90 THE entomologist's recokd. 



in some unknown way, on the larvse which Hve in these dark 

 situations, in the production of these forms. I cannot under- 

 stand myself, how hght can affect larvse in this way, and I 

 believe, there is nothing in the absence of light, which can 

 lead us to assume that it is a primary influencing cause in the 

 production of these forms. Again, I have heard the same 

 reason advanced as an explanation of such dimorphic forms as 

 those of Hypsipetes eliitata, where a generally larger and more 

 brightly coloured form feeds on willow and sallow, and a 

 smaller and generally darker form occurs on bilberry. The 

 two forms often occur side by side in the same districts. The 

 (Ufference in size, I believe to be entirely phytophagic, but the 

 difference in colour, ^ I assume to be due to the same causes as 

 in other melanic forms, viz., the darker surroundings which 

 protect darker forms, and thus by " natural selection " give us 

 a darker race. The large eliitata of the south rest among the 

 leaves and on the willow stems, the moorland forms chiefly on 

 the ground. Mr. Birchall's opinion, before referred to {Record, 

 p. 55), would be much of this character, and throughout his 

 paper {E7it. Mo. Mag., vol. xiii., p. 131) we find that he 

 considered the absence or deficiency of sunlight, by some occult 

 action on the larvae to be the cause of melanism. 



{To be continued.) 



Scientific notes. 



Notes on the Synonymy of Haworth's " Plumes." — I have lately 

 had occasion to pay considerable attention to the synonymy of our 

 British " plumes," and have made a few notes about the synonymy of 

 the "plumes" in Drs, Staudinger and Wocke's Cataloo, and the 

 " plumes " described by Linnceus and Haworth, which I think it may 

 be advisable to put on record. 



It has been frequently urged by those British lepidopterists, who do 

 not care to adopt Staudinger and Wocke's Catalo^^, that very insufficient 

 attention has been paid to British authors, and that their not being 

 conversant with our British species has frequently led them into error. 

 This I was disinclined to believe, and still consider there are very few 

 errors in Dr. Staudinger's part of the work, but reference to the synonymy 

 of the " plumes " by Dr. Wocke has convinced me that Haworth's 

 Lepidoptera Britannica has received but scant justice at his hands. 



Mr. Stainton, in the Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. i,, pp. 11-14, points 

 out some of the difficulties attending the proper application of 

 the Linuccan descriptions. Of the species in the Sysiema NaturcE, 

 loth edition, p. 542, the 12th edition, pp. 899-900, and the Fauna 



1 In some districts the large form is quite as dark as the smaller where such a 

 coloration is of advantage to the species. 



