100 [AjTil, 



on Sliirlpy ITcatli, near Croydon, on May 5th, 1900. The specimen, which is a 

 male, lias both fore- and hind-wings dark smoke-grey, without any of the usual 

 white markings, the positions of the more important of these being merely indicated 

 in a shade of smoke-grey rather paler than the ground colour. The black discoidal 

 spot on the foi'e-wings is present, and the blackish lines that bound the central fascia 

 on either side are visible, especially towards the costa. The variety obscurata, Stgr., 

 described by Staudinger in Cat. Lep. Eur., p. 195, No. 2773 (1871), as " Obscurior, 

 alisfere non alho-strigatis," evidently approached this form, but must bo rather less 

 dark, or he would have omitted the word "fere." Shirley Heath is one of the last 

 places where one would have expected to meet with so dark a form, and indeed, it 

 appears to be very scarce there, for although Mr. Shepherd has been taking the 

 species in that same spot for many years past, he never remembers having seen a 

 similar specimen. It would be interesting to learn in what other British localities 

 it has been noticed, and whether in any of them it occurs regularly, or outnumbers 

 the typical form. E. nanata is abundant on our Dorsetshire and Hampshire heaths, 

 but I have never seen or heard of the occurrence of such an aberration in either 

 county.— Id. : March 1th, 1901. 



Vanessa Antiopa at WoTcing. — A friend of mine secured a specimen of the 

 above in this neighbourhood last August ; it was in rather bad condition, but I 

 thought it might be worth while to record its occurrence. — Edward Safndebs, 

 St. Ann's, Woking : March 12th, 1901. 



Note on the loeight of ^lupte of Acherontia Atropos. — It is perhaps of interest, 

 for comparison in future years, to put on record the average weights of the pupnc of 

 A. Atropos which are given below. The greater weight of the October pupae should 

 be noticed. 



Weight in Grammes. 

 Greatest. Least. Mean. 



14 collected in September 11-945 7-706 9*004 



7 „ „ October 12-515 8-387 10-340 



Mean weight of 21 9-472 



— Herbert Fortescite Fryer, The Priory, Chatteris : February 2%rd, 1901. 



[The age and sex of the pupre should have been stated, for it is well known 

 that these greatly influence the weight. On this point see a paper by Prof Meldola 

 in Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., .ser. 4, vol. xii, 1873. — Eds.]. 



Native method of catching Cicadcs in Lower Siam. — We take the following 

 from the " Report on Cambridge Exploring Expedition to Lower Siam, drawn up 

 by W. W. Skeat," published in the Report of the Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1900, 

 p. 394 : — " On this journey some strange articles of diet were served up to us, 

 among them being red ants, toads, bee grubs, and a species of Cicada. The manner 

 in which the latter are caught is peculiar. Two or three natives gather together at 

 night round a brightly burning wood fire, one of them holding a lighted torch. The 

 others clap their hands at regular intervals, and the CicadrB attracted by the noise 

 and guided by the light fly down and settle upon the people as they stand by the 

 fire." — Eds. 



