252 THE entomologist's record. 



and that once the collector has found a larva he may just as well move 

 off to a distance before searching again. This is quite incorrect. I 

 have repeatedly found two or three larvae on a plant — though 

 I admit I cannot conceive how they could have found enough food 

 upon it ; and on one occasion, on some plants growing together in a 

 mass at the foot of a gully running down the mountain-side to the 

 road, I found no fewer than thirteen larvae all together. This by no 

 means surprised me for I had noted how fond P. altxannr was of 

 descending the mountain-side by means of these gullies or "chimneys," 

 and what could be more natural than that each female who chanced 

 to make the descent should, after sipping the honey from the scabious 

 blossoms, proceed to deposit on one of the adjoining stems of Seseli 

 montaniiiii one of its pearly ova? It is doubtless well known that in 

 confinement the larva of P. ale.ranor thrives on carrot leaves. 



j^CIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Date of appearance of Melanargia arge. — Since the appearance 

 of my "Notes on the Lepidoptera of Brindisi," in vol. xxii., p. 231, 

 et seq., it has been suggested to me by friends on two or three occa- 

 sions that the date on which I found Melanarf/ia anie so abundant in 

 1910 (May 9th) must have been abnormally early. I therefore gladly 

 availed myself of an opportunity which presented itself in May last 

 to test my earlier experiences. My first day at Brindisi this year was 

 May 11th ; the weather was overcast, and little was on the wing, but 

 I discovered a few examples of i\/. arqe of both sexes at rest. The 

 following two days were bright and sunny, and I was able to observe 

 M. ari/f as much as I wished. The result was to show that the species 

 was fully out, the males in many cases being distinctly past their best, 

 while the females were abundant and in perfect condition. I failed to 

 find any of the ab. caeca among them. 



The ground described in my earlier notes as the home of M. arge 

 has, I regret to find, decreased in area since my last visit. A large 

 factory has been erected on the part of it which lies nearest to the 

 town, "and another large area has been reclaimed and converted into 

 vineyards. The process of reclamation is still going on apace, and I 

 feel apprehensive of the disappearance of the Brindisi headquarters 

 of this beautiful Melananjia. To make matters worse, Brindisi is 

 now an important naval port, and a wireless station lies at the edge of 

 the coast waste that M. ar;/e has made its own. The erection of the 

 wireless station will, I fear, be followed by the exclusion of foreigners 

 from the land lying round the mouth of the harbour. — J. A. Simes 

 (F.ES.). 



A Gynandromorphous specimen of Epinephele lycaon. — Mr. 

 Cockayne's excellent article on the gynandromorphism of a number of 

 Aqriaih'H coridon encourages me to put on paper an interesting case I 

 examined a few days ago, a curious gynandromorphous specimen of 

 Epincfihele lycaon taken by me at Moutiers some years ago. This 

 butterfly is fully provided with every characteristic of the male lycaon, 

 and I should not, perhaps, have noticed its swollen abdomen had I not 

 taken a gynandromorphous Lycaena a few hours before, so naturally 

 enough was inclined to see everything conleur de rose and gynandro- 

 morphs everywhere. 



