202 THE entomologist's record. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Note on a brood of Hybrid ^ Tephrosia biundularia x ? T, 

 BisTORTATA. — On April 20th, 1897, I received some larvte of a cross 

 of (? T. biundularia X ? T. bistortata. Tiiey were labelled " Cross 

 No. 5, dark <y T. biundularia (from York ova) x ? T. bistortata 

 (from Clevedon ova, ? of 2nd brood) ; hatched April 15th, parents 

 copulated March 8rd." I fed them on hawthorn. They commenced 

 pupating on May 15th and emerged on June 8rd (6), .Tune 4th (11), 

 June 5th (8), June 6th (1), June 7th (6), June 8th (4), June 

 9th (5), June 15th (2, Aug. 23rd (1) — 44 imagines in all -everyone 

 males. They seemed very easy to rear, and I do not fancy I lost any ; 

 some of the larvfe I preserved in various stages. I also received five 

 larvfie from W. Hewett, of York, on May 29th, from ova of j T. 

 biundularia x ? T. bistortata, from which I bred 5 <? s, on June 

 13th (1), June 15th (2), June 26th (1), July 30th (1). In the " Bacot 

 brood " the light form slightly predominated over the black in number. 

 In the " Hewett brood," 4 light and 1 black. The late one, on 

 August 23rd, was black.— E. F. Studd, M.A., F.E.B., Oxton, Exeter. 

 Qlt is remarkable that the cross <? T. biundularia x ? T. bistortata 

 has practically, up to the present time, produced only males. — Ed.] 



VARIATION. 



Aberrations op Arctia caia. — On August 23rd last, at Bourgoiu, 

 Isere, France, I boxed an ail-but drowned j Arctia caia. This de- 

 ])osited a number of ova, which hatched in the early days of September. 

 My neighbour, Mr. Albert Cook, kindly undertook the rearing of them, 

 keeping them in a greeulionse, of moderate temperature, throughout the 

 winter. The young larvte were first fed on groundsel, but that failing, 

 cabbage was substituted, and became their sole article of diet. Some fed up 

 more rapidly than the others, but all went off their feed whenever 

 there was a spell of colder weather. No particular notes were taken 

 of the periods of hybernation, but pupation became general the first 

 few days in May. Most of them spun their webs about the cage, 

 others on the earth among the withered food. The first dozen or so 

 imagines to emerge were strictly normal, but at the end of the month 

 the two aberrations described Ixdow appeared within a few hours of 

 one another, the variation being in o])posite directions. 



(a) Dark aberration pupated on the earth. May 5th ; 1898 ; imago 

 emerged, May 31st, 1898. The whole of the fore-wings dark brown, 

 save a small fleck of cream at the base. Hind-wings, the whole of the 

 costal area and hind margin blackish-brown, the spots confluent except 

 the one in the anal angle of left wing ; the inner marginal area 

 yellowish-red, smoked with dark scales towards the centre. Abdomen 

 dark blackish-brown ; but segments fringed with red towards the base. 



(b) Pale aberration jjupated on the earth, May 9th ; imago emerged, 

 May 30th, 1 898. There is nothing very striking in this aberration save 

 1 )y eontrast with the other. There is a diminution of the brown markings 

 on the fore-wings, es])e('ially of the hind marginal spots, which are broken 

 up and surrounded by scattered ])rown scales, giving it a somewhat rubbed 

 appearance. The hind marginal half of the wing may therefore be 



