CURRENT NOTES. 167 



sini/rnensis, Serv., is added to the Russian fauna, beini,' found by M. 

 Semenov on the south coast of the Crimea. 



Owing to the absence of published material on the local variation, 

 possible within the limits of the same brood, of the larvae of Satiiniia 

 pavdiiia {carpi ni), we should be exceedingly glad if those lepidopterists 

 who are rearing the species during the next few months will make de- 

 tailed observations of the different forms in each stage, the number 

 of each form in the brood, and the chief changes that the larvae undergo, 

 both in colour and in details of tubercles at each moult. Will those 

 who are likely to be breeding the species please communicate? It 

 is hoped that at least one Irish and one Scotch brood of larvje will be 

 under observation. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, on 

 May l.Sth, Professor Poulton exhibited an ingenious apparatus by 

 means of which it is hoped that the strength of the formic acid secreted 

 by Farmica riifa may be asct'itained. Seven of these instruments 

 have been entrusted to Mr. Donisthorpe, who will endeavour to carry 

 out the necessary experiments in the field. 



At the same meeting Mr. Horace Donisthorpe exhibited living 

 specimens of EiperKia toniUni, Newst., a myrmecophilous coccid, being 

 a species new to Britain. He had discovered them in the roots of 

 Laaiiix. nii/ra at Portland, in April last. 



All our readers will, we are sure, be pleased to learn that Professor 

 T. Hudson I3eare has been appointed by His ^lajesty King Edward 

 VII., to the Chair of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. 

 Our colleague, therefore, becomes a Regius Professor, and we heartily 

 congratulate him on his well-deserved promotion to so important a 

 post. 



In the P^nt. Mo. Ma;/, for April, Mr. Ernest Crreen in an interest- 

 ing account on " Moth-catching by electric light at the Boer Camp, in 

 Ceylon," states: "Some of the Boer prisoners have occupied their 

 leisure in catching the moths that settle within their bounds and have 

 in this way amassed quite considerable collections." He then goes on 

 to complain that they have no proper apparatus for collecting and 

 preserving their specimens. Does Mr. Green suggest that the British 

 Government, should supply them with killing-bottles, &c. ? The 

 unfortunate " Tommy Atkins" who is obliged to spend his time in 

 guarding these people (instead of moth-catching!), is spoken of as 

 " the heavy-footed British soldier." At the meeting of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London on May 1st., Mr. Distant, who has lived in 

 the Transvaal Colony among the Boers, and knows their habits well, 

 said that when he saw a Boer collecting on his own initiative he 

 would believe it ! He accounted for these collections by the fact that 

 a German official, who is an entomologist and a Fellow of the Ento- 

 mological Society of London, is a prisoner of war at Ceylon. If all 

 reports be true, the insects best known to the combatants in the late 

 war, are certainly not lepidopterous. 



The position of Lemonia (Crateronyx) dumi. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



Some time since j\Ir. Bacot was good enough to show me some ova 



that had been sent to him by Herr Voelschow as thost; of Craterunyx 



dumi. It was so distinctly evident to us from these that the species not only 



did not belong to the Lachneidcx, with which it has been previously asso- 



