84 THE entomologist's record. 



Aneurism. — My only experience of saccular distention of wings was 

 in the case of N'onagria typhce. Nearly all of a series bred in 1889 

 were thus affected ; but, as I found that by pricking the distention 

 they soon became all right, I took no further notice of it. — E. W. 

 Brown, Shorncliffe Camp. May, 1891. 



Variation. 



PoLiA CHI AND ITS "VARIETIES. — You ask me for information 

 concerning the var. olivacea in the Castle Eden district. I regret I 

 am unable to say anything about it as I never took anything but the 

 type there, and very few of that. Thirty years ago I took v. olivacea 

 here in some numbers, along with the type, but it seems to have dis- 

 appeared for I have seen neither for quite twenty years. Olivacea 

 is comparatively common about Newcastle-on-Tyne, whence I obtained 

 all the specimens I have had of recent years. It passes the winter 

 in the egg state, which are of the usual Noctua form, like a tiny limpet 

 shell, and deposited so that one overlaps the other. It is an easy 

 species to rear, and a bred olivacea is something very different to the 

 faded specimens captured, being much darker and not so green. The 

 first I ever bred appeared to be something I did not know, and thoughts 

 of a new species came into my head, but quickly proved vain thoughts. 

 In the west of the county of Durham — perhaps I should say the south- 

 west — the type occurs commonly but I have no knowledge of olivacea 

 occurring there. If the species occurs in the north-west, I should 

 expect it to be olivacea rather than the type. In the Cleveland district 

 of Yorkshire the type form is also very common, and may be taken in 

 any number at rest on the stone walls that form boundaries on the 

 moors. In West Yorkshire another form occurs, distinct enough to 

 have a varietal name. Instead of the pure white of the type, it has the 

 ground much suffused with grey. It is scarcely so dark as captured 

 olivacea, and is entirely without the greenish hue of that variety. 

 Suffusa would be an appropriate name for it. I know little of the 

 species from other places. The i^^w Scotch specimens I have seen, 

 all have the pure white ground of the type. I have no acquaintance 

 with it from the south of England, nor from Ireland. — John E. Robson, 

 Hartlepool. 



Variety of Argynnis paphia. — The form of A. paphia with pale 

 spots on the wings is, I believe, a well-recognised variety of the male 

 in the New Forest, several were taken there the same year as mine. 

 The spots vary very much ; sometimes the white spots are present on 

 all the wings as in my specimen, sometimes on only two of them ; in 

 some specimens, also, the spots are much more distinct than in others. 

 I believe mine to be a fair type of the variety with regard to the 

 distinctness of the white markmgs. It would be interesting to have 

 the opinion of several entomologists, as to the cause of these 

 markings. — E. C. Dobree Fox. April, 1891. 



Varieties of Apamea basilinea and Noctua rubi. — On May 

 28th, I took a very nice var. of Apamea basilinea, either unicolor or 

 nebulosa, but whichever it may be, it is quite distinct from any that I 

 have ever taken before. At the same time I got some good variations 

 of Nocitia rubi, varying from quite a light reddish colour to dark brown 



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