CURRENT NOTES. 21 



nating of Pyrameis atalanta, I saw butterflies flying by the lake side in 

 early June, and, on August 30th, found eggs and young larvae on a 

 cluster of nettles not more than 50 yards from my house. I set the 

 youngsters to work to find me a few larvae and successfully raised about 

 a hundred. The imagines began to appear towards the end of 

 September and continued doing so until October 20th, when the few 

 that were left were destroyed by a mouse. To-day I noticed a butterfly 

 hybernating on the wall of an outhouse, and this proved to be 

 P. atalanta. I should, perhaps, add that winter has already set in here, 

 i.e., it freezes at night and the ground is covered with snow. — P. H. 

 MuscHAMP, F.E.S., Staefa, Zurich-See. Xomnber 26th, 1908. 



Agrius convolvuli at Chichester. — A worn specimen of A(/rius 

 convolvidi, taken in a yard here, was brought tome on November 15th, 

 1908. — Joseph Anderson, Aire Villa, Chichester. Noreniher 18th, 

 1908. 



The "forward "habit in Chrysophanidlarv.e. — This season, a second 

 brood of C. chryaeis [hippotho'e) from a parent ? from Salvan (Switzer- 

 land), taken early in July, began to show an inclination to hybernate, 

 as usual, late in September, for the most part while quite small; two 

 specimens, however, fed up, and produced pupfe in the middle of October. 

 I regret to add that, though kept indoors, these pupte appear to have 

 perished — killed, perhaps, by the brief interlude of cold weather that 

 preceded the present summer-like temperature (October 28th). — R. 

 M. Prideaux, F.E.S., Brasted Chart, Kent. October 28th, 1908. 



Extraordinary date of emergence of Clostera reclusa. — On 

 Nov. 14th I was examining my breeding-cages for Hyhemia aurantiaria, 

 H. (Icfoliaria, Cheimatohia boreata, and C. brnmata, when, to my sur- 

 prise, I found a freshly -emerged specimen of Clostera reclusa. My 

 breeding-cages are, and have always been, out-of-doors, so there was 

 nothing artificial in the conditions to account for this, and I can only 

 attribute it to the extraordinary autumnal season, which has caused 

 so many records of belated flowers, etc., and has resulted, in the 

 case of my own wild ducks, in four November-hatched broods. — 

 Percy C. Reid, Feering Bury, Kelvedon. November IQth, 1908.' 



CURRENT NOTES. 



Mr. F. N. Pierce has at last been persuaded to publish his investi- 

 gations on " The Genitalia of the British Noctuid Moths," and hopes to 

 have the book ready for purchasers in a few weeks. It is well-known 

 that Mr. Pierce and the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows have been doing a great 

 deal of work in this direction, and the necessity of publishing the 

 material prepared became imperative. The wonderful progress that 

 has been made in the study of these parts in recent years, and the 

 importance of bringing structural characters to bear on the results 

 obtained by the wing-markings, and other more or less superficial 

 characters, will make the book quite indispensable to scientific lepidop- 

 terists. The genitalia of some 320 species are to be figured, and the 

 price of the book will be as low as 5s. 



We understand that, in order to thoroughly illustrate vol. iii of A 

 Natural History of the British Butterflies, it is necessary to obtain 

 several more subscribers to the monthly parts. A very large number 

 of really valuable scientific illustrations are available for each species, 



