic proportions, in which process there is a race for priority, and thus new names are created to-day only to be abolished to-morrow-sometimes by the author himself. So far from being at the end of science we are yet but at the beginning. There is no finality in science. Doubters of current doctrine may have a wider and truer basis of faith than the absolute believer of the period; the scepticism of one generation becomes the orthodoxy of another, and this, again, the starting-point for the acquisition of new insight.

8, Beaufort Gardens, Lewisham :

26th December, 1882.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LARVA OF DICYCLA 00.

BY WILLIAM BUCKLER.

The furious salt gale of the 29th of last April damaged the trees in most localities to such an extent, that it was a hopeless task to go beating for the larvæ usually taken by that process in May; but, of course, there were some trees so situated as to be guarded by high ground from the stroke of the blast, and from one such oak tree my friend, Mr. Hellins, was fortunate enough to obtain the larva of the above named species.

As far as we know, neither the larva nor the imago had been taken in Devonshire before, so it is an addition to the local fauna of that county.

When first taken, 19th of May, it was not come to full growth, being less than an inch in length, and was preparing for a moult, so that its appearance puzzled Mr. Hellins, who sent it to me as perhaps

the young stage of some Taniocampa, which he had forgotten, and in this, without closely examining more than the first two segments protruding from some leaves and portending a moult, I acquiesced; however, an examination of the larva after the completion of its moult, and further correspondence, soon convinced me it was no Taniocampa, and reference to a copy which I had by me of Hübner's figure of D. oo, showed me at once that I had at last obtained an example of that desideratum.

The moult took place during night or early in the morning of May 22nd, and in course of that morning I saw the larva feeding well as it lay quite openly exposed to view, though afterwards it kept itself more secluded, both by day and night, amongst the leaves of the oak spray provided for it, but, so far as I could see, without spinning them together, and it became full grown by the 27th, and went to earth on 29th; and the imago, a male, appeared on the 8th of July.

Very soon after the moult it was nearly an inch long, and when full-grown and stretched out 1 inch 43 lines in length, very cylindrical, the head being only a trifle less than the second segment, and the thirteenth very little tapered, the head full and rounded, jet-black and glossy, the ground-colouring of the body was also jet-black above as far as the anal flap which was brown, and dark brown on the belly; the plate on the second segment quite as glossy as the head; the rest of the smooth skin had but a very slight gloss; a pure white dorsal stripe began rather narrow on the plate and thoracic segments, and from thence much broader on all the others, but on each of them was contracted in the middle and divided so as to form a series of long elliptical marks, the very thin sub-dorsal line of pure white began with two isolated spots on the side margin of the neck plate, and thence ran uninterrupted to the end of the anal flap; the broad spiracular stripe of rather yellowish-white was on the third and fourth segments interrupted deeply on its upper margin, and from them passed along of uniform breadth as far as the anal legs, and having a thin line of dark grey running through the middle, on which were the spiracles of red-brown finely outlined with black; the very small tubercular dots of pure white ranged in threes on either side of the back and singly above and below the spiracular region on each segment; the anterior legs were black, the ventral and anal legs brownish-green and semipellucid; the thoracic wrinkles and segmental divisions showed black upon the white stripes and lines.

Just before the larva was allowed to enter the earth it had lost

its perfect black ground on the body, which had become somewhat of a brownish-green.

The cocoon, found about three-quarters of an inch below the surface of the earth, was of oblong shape, the diameters 11 lines by 8, it was composed of earthy particles lightly held together with a few threads, and though smooth inside, was without any perceptible lining of silk.

The pupa-skin was 7 lines long, very stout in proportion across the thorax, the abdominal segments tapered to the rounded tip furnished with two very fine straight and pointed spines, smooth in all its parts; of a dark warm brown colour and glossy.

Emsworth: December 6th, 1882.

New localities for Trioza crithmi, F. Löw.-Having had occasionally a few hours to call my own whilst in this neighbourhood, I paid some visits to the rocks under Plymouth Hoe, and there I found that the samphire grew tolerably plentiful. A very superficial examination of the plant revealed to me the fact that the above named species was there in abundance in all its stages. From July until near the end of August their numbers did not seem to diminish, although I took but few merely for the sake of the locality. A little later on in the season, my friend, Mr. Bignell and I made an excursion to a place called Wembury, and there also amongst the cliffs we found it, but sparingly. On our way thither, and the road is a rough one, we examined a large quantity of Artemisia absinthium, growing on both sides of a hedge on a farm on the Langdon Hall estate, in the hope of taking Aphalara artemisia, but there was not any sign of it, although the locality seemed a very likely one.-JOHN SCOTT, Devonport: 19th November, 1882.

[Mr. C. W. Dale informs me that he found Trioza crithmi this year in the Isle of Portland.-J. W. D.]

The early life of Psylla pyricola, Först.-Up to the present time I have spent over 140 days here, out of which there have not been more than 20 fine ones. When the weather was fine and the time not otherwise occupied, a ramble was taken with more than ordinary gusto, and being desirous of becoming acquainted with the Psyllida on pear trees, in the hope of getting Psylla pyri, Linn., if it was really to be found in Britain, or at least, here, and Mr. Parker, Manager of the Royal Hotel, having very kindly given me an introduction to Mr. Brighton, head-gardener at Mount Edgcumbe, I shortly afterwards waited upon that gentleman, who at once gave me permission to wander about the grounds and gardens of the estate whenever I pleased. I accordingly paid several visits to the place between August and October, but all my searching failed to lead to the capture of P. pyri. On some of the pear trees, however, P. pyricola, Först., actually swarmed, and having beaten a few of the nymphs into my umbrella I began next to examine the leaves. On them I soon discovered the ova laid irregularly along each side of and on the midrib itself They are of a deep yellow colour, somewhat elongate, narrower or almost

