96 THE entomologist's record. 



This year, in May, I bred a ? Notodoiita didceoides, and have 

 observed the same phenomenon, and I am totally unable to detect a 

 loophole by means of which we can suppose copulation could possibly 

 have taken place. The box in which the $ emerged is about 14" long 



X 6" high X 6" wide, the bottom being covered with a layer of soil 2" 

 or so deep, with a smooth surface, so I cannot see where a $ could 

 well conceal himself without detection, as they are not much in the 

 habit of hiding on the ground unless exposed to strong sun. The above 



? I retained alive for two days in hopes of a J" emerging, which result 

 did not come to pass. On the morning of the third day, I found she 

 had commenced laying ova on various parts of the cage. I then killed 

 her, and also scraped the ova from the sides, etc., into a pill-box. I 

 should state that I found a ^ and $ , which had apparently just 

 emerged, in cop. the same morning as I killed her, but these had not 

 separated when I collected the ova. The majority I left in a large 

 piU-box in a shed, but I took a dozen of them into a greenhouse into 

 the heat in a glass-topped box, to see if they would hatch. As a 

 result I found in the course of about a week that all in the glass box 

 had collapsed, so turned them out, and went to empty the larger box. 

 At the first glance I thought all the ova were in the same condition, as 

 far as I could see, but on turning the box up I noticed one larva at the 

 bottom, and examined closely, finding one ova empty, and two larvae 

 just on the point of coming through. I did not count the quantity 

 laid by the $ , but at a rough guess it was considerably over one hun- 

 dred, all except the -three that hatched proving infertile. The point, 

 however, requires yet more careful experiment than the above, to place 

 it on record as an undisputed fact. There possibly may be a slip some- 

 where, although I don't know how it could be. The strange part to 

 me is, if the $ chanced to be in cop. at all, how is it that only three 

 out of such a number turned out fertile ? One would be inclined to 

 give a much larger proportion, however slight the connection. I men- 

 tioned to you, I believe, that I had heard of such a thing happening, 

 from an old entomologist (Mr. Adcock), but did not myself place much 

 reliance on what he said at the time, still, my experience seems to con- 

 firm his statement. Next time I may have occasion to communicate 

 with you on this subject, I shall take good care that there is no mis- 

 take about any chance copulation whatever, but at the present moment 

 I would not give a decided opinion until I have proved it beyond 

 doubt. — Hope Alderson, Farnborough. June i^fii, 1890. 



^URRENT NOTES. 



In my paper on " Melanism," my argument in a nutshell is as follows : — 

 " Humidity produces melanism ; the environment of the particular 

 species determines how far and in what direction melanism may or may 

 not be developed ; the manner of rest (habit) determines whether the 

 upper or underside shall principally exhibit the phenomenon ; 'natural 

 selection ' may either entirely counteract, or modify, or intensify any 

 tendency to melanism." 



Mr. Cockerell's papers in the Entoniologisfs Record on the 

 '■'' American Varieties of BritisJi Lepidopfera" axe taken as the text of 



