COLEOPTERA. 213 



delivered quickly after each other, making, perhaps, a dozen of these 

 jerks outwards to one side in quick succession, and then returning in 

 the same manner to develop a like proceeding outwards on the other 

 side, and back again. This exercise was contmued for some minutes 

 with all the mechanical precision of a quickly-ticking watch, and did 

 not appear to be associated with any web-spinning process. The larvffi 

 dragged on an uneventful career for some weeks, gradually retreating 

 out of sight in the web, and were found about May 6th, spun up and 

 cocooned together in the bottom of the pot below the residue of pine, 

 &c. On May 15th, one pupa was observed, which had slipped from its 

 bearings in the cocoon clump, where doubtless others had formed. The 

 pupa was small and possibly abnormal in size, not measuring more 

 than |in. long. It was of a bright sienna colour, stumpy in form, and 

 tapering at each end. The segments were strongly marked, and the 

 spiracular position very accentuated. The anal segment was rounded 

 and contained a lateral pointed projection extending backwards from 

 each side. — J. C. Dollman, F.E.S., Hove House, Newton Grove, 

 Bedford Park, W. May 2Wi, 1903. 



Egg-laying of Polyommatus corydon. — I have just come across 

 a note written in mid-August, 1900, at Abries, on the egg-laying of 

 P. cor y dun, and which has been put aside ever since. It reads : 

 " Watched a ? P. conjdon this morning, about noon, evidently intent 

 on egg-laying. 8he flew to a plant, rested very quietly for a minute or 

 so, moved her hindwings forwards and backwards very quickly for a 

 moment, and then flew ofi". I am afraid I disturbed her in my anxiety 

 to see the operation, but I picked the leaf and found the egg at once ; 

 but, although she only flew a short distance, and appeared to be as 

 keen as ever, I could not get another eg^. The egg is very pale green 

 when first laid." The egg, if 1 remember rightly, was sent on to Mr. 

 F. N. Clark, but he reported it as hatched before he could photograph 

 it. I believe Mr. Frohawk says the egg hybernates. This appears 

 not to be the case, but the fact should be readily tested by Mr. Pickett 

 or some other of our keen south-coast collectors. — J. W. Tutt. 



_OLEOPTERA. 



Cockchafers on Lake Geneva. — My friend, Mr. Govett, sends me 

 the following note, which he desires me to forward to you : — " On 

 June 18th, rowing from Territet to Clarens, I passed through a belt, 

 20 yards broad, of dead cockchafers, numbering roughly tens of 

 thousands — a phenomenon never observed before. None were seen in 

 the roads or gardens. Were they blown into the lake, or drowned by rain, 

 or frozen higher up the Rhone Valley and brought down by the Rhone ? 

 If so, why only this narrow belt of corpses ? " He asks whether any of 

 your readers can otier an explanation that suggests a reason for his 

 finding tens of thousands of dead cockchafers in the lake. I have 

 seen none on shore wherever I have been, and it is certainly curious 

 that they should be found in such quantities in the lake. The narrow 

 belt is, of course, the result of the action of wind and current. The 

 sparrows Avere fishing them out of the lake and eating them on the 

 verandah of the club. I add the local newspaper vieAV of the subject :-- 

 " Les hannetons.— On nous ecrit de Territet : ' J'ai note ces jours-ci 

 une quantite enorme de hannetons noyes dans les eaux du lac, pres 

 du rivage entre Montreux et Clarens. Est-ce qu'un uaturaliste 



