VAKIATION. 163 



resemblance to the leaves of alder and birch, and hence are more readily 

 overlooked. 



24. — At the end of May and beginning of June the larv?e of 

 Pachyr/astria trifoUi are to be obtained by searching at Lyndhurst on 

 the heaths, on the Lancashire and Cheshire coast sandhills, and on 

 the coast near Rye. 



25. — In May and .Tune the larvfe of Etitrirha ijucrci folia should be 

 searched for, resting low down on the main stems of hawthorn, 

 sallow, buckthorn and blackthorn by day, but on the upper twigs and 

 branches feeding by night. It is a common practice in the Fens, 

 when the larvae are sometimes very abundant, to feel down the stems 

 with the hand, the pale, mottled larvae being difficult to see on sallow 

 and whitethorn, and the dark ones on blackthorn and buckthorn. 



26. — Virgin females of MacrotJn/lacia nihi placed in a box covered 

 with gauze, taken to the moors in late May and the first or 

 second week of June, will attract a large number of males — 80 in a 

 single evening captured between 6.15 p.m. and 7.45 p.m., near 

 Morpeth. 



27. — The cases of Colcophora conspicudla are to be obtained on 

 Centanrea nvjra in May ; they are sometimes common at Cuxton, 

 Benfleet, &c. 



28. — The $ Lcunpronia capitella lays its eggs on red currants 

 rather more than half grown in May, two eggs being apparently laid 

 at each penetration ; at the end of June the larva leaves the currant 

 and hybernates in a simple, firm, white cocoon placed among the dead 

 scales at the bases of the buds ; it mines the shoots in spring, and, 

 like L. viuHcaliila, does not make a case. 



29. — Larvte of Biicculatiix maritiyna should be collected in early 

 May, their mines being readily detected in leaves of sea-aster at 

 Benfleet, Shoeburyness, and other coast districts. 



N.B. — We are commencing an entirely new set of " Practical 

 Hints" in this number. None of the large number just published 

 in our new work, Practical Hints for the Field LejndopteriHt, will 

 knowingly be repeated. 



VARIATION. 



Striking aberration of Smerinthus ocellatus. — A most striking J 

 aberration of Snu'rinthus iicdlatus was bred by Mr. L. W. Newman, of 

 Bexley, Kent, on June 2nd, 1900, the larva having been obtained from 

 sallow in Bexley Woods. The forewings are of a delicate grey with 

 the normal transverse lines fairly well marked, a brown margin to the 

 median ring, a brown patch directly below, and another centrally on 

 the inner margin (and continued towards the base) ; the outer margin 

 is also filled up with a brown patch roughly triangular, the base formed 

 by the curve directly below the apex of the wing, and the apex on the 

 submarginal line. The two forewings, however, are not quite 

 symmetrical either in the arrangement of the transverse lines or in the 

 darker patches of colour. The hindwings are also grey slightly tinged 

 with yellowish the nervures alone grey, the ocellated spot is well- 

 marked, the pupil, a pale ring, and black outer rings being well-defined. 

 The most striking features are, of course, the absence of the rosy-red 

 tints in the hindwings and the metallic blue ring that surrounds the 



