CURRENT NOTES. 377 



competent lepidopterist, noi- duly authenticated and recorded at the 

 time. We take it that the specimen here noted has not been so 

 recorded, and if so, we should want a very stringent definition of 

 " thoroughly authentic " before accepting in any degree its British 

 authenticity. — Ed.] 



@^URRENT NOTES. 



Canon Fowler is anxious to collect any evidence as to coleoptera 

 being eaten by birds, whether in confinement or otherwise. He would 

 be glad to know, if possible, the generic names of any coleoptera so 

 devoured, and the names of the birds that devoured them ; and would 

 be very grateful for notice of remains of any beetles found in the crops 

 of birds whilst being prepared for stuffing or cooking. There is no 

 doubt that birds do eat coleoptera, but how far this is the case is a 

 question, and it is still more doubtful how far they exercise discrimi- 

 nation between species. Any evidence as to the latter point will be 

 much valued. We trust any of our readers who have notes or 

 observations on this subject will promptly send them on to Canon 

 Fowler, Rotherfield Peppard Rectory, Henley-on-Thames. 



In the Eut. Mo. Ma;/., for October, Mr. Champion records the 

 capture of Mdandrya duhia, Schall. {canaliculata, F.), by Mr. Bedwell, 

 in the New Forest. He further states that the insect known by this 

 name in British collections should be called ii/. barhata, F. (this, of 

 course, includes Mr. Bedwell's specimen), and that only three other 

 specimens have been taken of recent years, by Gulliver, in the New 

 Forest, which are in the collections of Messrs. F. Bates and P. B. 

 Mason. Mr. Heasler, however, took several specimens in the New 

 Forest this year, and Mr. Gorham possesses a specimen, also taken by 

 Gulliver. 



Herr Gauckler describes an ab. ni(jer of Triphaena comes. He seems 

 to have overlooked ab. nif/irsrens, and ab. riifnnii/rescena, Tutt {Brit. 

 Noct., ii., p. 98) before which it falls. We still venture to hope that 

 our German confreres will reduce the re-naming of well-known and 

 already described Noctuid forms to a minimum. 



A strange note, showing the want of scientific accuracy indulged 

 in by some collectors, occurs in the Berl. Ent. Zeits., xlvi., p. 10, 

 where Herr Ziegler is reported to have exhibited an alpine aberration 

 of the male of Lithosia IntarcUa, L., from the neighbourhood of Tarasp, 

 in which the black of the hindwings, with the exception of a small 

 stripe on the costa, is wanting ; also the greyish-yellow var. pyijmach- 

 eola, Dbld., 3 from Scotland. Three points occur to us : (1) Is not 

 the Tarasp form the ordinary alpine form of the species ? (2) Has 

 the var. pyiimaeola, Dbld. (which obtains here such a remarkable 

 literary form) ever been taken in Scotland '? (3) If not, what British 

 lepidopterist sends out pyipnacola with inaccurate data to German 

 lepidopterists ? 



Mr. F. A. Lees, in The Nat., p. 329, describes a butterfly taken at 

 ^Yetherly ?iS, '' the Ltittle Blue {Chrysophanus mmimus) .... a 

 living, fluttering bit of sky, as if dropt out of the azure." We should 

 like some Yorkshire azure-blue Ciipido minima, if any are available. 



The Ent. Mo. May., pp. 257-258, and The Xat., pp. 289-290 



