208 THE ENTOMOLOaiST's RKCORD. 



round the stem, and with faces so close that the costfe of the two pairs 

 of forewings were overlapping. — H.J.T. [I have since seen a single 

 specimen of the same species sitting on a grass stem with wings 

 stretched along the stem and body transverse to it, on the bare down 

 at Royston, Herts.— H.J.T.] 



Feeding of Cucullia verbasci. — As there were several plants of 

 Verbascuiii tha]isi(s in the garden, and one of my visits to the chalk 

 hills was on so cold a day that I did not even unfurl my net, I amused 

 myself by selecting a number of larv?e of Cucullia verbasci which this 

 year were extremely abundant. They were put into a conservatory 

 and fed in the sun. So ravenous did they become unde^ the stimulus 

 of the heat that one could clearly hear the noise of their jaws even at 

 some yards distant from the cage. — H.J.T. 



CoLiAs EDusA IN 1915. — Frieuds in the Portsmouth area report 

 ('alias ciJiisa has appeared in some number during the past few weeks. 

 — C. W. Sperring, Charlton. Aiif/itst SOth, 1915. 



I took Colias ediisa at Dorking on August 28th,— A. E. Tonge, 

 Reigate. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The Pine Processionary Caterpillar. — Monsieur lltienne Rabaud 

 has a short paper in the Annales of the Entomological Society of France, 

 for 1915, p. 165, on certain points in the behaviour of the larvfe of 

 the Pine Processionary, I'/iaufuato/Kiea piti/ocanipa, Schiff. (Read Feb- 

 ruary 24th, 1915.) 



He appears to establish that temperature is a very important 

 element in determining many of their habits. His observations appear 

 to have been completed at Amelie-les-Bains, etc.; though he does not 

 say so, one supposes they were all made in the South of France. He 

 refers to the observations made by Reaumur, Fabre, and Perris. He 

 cites from them and from his own observations that a temperature of 

 26° Fahr. kills larviB outside the nest, of 20" kills those inside the nest 

 near its surface, and at about 10° Fahr. nearly all perish. 



He finds that the nests are placed on the southern side of the trees 

 and that the larvae, in feeding, when there is a choice, attack the 

 branches on the southern side. Further, they eat first the terminal 

 needles, but though he speculates on the matter, says nothing definitive 

 in explanation of this choice. 



One may, however, reasonably suppose that the well-being of the 

 larvfe is favoured by getting their food as near the nest as possible. 

 By eating first the terminal needles, they clear downwards, and the 

 result must be that when a larva on leading the way out to feed, finds 

 the lower portion of a branch or twig cleared, he goes no further that 

 way, recognizing that all beyond has been eaten, incidentally saving 

 an unnecessary journey. If, however, the lower needles were often 

 eaten first, it might happen that the further ones would escape alto- 

 gether, with the result that branches further from the nest would have 

 to be visited, whilst these more accessible leaves still existed unused. 

 This would be the result if basal or terminal leaves were attacked first 

 indiscriminately. Had the instinct been to eat the basal ones first, it 

 must have arisen from some advantage derivable from such an instinct, 

 but it is not easy to see what that could be, and in fact, if such advant- 

 age does exist, it has not been definite enough to produce an effect 



