22 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



species to lie over for several years in the pupal state. I have bad 

 moths emerge from pupae I have kept for four years. — Paymaster-in- 

 Chief G. F. Mathew, R.N., F.L.S., etc., Dovercourt, Essex. October 

 22th, 1906. 



Aberration of Polia flavicincta parallel in appearance with 

 P. xanthomista. — I obtained Polia xanthomista, as well as P. fiaricincta, 

 when in Cornwall. The former emerged during the middle of August, 

 a specimen of the latter (the only emergence) on September 14th. 

 This example is, on the upperside, exactly like P. xanthomista, and not 

 to be distinguished therefrom. On the underside, however, it does not 

 agree with P. xanthomista, but the underside fixes it absolutely as 

 /'. fiavicincta, the undersides of the two species being very different. — 

 R. Freer, M.D., Rugeley, Staffs. November 2Gth, 1906. 



Melanic lepidoptera in Cornwall. Aberration of Melit.ea aurinia. 

 — Melanism seems to be on the increase in Cornwall, as a black 

 Acidalia subsericeata and most curiously dark aberration of Luperina 

 luteafio, much darker than the var. barrettii, were also taken there by 

 a collector named Oliver. I may add that I obtained a nice aberration 

 of Melitaea aurinia, in which the neuration of the wing also seemed 

 to be varied, although the butterfly was not crippled, in any 

 way. — Ibid. 



Entephria caesiata, Schiff., ab. prospicuata, mihi, n. nom,= 

 gelata, Stgr., nec Guen. — In the course of a paper which I read 

 before the City of London Entomological and Natural History Society, 

 on December 18th, 1906, but Avhich — coming at the very beginning 

 of the Society's new year — cannot be published for more than a twelve- 

 month, I took occasion to point out that Staudinger [Catalog, ed. 2, 

 p. 187, ed. 3, p. 299) has misapplied the name gelata, Guen., which 

 was erected (Ur. et PhaL, ii., p. 271) for a normal dark Iceland form, 

 a mere subvariety of " ab." (var.) i/laciata, Germ. He (Staudinger) 

 has restricted that name to " gelata var. A" of Guenee, the beautiful 

 whitish aberration, with only the basal patch and central fascia 

 darkened, which appears very rarely among the more ordinary Ice- 

 land types. For this rare aberration I proposed the name ab. pro- 

 spicuata, and take an early opportunity of giving the name publicity. 

 The diagnosis of course will run : ab. prospicuata, n. norm (citations 

 as in Stgr. Cat., ed. 3, no. 3385c). Alis anticis albis, basi fasciaque 

 nigricantibus. — Louis B. Prout. December 20th, 1906. 



^OTES 0^ LIFE-HISTORIES, LARYiE, &c. 



Query as to the foodplant and larval habits of the first 

 brood of Eupithecia virgaureata. — Can any of your readers tell me cm 

 what the larvae of the first brood of this insect feeds, and the date to 

 search for it ? The larvae of the second brood I have beaten from 

 golden-rod in October, but, of course, this plant is not in blossom when 

 the first brood larvae are feeding. — Percy C. Reid, Feering Bury, 

 Kelvedon. October 30th, 1906. 



OntheegglayingofDryas paphia. — On reading Mr. Merrifield's note 

 (antea, vol. xviii.,p.264)on the above, it occurred to me that my own expe- 

 rience in the New Forest last autumn (1906) might not be uninteresting. 

 I frequently observed females of ]>. paphia apparently ovipositing on 

 the trunks of fir-trees at heights varying from one to seven or eight 



