ii6 The Scottish Naturalist. 



(not 693 as cited by Staudinger) is dilutata and 1727a very fair 

 figure oi axitxunnaria; Humphreys and Westwood's pi. 68, fig. 7, 

 appears to be dilutata ? , fig. 8 a pale variety of dilutata, and fig. 

 9, though referred by Westwood to autiunnaria, is probably 

 filigrammaria, but not good; Herrich Schaeffer's fig. 194- 

 1^^, filigram?naria ', and in Newman's British Moths the upper 

 fig. 239 is dilutata, and the lower may be autumnaria, though the 

 angle of the second line is rather too rounded; the figs, of 

 Jiligrammaria (240) are not bad, though scarcely (especially 

 the upper one) showing the concavity of the hind-margin of the 

 front-wing. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE L 



1. Diagrams of the shape of the wings and of the 2nd line of the front 



wing in Oporabia. 



2. Processes on ventral hind-margin of last abdominal segment. 2* A 



process more highly magnified. 

 3 from another individual. 3* A 



process more highly magnified. 

 4. Part of lower margin of one of the harpagones. 

 5> •••••.. ■ from another individual. 



"Waste of life at St. Abb's Head.— The year before last, lots of Guil- 

 lemots and Razorbills were caught in salmon-nets at or near St. Abb's 

 Head. What a pity this slaughter could not have been prevented. 

 Whether they were drowned or not when the fishermen found them I do 

 not know, but it is true that they were used to manure the land. I hear 

 from a friend that a great many are not unfrequently caught in nets at 

 Plymouth, and brought into harbour alive, and that he sometimes buys 

 them merely for the purpose of letting them go again. What a pity there 

 is not some one equally patriotic at St. Abb's Head. — ^J. H. Gurney, Jun., 

 Northrepps, Norwich. 



Extermination of Rare Animals. -Mr. Harvie Brown's contribution 

 on the above is valuable, but it goes in some respects too far, and in some 

 not far enough. It goes too far as respects my communication. I 

 certainly communicated to you the fact that F. milvus still habi- 

 tates close to Blair Castle ; but in the same communication I say that 

 it is "a pity, especially as their food is reptiles and mice, that gamekeepers 

 are exterminating them." Regarding their habitat at Blair Athole, as the 

 Duke has plenty of keepers, I don't think there is much chance of any 

 outsiders invading the locality. "Keeper" in Latin is iustos: and the 

 question is : Quis custodcs custodietl The subject concerns many other 

 animals than tlie Kites, e.g., Felis catus, now nearly exterminated by 

 gamekeepers. — W. Hkrdman, Rattray, loth May, 1877. 



Capture of Vanessa Antiopa.— On the 5th of last April, Mr. John 

 M'Gregor caught a very fair example of Vanessa Antiopa, a few n\iles from 

 Perth, The specimen, which appears to be a ^ is interesting as having pro- 

 bably hibernated in this country. If not captured it might possibly have 

 deposited eggs. — F. Buchanan Wjiite. 



