54 THE entomologist's record. 



pleased if they will communicate at once with me. Further subscribers 

 are also needed for what is the only published text-book on the subject. 



As will be seen in the Report of the Ent. Soc. of London printed 

 this month, parcels of insects may now be sent abroad by sample post. 



Strachia ornata, Linn. ; Brachypelta aterrwia, Forst. ; LygcBus punc- 

 iato-guiiaius, Fab. ; Lygccosoma reticulatuiii, H.-S., species of Hemiptera 

 not occurring in the British Isles, are recorded by Mr. Luff as occurring 

 in Guernsey {E.M.M., p. 130). 



Mr. R. C. L. Perkins {E.M.M., p. 123) describes a monstrosity of 

 the ant Stenaunna ivestwoodi, taken last August between Dartmouth and 

 Stoke-Fleming, the right half of the body "exhibiting characters strongly 

 characteristic of the $ , while the left half resembles the ^ ." 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Retarded Development of the Wings of Lepidoptera. — I have 

 been forcing my pupae this spring in a greenhouse, at an average 

 temperature of about 65°, and have noticed that several insects have 

 not expanded their wings for some hours after emergence, and then 

 only by my using the means suggested by Mr. Anderson (vol. i., p. 

 304). One specimen {Sinerinthus filia) emerged at 10 a.m. on March 

 13th, and had not begun to expand at i p.m. on the following day. I 

 then put it into a large chip box, and gave it a good shaking, afterwards 

 turning it back into the pupa box. On examining it a few hours after- 

 wards, I found it perfectly expanded, Mr. Fenn's theory (vol. i., p. 

 327) that this retarded development may occur with deep-burying 

 larvae, cannot apply here, as I always find the pupae of S. til ice just 

 below the surface, often only under the dead leaves, at the roots of lime 

 and elm. I also have a distinct recollection of a female specimen of 

 Odonestis potatoria emerging in the early morning, expansion taking 

 place naturally the same evening. — A. U. Battley, 28, Amherst Park, 

 N. March 20th, 1891. [This shaking up business is exceedingly 

 strange, but it appears to me that this retarded wing expansion must in 

 some way be connected with suspended active respiration. The wing 

 nervures are extended tracheal passages, and it follows that, as they 

 unroll, air passes through them, or conversely, as air is forced through 

 them, they unroll. If active respiration be suspended, and the shaking 

 up induces an active state, I can understand the subsequent develop- 

 ment of the wing. Has any reader another suggestion to offer as to 

 the probable cause ? — Ed.] 



I have a case to record of the pairing of lepidoptera before the 

 wings were developed, but in this instance the sexes are the reverse of 

 those mentioned by Mr. Mackonochie with regard to Plaiypteryx fal- 

 cula {Record, vol. i., p. 305). In February, 1889, on looking into my pupa- 

 box I saw a pair of Ainsopteryx cescularia, in cop., but the wings of 

 the male were entirely undeveloped. After a while, however, the wings 

 unfolded themselves, hung down in the usual way, were finally 

 folded round the body in the customary manner adopted by this species, 

 and were in no ways malformed. All this occurred before pairing had 

 ceased. — R. M. Prideaux, g, Vyvyan Terrace, Clifton. 



I have observed a very similar development of the wings of moths to that 



