NOTES.
189
p. 100) :—"On June 16th, I captured a fine freshly-emerged female of Sesia
sphegiformis in Essex. It was quietly resting on an alder leaf. My friend, Mr.
Thurnall, took one in the same locality two years ago.'' [It is a notable fact that
a long series of this rarity was taken this year in Sussex by Mr. Robinson by the
expedient known as "assembling."] At the meeting of the City of London
Entomological Society, on August 7th, Mr. Gurney exhibited a long series of
Phorodesma smaragdaria, all bred from larvae obtained in the Essex marshes, and
Mr. F. G. Whittle writes (Entom. Record i., 101) of his experience of the Essex
Emerald and other species :—"On the 18th of May, I was at Benfleet, and had
the pleasure of taking my first larva of Phorodesma smaragdaria. I little thought,
when I picked up what appeared to be a few withered leaves, that it was a cater-
pillar, so perfectly was it concealed. Near Canvey, on the 25th, I found larvae of
Lasiocampa quercifolia, and a nest of Eriogaster lanestris on hawthorn ; also three
nests of the latter species at Southend on blackthorn. At Shoeburyness, on the
26th, I found a nest of the larvae of Bombyx castrensis. Hyponomeuta padellus
larvae are quite stripping the blackthorns in this neighbourhood." In a later
letter Mr. Whittle says "Larvae of B. castrensis were very common on Wakering
Marsh. These larvae are not at all particular as to food. I observed many more
on Statice limonium, Atriplex portulacoides, and I think A. littoralis, as well as on
various coarse grasses, than on Artemisia. If placed in a cage with birch, rose,
and sea-wormwood, they showed a marked preference for the rose and birch,
particularly the former, for which, I learned from Mr. Mera, the larvae have a
great liking." Mr. H. M. Bellamy writes:—'"A visit to Chingford on 22nd
June produced about two dozen Procris statices." And finally, referring to
Epping Forest and the Essex Marshes, Mr. O. C. Goldthwait, on May 27th,
writes (Entom. Record i., p. 132):—"I was very pleased to find that Heliodes
arbuti still occurs in one of its old haunts at Walthamstow, although I am afraid
the spot will soon be built over. A visit for Phorodesma smaragdaria larvae on
the banks of the Thames, a few days ago, was very unsuccessful, the high tide
having buried most of the food-plant under a stratum of drift. Larvae are
abundant in Epping Forest. I found Scotosia vetulata and S. rhamnata fairly
common on buckthorn last week. The rolled-up leaves should be picked off for
vetulata, and when you have finished picking off the spun-up leaves, beat for
rhamnata."
A Land-Planarian in Cambridgeshire.—At a meeting of the Cambridge
Philosophical Society, on May 12th, Mr. F. S. Harmer exhibited some living
specimens of a land-planarian ( Rhynchodemus terrestris, O. F. Muller) found in
Cambridge, and the record is interesting, inasmuch as this curious little animal
may possibly be found in Essex if well looked for, as, from its wide distribution
in Europe, it is probably much commoner than is generally supposed. It was
first discovered by the Rev. L. Jenyns in the woods of Bottisham Hall, near
Cambridge, and a few were lately found there. It has since been found not
uncommonly in King's College Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, on the lower surface
of damp logs of wood lying on the ground. Several egg-capsules of the planarian
were discovered on May 15th on fragments of rotten wood, among which some
specimens of the animal had been kept for a week.