SCIKNTinC NOTES. 295 



think the occurrence of the two specimens unusual, whichever way 

 you look at it — at least, that is my experience on the S.E. coast, 

 where I have repeatedly sugared when /'. (/annua was swarming, and 

 never had a single specimen at sugar until the above record. As Mr. 

 I>ankes gets it " not uncommonly " at sugar, I wonder if there is an 

 absence of wild flowers or light in his neighbourhood. At South- 

 ampton, on September 22nd, /'. (laiinua, with other moths, was 

 swarming at the electric street lamps, and at shop windows, Lipton's 

 hams seeming to be a great attraction, the moths running all over 

 them. On this same evening at 10 o'clock I watched a large bat 

 hawking round a street lamp, the chief prey seeming to be a moth 

 about the size of Kiinomos aiitionnaria. — Ibid. [To get any generalisa- 

 tion of value as to how far P. (jaiitma visits sugar, and under what 

 conditions, we would suggest the necessity of Mr. Colthrup going 

 carefully through the whole of the back volumes of the Phit. Mo. Ma;/., 

 the J'!ntiviiol();iii>t, and the K)it. /iVco^v/, collecting all the odds and ends 

 of information thereon, and giving us a suvumarised result. This 

 takes time, but anything that is to be of permanent value does this. 

 ^Ve remember on one occasion, probably between 1885 and 1888, 

 seeing the species in large numbers at sugar at Deal when flowers 

 were exceedingly abundant. This is almost certainly recorded some- 

 where, and, I believe, there are many other similar notes in back nos. 

 of the various magazines. — Ed.] 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Note on breeding Eupithecia subevlvata and ab. cognata. — The 

 following note was read on September 22nd before the North London 

 Natural History Society in ehicidation of a small exhibit, and, 

 although the exhibit cannot be laid before the readers of the Knt. 

 lin-ord, I think, perhaps, the note is not entirely devoid of interest — 

 " The $ parents of these four broods were all taken at flowers of 

 ragwort at Forres during the latter half of August, 11)02. They nre 

 now so worn as to be absolutely unrecognisable, but were not so bad 

 when they were taken, and I am able to say pretty positively to which 

 form they belonged. From 5 1 (type) I reared 10 moths, 9 of the 

 type and 1 ab. connata, Stph. [oxijdata, auct.)"', the latter, however, 

 may almost be called an intermediate, so strongly is it clouded with 

 tawny. From 2 2 (ab. cognata) I reared only 5 (2 of them cripples), 

 all were of the ab. connata. From $ 3 (type, I believe, but badly 

 worn), 16 moths emerged ; one escaped before I had examined it, 10 

 of the remainder were typical, and 5 ab. connata. From $ 4 (ab. 

 voijnata) I reared 7, every one of which followed the parent form. 

 The experiment suffices, I think, to show that the species would be 

 worth some careful pedigree-breeding for studies in heredity, and I 

 regret that I was unable to carry it out on a larger scale. None of 

 the 2 s laid very freely. The larvte on the whole did very Avell, but 

 there was a heavy mortality among the pupje — a very unusual 

 occurrence with the pugs. The larv;e were fed almost entirely on 

 leaves of chrysanthemum." — Louis U. Prout. 



• On the eiToneoubiiess of the application of the name o.ri/ddta, Tr. (wliieh is 

 a svrionvni of the type form), to this aberration, see iSpeyer, !6teU. Ent. Zcit., xliv., 

 p. 350. " 



