100 THK EN'TOMOLOaiST's RECORD. 



with the lower pairs of spots on each elytron confluent. This reminded 

 me of a specimen sent for me to see by Canon Cruttwell some time 

 ago. He now writes to me " It was taken in considerable numbers on 

 a patch of sandy coast near Renvyle, co. Galway, in Au;j;ust, 1899, and 

 quite apart from any colony of the ordinary form, though that also 

 occurred sparingly on other portions of the same coast. I am quite 

 certain of this, for I searched carefully on two occasions expressly to 

 satisfy myself that the common type was really absent from the 

 locality," Dr. Mason also mentioned that none of the type form were 

 found. Mr. Gorham tells me it is the var. G, of Mulsant, and he 

 further says, " I think it is a fact that the CuccinelUdac tend to vary 

 both ways, 'par exces,' or 'par defaut,' at the extreme latitudes of their 

 distribution . ' ' — Horace Donisthorpe. 



Change of Colour during life in Coptocycla bistripitnctata, 

 Herbst. — Last Christmas a foreign Cassida was brought to Mr. 

 Heasler by a man who had found it on some apples purchased at 

 Reading. He wrote to me about it as follows, " It is still alive and is 

 normally a very brilliant golden colour, but after being stirred up, 

 worried, etc., it turns to a metallic green, then the wing-cases go 

 brownish with a sort of iridescent purple tinge in certain lights, and 

 finally the whole insect becomes a reddish-brown or testaceous with 

 black spots on the elytra." The insect died shortly afterwards and 

 Mr. Heasler gave it to me. I took it to the Museum and found it Avas a 

 specimen of Cuptocyda hutri punctata, Herbst. It is a native of Mexico, 

 California, etc. Curiously enough amongst the specimens in the 

 Museum is one brought to them by the Board of Trade, also found on 

 an apple in England. I told Professor Poulton, who was much interested 

 in the matter, about the changes in the colour during life, and he writes : 

 '• I feel sure the changes in the iridescence and from iridescent to 

 brownish, are due to changes in the thinness of fluid layers between 

 the chitinous lamellae of the elytra. I do not think it is voluntary, 

 but an indirect effect of contraction or expansion of the body, forcing 

 a fluid, or abstracting it from the inter-lamellary spaces of the chitin." 

 — Ibid. 



;iglOTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARVAE, &c. 



Larva of Hyperchiria io (1st instar). — Stout, plump, and Satur- 

 niid-like ni appearance. Head large, shiny, bright orange in colour, 

 with scattered thorny hairs. Body segments deeply cut, lateral flange 

 suggesced by coloration rather than actual development. Striking 

 features are the tall fleshy horns on which the tubercular warts are 

 mounted ; they are nearly as long as the larva is thick. The dorsal 

 and subdorsal tubercular warts on thoracic segments are bifid, the fork 

 occurring about two-thirds up, whilst each fork bears a crown of 

 spines. The abdominal ones are not forked, except the central one 

 on the 8th abdominal, this is certainly formed of both the anterior 

 trapezoidals ; and the thoracic ones are almost as certainly com- 

 posed of i and ii consolidated ; the direction of the fork supports 

 this view, as the thoracic forks are in a longitudinal direction, 

 while those on the central line of the 8th abdommal are set trans- 

 versely. On the abdominals i is mounted on a long stalk, Avhile ii is 

 represented by a simple siugie-haire<l button, the hair it bears is 



