174 THE entomologist's record. 



of cases, young or old, full or empty. Those of Lnffiaferchaultella and 

 of Meesia vincnlella occurred everywhere, and were often abundant. 

 My experience thus differs much from that of Lord Walsingham, who 

 says {Ent. Record, vol. xi., p. 258) that " the cases are very abundant 

 in the foothills of the Esterels from Agay to La Napoule," i.e., their 

 whole coast line; I searched many points within these limits absolutely 

 without success. Of course they are there somewhere, but their abun- 

 dance did not come under my notice. 



[Dr. Chapman has generously presented the specimens described 

 above to Mus. Wlsm. [ <? (71979) ; 2 , pupa and case (71980) ; 

 case (71981)] , and has asked me to add a note on the species 

 involved. It would be mere presumption on my part to attempt 

 to criticise Dr. Chapman's note on the J , and I shall therefore 

 confine my remarks to the<? . I should regard this as nearer vcrndla, 

 Cnst., than staintoni, Wlsm., or any other species known to me. 

 It agrees with rernella in the impressed costa and spotted cilia, 

 our specimens of rernella are not in good condition, but I should refer 

 this specimen to rernella rather than to stainto)ii. Zeller's type of 

 consjiiircatella is worn, but a better specimen received from Schulz, and 

 placed with it by Zeller, appears to belong to the same species. In the 

 Hofmann collection is a specimen from Herrich-Schiiffer's Coll. labelled 

 6/1 H.-S. and identified as eonsjiurcatella — it does not appear to have 

 been the original of Herrich-Schafter's figure and the date shows that 

 it was not one of Mann's original specimens — I should regard this as 

 stainto7ii. L. conspurcatdla is a larger species than staintoni, rernella, 

 constanti, Wlsm., MS. (the narrow-winged Cannes form) or inontanella ; 

 in the greater length of the ciliations of the antennse it resembles 

 staintoni, &c., but it appears to be intermediate between these species 

 and aljiestrella. The acquisition of good specimens of conspurcatella 

 from the original locality will I think prove this to be a distinct species, 

 certainly we have seen no specimens that we could put in the same 

 series as Zeller's type of coiispurcatella.—JoKn Hartley Durrant.] 



Reported Hybridlty among the Sesiides. 



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

 The Abbe de Joannis has (Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1901, p. 10) an 

 interesting note entitled " Observations sur quelques especes du genre 

 Sesia.'" It is a summary of a paper by M. Delahaye published in the 

 Meiiioires de la Societe d' Aijricnltnre, Sciences et Arts d'An(/ers, and 

 relates to certain observations on the habits of Seda ichnenmonifonnis, 

 ineiiillaeforniis and cJiri/sidiforinis, made in June and July last. The 

 facts are related as follows : (1) Near Angers, in a locality where 

 Biane.r acetusa and Genista tinctoria grow, Delahaye has found Sesia 

 chrijsidifornris and S. ic/rneiiinonifurinis in great numbers, the first 

 appearance of the latter species being a little later than that of the 

 former, (2) On July 11th a freshly-emerged $ was found, refer- 

 able to S. weijillaefornm. (This species was first described as distinct, 

 then as a variety of *S'. ichnennioniformis, whilst quite lately there has 

 been a reversion to the view that it is distinct.) (3) Other .S'. vuyillae- 

 fornris were later observed, all ? s, and ^ s oi S. chn/sidifonnis and of 

 S. ichneumonifurnris were attracted by them, and followed them eagerly, 

 even with more insistence than they pursued their own females. 

 iSwarms of the males of both species flew around the freshly disclosed 



