1890.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 93 



VERY COSTLY INSECTS. Dr. L. B. Clifton, the well known naturalist, 

 has succeeded in hatching out a rare species of moth, known to ento- 

 mologists as Attacus luna. For a specimen of this moth Dr. Clifton was 

 paid $100 two years ago by the Earl of Roseberry, who is quite an en- 

 thusiast in that line. The present specimen is valued at $50. From the 

 N. Y. Telegram. (More newspaper entomology.) 



POLYBIA CUBENSIS IN FLORIDA. Among some Florida Hymenoptera 

 received from Mrs. A. T. Slosson, of New York, were three specimens, 

 with the nest, of a species of Polybia, which, on determination, proved 

 to be P. ciibensis Sauss. As there is no doubt as to this species being an 

 inhabitant of Florida, I see no reason why it should not be added to the 

 fauna of the United States. Mr. Charles \V. Johnson, of the Wagner In- 

 stitute, Philadelphia, has informed me that he has also taken this species 

 in Florida. WM. J. Fox. 



THAT observant naturalist, Cons. E. L. Layard, writing from New 

 Caledonia, bears witness to the fact of rotten fruit being a very strong 

 attraction to Lepidoptera. He writes: "At this moment I have in my 

 verandah a parrot, which is daily regaled with a portion of banana. Every 

 evening I see a dozen or more of the large Sphingidae and Noctuas trying 

 to effect an entrance into the cage to get at the rotting fruit, which is gen- 

 erally invisible from the outside. ... I always found bananas the best 

 bait to attract the night flyers, but only when they began to rot (Rhopalo- 

 cera Malay atid)."- Try it. 



OF THE habits of the typical form of Charades athamas in N. W. India 

 we have a few particulars from Capt. Lang. It is " an insect of extremely 

 rapid flight, flashing like lightning up and down the rocky-bedded streams 

 in the Himalayan glens (3000 to 5000 feet). It pitches on rocks in mid- 

 stream and flashes off again if approached." Some Lepchas, who, in 

 Sikkim, make what they can by catching insects, and selling them to 

 visitors, take advantage of the known partiality of butterflies for wet sand. 

 Mr. De Niceville states that " in one place upon a large flattish stone near 

 the middle of the stream the men had put some sand and kept it watered, 

 and it was surprising the number of butterflies that came to their ' trap' 

 and were caught (Rhopalocera Malay ana)." 



WHILE VISITING at Sarver Station, Butler County, Pa., last July, I took 

 quite a number of Colias philodice, Ab. alba, and among them was a fine, 

 perfect male; this is the first white male that has ever been taken to my 

 knowledge, so this note to the NEWS may prove of some interest to its 

 readers. It is pure white on the upper surface, with a faint yellowish tint 

 on the primaries; the black border, including both pairs of wings, is sprinkled 

 with white scales; underneath it has a smoky appearance, and the sub- 

 marginal row of orange spots is wanting, both on the primaries and sec- 

 ondaries.* GEO. A. EHRMAN, Pittsburg, Pa. 



* If the genitalia were examined this would probably be found to be a female. 



