SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



49 



morio and petrosim are coupled together under Pap. caecilia, Hb. But 

 Ochsenheimer is careful to state that in the one example from the 

 Piedmontese Alps examined by him, the wings on both sides have a 

 red-brown lustre (Schimmer) near the outer margin. 



" Bei dem Exemplar, (aus den piemontesischen Alpen) welches ich 

 besitze, haben die Fliigel auf beiden Seiten gegen den Aussenrand 

 einen rothbraunen Schimmer." But the fact that this example 

 displayed a red-brown lustre on both siiJcs can hardly be accepted as 

 proof that the twice described " totus niger " butterfly was no more 

 than Hiibner's caecilia, and therefore a form of vianto [pyrrha), as then 

 known. 



The objection that Giorna and de Prunner give different months 

 for the appearance of )iiorio = petrosus is slight evidence that the 

 butterflies described by the respective authors are of different species. 

 De Prunner may not have had the same knowledge of pctrosits which 

 Giorna presumably (because he adds a specific locality) had of his 

 inorio. Nor, in view of the great variation of size in iiianto in its 

 many habitats, is the slight disagreement of Giorna's and Duponchel's 

 measurements of real significance, even if both were made accurately 

 according to modern methods. Incidentally, one would like to know 

 whether these two ardent entomologists, who published their works 

 in Turin at much about the same time, were personally acquainted. 

 De Prunner's preface, signed 1792, is silent on the subject. 



Whether or not, then, (/an-arniensis, Warren, turns out to be a 

 specialised form of luanto, or a distinct species, it would seem that, as 

 species or variety, it should carry either the name of petrosits accorded 

 the low-flying Piedmontese Erebia by de Prunner, or, if the pre- 

 occupation of the name morio by a moth is no bar to its repetition in 

 the case of a butterfly, then, I contend, it is entitled by priority to be 

 known henceforth as Erebia morio, Giorna, or E. manto var. morio. 



j^CIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



COLIAS EUUSA VAR. HELICE. ABNORMAL PERIOD FROM OVUM TO 



IMAGO.— The following notes may interest readers. A specimen of 

 Colias edusa var. helice, captured in the Isle of Purbeck, on August 20fch, 

 last, was placed in a large outdoor cage in which clover was growing. 

 Ova were laid between August 22nd and September 1st, about 30 m 

 all. The first ovum hatched on September 7th, and by September 

 16th all had hatched. On October 20th the first larva pupated, 15 

 eventually reaching the pupal stage, the last spinning up on November 

 14th. The first imago, a typical female, emerged November 18th, and 

 was followed by others as appended : 

 November 19th. — Var. helice. 

 „ 24th. — Var. helice. 



25th.— Male. 

 29th.— Male. 

 December 1st. — Var. helice, and male. 

 2nd.— Male. 

 ,, 4th. — Var. helice, and male, 



,, 11th. — Var. helice. 



The remaining pupae are now dead, the last dying on December 

 80th. — Leonard Tatchell, Kareuza, Bournemouth, January, 1914. 