colour, knobbed hairs

pointed at one extremity. When the young quit the ova they are pale oval bodies with somewhat thick legs which they scarcely seem to know what to do with, but in a day or two they get used to them and run about somewhat actively. In the meantime they have increased in size and have indications of some dark marking on the head and down the back. I also observed that the leaves were finely perforated on the upper surface, from which exuded a secretion which I tasted and found to be very sweet; the young in all stages and in numbers might be seen evidently feeding upon and enjoying it. As the larvae grow older they become of a greenish-white may be detected around the sides of the abdomen, and a few simple ones on the front of the head; the elytra-lobes now begin to be distinct; two lunate patches appear on each side of the crown, the eyes are pale purple, the base of the abdomen becomes brown and at the junction of three or four of the segments is a small dark spot on each. On changing to the nymph-state the entire creature becomes of a more or less dark brown colour, and the front of the head rounded, along which, between the antennæ, are a few short hairs; the crown is divided down the centre by a pale greenish or yellowish line, and has posteriorly two curved ones of the same colour uniting with the central one and forming an anchor-shaped character; along the inner margin of the eyes there is also a pale streak, and on each side the centre near the posterior margin a triangular black-brown patch; the antennæ are pale green; two basal joints slightly fuscous; 1st joint with a short rigid hair at its apex, on the inside. Eyes purple ; pronotum yellowish or greenish with about four large and two or three other small brown spots of irregular shape down each side of the centre. Elytra-lobes dark brown, darkest next the suture separating them from those of the wings; costal margin with two short hairs, one near the base pointing in a forward direction, the other near the middle. Legs pale or yellowish-green; tibiæ, 2nd pair with two knobbed hairs on the outer margin. Abdomen frequently clear emerald-green at the base (? sexual); incisions of the first one or two segments narrowly brown on each side of the centre, followed by a large cuneate patch of dark brown; margin with about seven knobbed hairs on each side. Length about & line (Paris).—ID.: December 2nd, 1882.

Great destruction of Pieris brassica by Apanteles.-From the injury sometimes done by larvæ of Pieris brassica and P. rapa among cabbages, I presume the circumstance I am about to relate is very exceptional, as were it otherwise, these butterflies would hardly survive the exterminating process.

Having by mistake failed to preserve specimens of Apanteles glomeratus for my collection, I last summer determined to supply the deficiency; and hearing that a few larvæ of Pieris brassica had been found in the garden and destroyed, I sought for more, finding only nine. Of these one died, while from all the others emerged larvæ of the parasite, none of which were stung by any hyperparasite. Partly by counting and partly by estimate I arrived at 230 as the number, of the cocoons, all but one or two of which produced perfect insects.-J. E. FLETCHER, Worcester: December, 1882.

Notes on Tenthredinidæ.—On p. 127, vol. xviii, of this Magazine, I recorded Nematus salicis as among the species possessing the power known as mixedparthenogenesis. I should have written N. melanocephalus, Hartig. The error

arose from a brace of wrong determinations several years old, when specimens of N. melanocephalus were named salicis, and actual salicis was named melanocephalus.

From my experience, it would seem that only a part of the green species of Nematus are capable of parthenogenesis-those whose larvæ have green heads varied more or less with dark stripes or blotches, and feed solitarily. The group whose larvæ have the head black and the second and last two segments orange, and live gregariously, have, at least in several trials I have given them, failed to oviposit in a virgin state.

When some two years since I was breeding Nematus curtispina from virgin females, I put such a in a cage together with several males, and placed them in the sun, watching them from time to time during three or four days. In the peregrinations of the creatures to and fro, whenever any males crossed the path of the they passed her by without seeming to heed her; but their treatment of their own sex was very different. Whenever two or more males met they' wheeled about and brought their hind body into collision, appearing to wrench with their cerci the corresponding organs of each other. This they did repeatedly before separating. Sometimes four or five were thus tussling together. The effect was rather ridiculous, the more so, that none seemed the worse for the battle.

During the past season saw-fly larvæ were strikingly scarce. The only exception to this that I met with was Nematus salicivorus, Cam., a species usually only moderately common, which was so plentiful here in the autumn that few leaves of any Salices were found untenanted by one or two of its larvæ. N. curtispina, on the other hand, which is generally the commonest of the solitary-feeding green Nemati, was so scarce, that I could only find three larvæ.—ID.

Notes on the Lepidoptera of the Pyrenees in September.—It would appear from a glance through the pages of the Magazine, that British Entomologists have not often visited the Pyrenees, or, at all events, if they have done so, have not recorded in its pages the species they captured or observed; I am, therefore, induced to send an account of those species I met with during a visit there in the beginning of September.

At Biarritz, where I arrived on the 29th August, I found on the coast, owing, in a great measure, no doubt, to its exposed situation, the flora of a somewhat scanty description, and the Lepidoptera proportionately limited. Flying over a species of Erica, then in flower, I noticed the following Lycanæ, viz.: L. bætica, argiades, and Alexis.

Here and there, along the sea-shore, were patches of the spurge Euphorbia paralias, off which I took the larvæ of Deilephila euphorbia in every stage of growth; I found they fed equally well on Euphorbia amygdalöides, a common plant in nearly all the valleys of the Pyrenees.

A few miles south of Biarritz, I took several Rhodocera Cleopatra, but as I did not again meet with this species, I concluded that it did not occur much above the sea-level in the Western Pyrences.

I reached Pierrefitte-Nestalas (1665 ft. above the sea) on 1st September, where I remained several days, exploring the valleys in various directions, with the following result:-Papilio Machaon, Pieris Daplidice, not uncommonly; Leucophasia sinapis, generally distributed and common; Colias Hyale and Edusa, sparingly;