VARIATION. 75 



bidden, or that he wanted two francs, an^ that if I persisted in going 

 along the road, the pohce station was below. In this predicament I 

 took the lowei- road, with the liritish intention of getting back to the 

 upper as soon as a cross road allowed, hut 1 found none, and did not 

 come across the man again. Can any of our Swiss readers tell me 

 what was wrong? — J. W. Tutt, 119, Westcombe Hill, S.E. 



Foes of pup.^ of Nona(;ria typh^, Thnbg.- -With reference to Mr. 

 J. Ovenden's note {Kiit. llrr., xvi.. pp. 294-5) on the wholesale 

 destruction of pupa- of Xaniviria tyjiliar, Thnbg. (ariiitdi)n':<, Fb.), by 

 "mice or voles" in one spot near Strood last year, it may interest 

 him and others to learn that great destruction of pupfp of this species 

 is carried on in a similar manner every season in a locality in this 

 neighbourhood, where I discovered it about four years ago. Although 

 1 have before now heard the rasping noise made by the insect's foes 

 when engaged in gnawing into the stems of the great reed-mace 

 ['I'lip/ia latifolia) in search of pupse, and have done my best to catch 

 sight of them at work, I have not as yet succeeded, but am inclined 

 to think that in this case the culprits are neither mice nor voles, but 

 common brown rats, which infest the spot. Were it not that some of 

 the Typha stems containing pupw are, no doubt, always surrounded by 

 water, and therefore free from such attack, it seems to me that the 

 insect would inevitably have been exterminated in the locality in 

 question. — Eustace R. Bankes, M.A., Norden, Corfe Castle. Joniian/ 

 'hid, 1905. 



W^ A R I A T I N. 



Variation of Geometers.— On August ulst last 1 was in Halifax, 

 and during the evening paid a visit to Greetland Moor. The night 

 was still and close, with thunder in the distance, and Geometers were 

 very common, especially Cidan'a jiojiulata, ('. tcntata, Laientia 

 didymata, and JJypsipctcs elutatci. These were all more or less variable, 

 the best forms being L. didiimata ? with a very distinct band, and 

 some very light forms; (.'. testata with scarcely any dark markings 

 outside the band, which was of a dull tlesh-colour, and thus stood out 

 very distinctly. There is a somewhat sinjilar form figured by Barrett 

 (tig. D) ; al.so several dark forms (fig. K). The JI. elutata were of 

 the common dark moorland form. The only other insects taken were 

 one Folia vhi ab. idiracea, on a wall, and one Af/rotis Incerui'a at dusk. 

 — W. G. Clutten, 132, Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, .lannary 5t/i, 

 1905. 



Aplecta nebui.osa ab. robsoni. — 1 must strongly protest against 

 the splitting up of the well-known aberration Aplfcta nchulosa ab. 

 rtibsnni. The ab. thdiniismii of Arkle, is at most simply a glorified 

 form of ab. mhsimi, Collins, and, as such, has been known for years to all 

 who have woi'ked Delamere. It is not a new form, and does not require 

 a varietal name. When will lepidopterists cease this absurd mania for 

 subdividing aberrations? 1 might as well begin to coin names for 

 about 200 BiKiruiia repondata ab. rnni'crsinia that I have, and which 

 show a far greater divergence from the original ab. rouren^nfia than 

 doe.s this at), tlmnipsoni from the original ab. mhsiDii. — Herbert 

 Massey, F.E.b., Ivy Lea, Burnage, Didsbury. Jaunarif ""Auil, 1905. 



