1877.] 151 



with these spots orange-coloured, another quite small enough to be 

 the variety formerly called Chrysotheme, two or three males equally 

 . small with black dashes produced from the interior of the marginal 

 band near the costa, another male in which the black spot on the fore- 

 wings had a yellow centre, specimens of both sexes with the fore-wings 

 lemon-yellow, and others with the hind-wings and base of fore-wings 

 dark. Out of two hundred or three hundred specimens examined, 

 this seems to be a large proportion of varieties. 



When I returned home in the middle of September, I found that 

 Edusa was still to be seen on every fine day, haunting sunny banks 

 and sheltered valleys, although the clover fields were all mown and 

 desolate, but they got gradually scarcer and more worn and feeble, so 

 that tlie conclusion forced itself upon one's mind that hibernation in 

 their case was impossible, as they would have insufficient vitality. 



Wishing to ascertain with certainty how long they continued to 

 fly, I sent the boys out every sunny day, as soon as they came from 

 school at mid-day, to examine the railway embankment, and was thus 

 able to ascertain that they continued on the wing until October 16th, 

 after which the weather decided the point. But the most convincing 

 proof that I met with was this : a female found sitting on a warm 

 bank, and confined under gauze, with flowers and clover leaves, in the 

 garden, took advantage of a warm sunny day (October 11th) to lay all 

 her remaining eggs (about 20 in number) and then die. 



These eggs, which I regard with peculiar interest, were placed at 

 once in the hands of Mr. Buckler, and I hope that, in due time, he 

 will have more to tell of the life history of Edusa in this country. 

 But I think that, if any evidence exists of the liihernation of this 

 species in the imago state, it would be desirable now to have it pro- 

 duced. 



While working the clover fields, I discovered the (to me) novel 

 fact that Seliothis armiyer flies most actively in the sunshine, feeding 

 at the clover blossoms exactly like the swarms of Plmia yamma around 

 it, and that it soon becomes in this way most miserably worn. One 

 specimen at home and two in Somerset served as unsatisfactory illus- 

 trations to both facts. 



Gonopteryx rhamni, which was common enough among the clover 

 in Somerset, appears to be totally absent here. 



It is a singular circumstance that on the very day of the emergence 

 of Colias Edusa, a fresh brood of Scopula ferruyalis appeared, and be- 

 came common, through August, all over the country. The specimens, 

 although darker than those found in June, were not as strongly marked 

 as those which appeared at the usual time in September and October, 

 and which, in fact, are still out. 



Pembroke : Tlli November, 1877. 



