OQQ [October, 



My friend Prof. Sehvyn Image sends me the following extracts from the 



works of early English entomologists referring to (sibylla) Camilla near London : 



" 1. John Eay, Hist. Insect, 1710. — ' Papilio mediae magnitiidinis elegan- 



tissima, alis supinis nigris cum area transversa alba, pronis variis 



coloribus depictis. 

 In Essexia non procixl a Tolesbnry oppido a D. Morton capta, et ad nos 



delata est Jiilii 11, 1695.' 



2. W. Lewin, Pap., pi. 8, 1795. — ' This insect appears on the wing about 



the 24th of June, and is not uncommon. . . It is very extraor- 

 dinary, that, though this fly is an inhabitant of almost every patch 

 of wood in England, neither the greatest pains taken, nor accident, 

 have yet discovered the caterpillar . . .' 



3. J. Curtis, Brit. Ent., 1826. — ' Formerly tolerably abundant in the 



neighbourhood of London during the months of June and July. 

 Mr. Samouelle has seen it in Bedstile Wood, near Finchley, and 

 at Birch Wood, in Kent, and we have heard of its being taken 

 not unfreqiiently at Coombe Wood.' 



4. J. F. Stephens, Illustr., 1827. — ' . . frequently taken the insect at 



Coombe Wood, in JiUy, previously to the year 1813, since which 

 period I have not seen it alive. . . It was formerly very abundant 

 in Betstile Wood, near Finchley, and at Birch Wood, Kent ; but 

 has not been captured at either place for many years.' ' Lordship 

 Lane, Camberwell, formerly in plenty. Mr. Witherington.' 

 0. Edward Doixbleday. — ' Parkall Woods, near Epping, sparingly.' " — 

 G. B. LoNGSTAFF, Twitclieu, Mortehoe, E.S.O., Devon : August 23rd, 1912. 



A note on Abraxas grossulariata ah. nigra.- — -Adverting to Mr. Porritt's in- 

 teresting note on this in yoiir last number (Ent. Mo. Mag. xxiii, 215), I shoidd like 

 to say that I twice saw Mr. Beattie's Mickleham specimen, and made my descrip- 

 tion direct from it. This .specimen is not an intensified form of ab. nigrospar- 

 sata. It is, as I described it, a "pure black form," not blue black. It is unlike 

 Mr. Porritt's in that it has not the usual black markings of the species showing 

 through ; nor has it even the few dark orange scales appearing in Mr. Porritt's 

 example at the junction of the hindwings with the thorax ; and, lastly, it has no 

 marginal series of spots on the hindwings. Mr. Newman's specimen I never 

 saw, but the fact of its being a varleyata, with the white markings suppressed, 

 does not seem to me to preclude its being classified under ab. nigra. Surely 

 varleyata without white markings is no longer varleyata, whatever else it may 

 be ! — G. H. Eaynor, Hazeleigh Eectory, Maldon : September 9th, 1912. 



[Assuming that Mr. Beattie's black grossulariata, as described in the fore- 

 going note, had also the head, thorax, and abdomen pru^e black (these are 

 always normal in var. varleyata), but about which Mr. Eaynor nowhere says 

 anything — it was evidently a still more extreme form of the variety I bred, the 

 black being so intense as to qviite obliterate the usual markings. But 

 Mr. Eaynor erred in including under his suggested name of nigra (for no 



