CtlRRRNT NOTES. IB? 



a Queensland species, the larva of which lives in ants' nests, 

 and feeds upon the ant-larvae. Dr. Chapman stated that the imago, 

 on emergence from the pupa, is clothed with scales highly distasteful 

 to the ant, the scales thus protecting it during emergence from attack, 

 and continuing to do so until such time as it is able to fly, when the 

 scales drop off. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held on 

 April 1st, Sir George Hampson read a paper on " Aiiojrroi/dnia hcs- 

 perioiiles, a remarkable new lepidopterous insect from Zululand." He 

 said that the genus must be referred to the family Enacln'iiumidae 

 which is represented by the single species Enachenion rajfit'siae, Westw., 

 from Australia. In what quarter of the globe the family originated it 

 was impossible to say, but the appearance of the species in question 

 suggested that it was a survival of the scattered remnant of the 

 Antarctic fauna. It was, however, most remarkable that the genus 

 should occur in Africa and Australia alone. 



At the same meeting Mr. F. Enock read a paper, illustrated with 

 lantern slides, on " The Life History of Cicendda vampestris,'' and a 

 discussion followed as to how far the abundance of food in the larval 

 state affects the development of insects, in the course of Avhich Mr. Enock 

 said that, where the food supply happened to be insufficient, neuropterous 

 nymphs would continue two years in that stage, and Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse 

 mentioned a case reported to him of the larvae of Ai/lais [Vanessa) nrticac 

 which, having exhausted their summer pabulum, retired to hibernate 

 until the following year. Mr. A. J. Chitty said he had observed that 

 coleopterous larviB under similar circumstances Avould consume flies ; 

 while Mr. H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe said that he had bred successfully a 

 species of the same order by feeding the larvae on paper. We should like 

 some authority for Mr. Waterhouse's statement, as it appears to us in- 

 credible, that a species selected by nature over an area extending from 

 northern Africa to Finmark to hibernate in the imaginal state, should 

 go over the winter in the larval state, especially under the conditions 

 noted. 



In the Societas Entojuoloiiica, xviii., p. 3, Fuchs describes a so-called 

 new^ aberration of Ort/msia hdrola as ab. cinnaiiio)iiea, and diagnoses it as 

 " Vorderflilgel eintonig zimmtrot mit kaum angedeuteter Zeichnung." 

 We w^ould refer the author to British Noctiiap and their Vars., ii., p. 163, 

 where he will find this form was named unicolor between 11 and 12 

 years ago. This renaming of well-known forms by the continental 

 lepidopterists is getting a very serious matter for the synonymists. 



Of the few American lepidopterists for the work of whom we have 

 had unstinted admiration, the palm must, perhaps, be given to Dr. 

 Harrison G. Dyar. His List of North American Lepidoptera and Key 

 to the Literature of this order of Insects,''- just received, will add to his 

 reputation as a careful compiler, and a thoroughly hardworking 

 entomologist. To thank the author for so excellent a piece of work is 

 a duty — to attempt to review a catalogue in the strict sense is absurd. 

 So far as a catalogue is to be judged as being of service, by the number 

 of times one finds oneself obliged to refer to it, we have no hesitation 

 in predicting that this list will be to the American what Staudinger's 

 is to the European lepidopterist. Two points, however, astonish us 



* Government Printing Ollice, Washington. 



