QQ [March, 



Dark variety of Catorala nnpla. — Wo liave now in our collection a very fine 

 specimen of (''ducala nupht, which wo took at sugar on Soptcnibor I'Jth last in a 

 tiiickot near South Croydon. It is a male, absolutely fresh, and of that dark 

 aberrant form, very few specimens of which, we believe, are to be seen in British 

 collections. The fore-wini^s are snlTuscd witli a darker ^rcy than is usually found 

 in the normal type ; the pale blotch which precedes the ren. st. is almost entirely 

 wanting, and the ren. st. itself is on a dark brown patch; the inner and elbow 

 linos are normal. The hind-wings are distinguished from those of an ordinary 

 nnpta in the fact that the bright red is changed to doej) brown. Over the black 

 central band and the deep black border is suffused a purplish tint, which, in certain 

 lights, produces a beautiful effect not unlike that found in the male of Apatrira 

 Iris, or in the female of Thecia quercux. The thoi'ax is clouded with sepia and 

 more densely clothed than in the normal type, this peculiarity specially showing 

 itself in the femora of the front legs, which ai'o very woolly in appearance. The 

 hind-wings terminate in the usual white fringe, but owing to the entire absence of 

 red, this feature is brought out into unusually pleasing prominence. Wc took the 

 insect on an oak tree with considerable excitement, for at first sight nothing so 

 strange had visited us before, nor could any other Catooala have looked less like 

 C. nnpta. The purplish gloss to which we liavo already alhulod entirely deceived 

 UB when wc came to closely examine it by the light of the lantern ; what turned 

 out to be brown by daylight, appeared purple by lamplight ; while on the oak tree 

 we took it for a C.fraxini. When it was in the bottle we imagined we had captured 

 a most extraordinary variety of nupta, or perhaps a new species, in which the bright 

 red had been transformed into purple. It has passed through the ordeal of setting 

 with complete success, and no injury has marred its freshly emerged condition. 

 The under-side is as interesting as the upper-side. Here the rosy pink of the 

 hind-wings is replaced by dark brown, and the white which adorns the abdomen 

 and portions of both upper and under wings is altered into a very light grey, the 

 effect, we believe, of that purijlish gloss which spreads itself over the whole moth 

 on both sides. Although, upon careful examination, we can find no de|5arture in 

 markings from tiiose distinctive of the normal type, yet there is a certain woolly 

 and rugged look about the insect which almost suggests a new species. If sueii a 

 thing were possible, no better means could be adopted for an absolute test than an 

 exhibition of all the specimens whicli have so far been captured, together with a 

 good display of the types most frequently met with in this country. We have only 

 seen one other like our own, and that is in the collection at the British Museum. 

 It is somewhat lighter in hue, but whether from age or not we cannot undertake to 

 say. Mr. C. G. Harrott mentions one example of this variety in his " Lepiduptera 

 of the British Islands." — F. W. and E. Anukkws, 192, Devonshire Road, Forest 

 Hill, S.E. : Febntarif, 1903. 



Luperina tedacea. 111), at treacle. — In the Ent. Mo. Mag., Ser. 2, xiii, 222, I 

 recorded three instances that came under my notice in the years 1900-1, in which 

 Luperina testacea was observed sitting beside the patches of " sugar," and eagerly 

 sucking up the treacle through its outstretched tongue. I am now able to add two 

 more instances to the above, for, while sugaring in Devonshire in September last, I 

 watched both a male and a female of this species regaling themselves in a precisely 



