286 THE entomologist's record. 



on several food-plants which wither and go brown, and in these 

 cases the pup?e become conspicuous again. To form a sound judgment 

 on this matter we ought to know how the pupre occur in nature. 

 Pupse of P. napi were not easy to find. Under what circumstances 

 were the green pupae found in the wild state ? 



Mr. Tutt doubted whether many pupae of P. napi did pupate on 

 their food-plants. He had searched Smjmbrmm, and other plants, that 

 had evidently been well-eaten by such larvfe, and failed to find a 

 single pupa. In his opinion the full-fed larvae nearly always travelled 

 some distance, and, like those of P. rapae and P. brassicoe, often 

 climbed to some sheltered position before pupating. On only one 

 occasion had he found pupae of P. napi moderately abundant, in 

 nature, and then they were situated in crannies between the 

 stones forming an old wall and shed on the slopes directly behind St. 

 Michel de Maurienne. These would have been quite overlooked had 

 not a newly-emerged imago been conspicuously drying its wings on 

 the wall. The empty pupa-case was then quickly found, followed by 

 several pupae. These were all of the bone-colour, and excellently 

 hidden in the crannies, so much so that they had to be carefully 

 sought in order to be found. The Sisijmbmim stems growing along the 

 wall did not produce a single pupa. 



Variation of Nonagria cannae, with description of tliree new 



aberrations. 



By E. A. BOWLES, M.A., F.E.S. 



I have ouce again had the pleasure of breeding a good many 

 Nonagria cannae, from the Norfolk Broads. It is such a variable 

 insect that there is always a certain amount of interest attached to 

 rearing it iu any quantity, and watching for the rarer alierratious 

 to put in an appearance. There is a great dift'erence, both in size and 

 colour, between the two sexes ; some females being very large, measur- 

 ing fully 1-5 iu. across, the average male being about 1-1 in. 



Mr. Tutt's description, in The British Noctnae and their Varieties, 

 of Hiibner's figm-es is good for the colour of the most plentiful form that I 

 get, and which appears to be the type, but I think no description that 

 I have seen quite conveys a correct idea of the markings, so I will try 

 to furnish one. I had no notion, until I commenced, how difficult 

 it is to describe what is apparently very plain and straightforward, in 

 language that will leave no chance of mistake. I am afraid I cannot 

 manage it in purely scientific terms, so must adopt a more friendly, 

 if not conversational, style. If you will turn to the plate on p. 5 of 

 Meyrick's Handbook of Bi'itish Lejndojitera, you will find certain 

 nervures of the upper wing called the lower median vein and lb. I 

 find that these two nervures are in both sexes of iY. cannae nearly 

 always dark grey for the central portion of their length, and this 

 dark portion is bounded, in each nervure, by a black dot. The 

 second line is also represented by a series of seven black dots, 

 thus making a total of 11 black dots. In some specimens the three 

 nervures springing from the lower median are also covered with 

 dark scales. These markings are always distinct, except in the very 

 dark sooty ^ s, and in one light-coloured ? , which, so far as I have seen, 



