286 THE entomologist's record. 



as the example I have described above, which I think deserves a 

 varietal name, so propose to call it ab. cnspidaria, n. ab. — J. F. Bird^ 

 Sylvan View, Brockweir, near Chepstow. September 13th, 1909. 



Aberrations of Polyommatus icarus. — When I re -visited the 

 locality referred to antea p. 211, a grassy hollow near the village of 

 Munden, Herts, again, on September 1st, I found a numerous second- 

 brood of Pohjommatm icarus on the wing. I succeeded in capturing a 

 5 icarus with a beautiful violet-blue ground colour. There were 

 large prominent black spots round the margin of the hindwings, but 

 over these only cloudy traces of the usual red and black markings 

 remained, so that the hindwings came very near exhibiting the ^ 

 facies (black-spotted variety). Also on the forewings the red spots- 

 are absent, leaving only a rusty shade in the black margin. On the 

 next day I captured four fine ^ s, almost pure blue in colour. One, a 

 transition form to my capture of June 13th, had traces of black spots 

 on the hindwings (upperside), and one other was distinguished by a 

 dark grey underside, somewhat like that of A . bellar//us ^ . This specimen 

 had a startling resemblance to Agriades hellargus in flight by its colour 

 mixture of sky-blue upperside, and dark grey underside. Of ab. 

 ica?-tu((s I captured two ^ specimens; of ab. arcua only one ? came 

 under my notice, but I also took a ^ which showed the corresponding 

 spots of the hindwings enlarged and united by an arc.^ — T. Keuss, 

 Libury Hall, Ware, Herts. September 6th, 1909. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Note on Sericoris micana. — In the course of his interesting notes 

 on the " Habits and Habitats of Melitaea aurinia," published in Ent. 

 Rec, xix., 273 (1907), Mr. George Wilkinson writes, " The fourth {i.e., 

 the fourth field.- — E.R.B.) was the " uiicana " field; I have seen hundreds 

 of Sericoris micana flying here, and at such times one has only to 

 sweep the net around, and then pick out the good specimens ; the 

 females are much larger than the males." Mr. Wilkinson will, I hope,, 

 forgive me for calling in question the accuracy of this last statement,. 

 but it appears to be founded on some misapprehension on his part, for 

 the females of S. micana, instead of being " much larger," as he asserts, 

 are, on an average, much smaller Jihehia the males. I possess altogether 

 67 males of this species, but only 5 females, the latter sex being 

 remarkably scarce in British collections. The following measurements 

 may be of interest : alar. e.vp. (corrected where the specimen is not set 

 flat), of largest <? =19mm., of smallest <? =15*5mm. ; of largest $ 

 = 14-3mm., of smallest ? =13-5mm. ; and this same marked differ- 

 ence in size between the sexes has been noticeable in all the collections 

 that I have studied, where both males and females have been repre- 

 sented. In the late Mr. S. J. Wilkinson's " British Tortrices," p. 268 

 (1859), the alar. exp. of the g" of micana is given as 8 lines, whilst on 

 the following page the average size of the ? is incorrectly given as 

 being also 8 Hues. In his Lej). Brit. Isl., xi., 52 (1906), however, 

 Barrett says, "Expanse <? fin. (mm.) [in error, probably, for "17mm.- 

 19mm.," though Barrett's precise equivalent in mm. for his approxi- 

 mate " fin." varies a little in the case of different species — E.R.B.], 

 and then correctly adds, " Female decidedly smaller, but stouter, the 

 colour and markings more bright and glistening." If Mr. George 



