96 THE entomologist's record. 



lime, its favourite food in London, was not a tree that had a rough 

 surface. He suggested that the female might ascend to the boughs 

 for ovipositing. The larvae are very general feeders, almost every tree 

 and shrub being attacked by them. The imago is interesting as 

 having a tendency, especially in the females, towards a diaphanous 

 condition. The colour of the blood differs in the two sexes, that of 

 the males being yellow, and the females green. The type form in 

 London may be said to be yellowish brown, with transverse black 

 bands, the band near the hind margin being especially prominent, 

 but in some specimens the yellowish brown ground colour is replaced 

 by grey, while in others (especially females) the darker colour extends 

 entirely over the wing, which thus becomes almost raelanic. In 

 another variety the transverse bands become reduced to lines, and 

 occasionally the area between the outermost band and the hind 

 margin, which is normally pale, becomes black. The insect emerges 

 from the pupa usually between ir a.m. and i p.m., pairing takes 

 place the same night, the pairs remaining together until late on the 

 following day, the ova being deposited during the next night. 

 He remarked on the abundance of this species in London, where he 

 had taken it usually on lime and acacia trees and occasionally at 

 light, but judging from the readiness with which it exchanged, it 

 would appear that it was not generally common in the country. Mr. 

 Tutt stated that he had seen male specimens of this species from 

 Germany which were quite black, and that a local race occurred at 

 Rannoch, but that although he had reports of the insect from many 

 localities in England, it did not seem to be so exceedingly common 

 elsewhere as in London. Mr. Prout had bred it from the ova, and 

 had found that it would eat hawthorn freely. He had also taken 

 the larvse on pear in his garden. He noticed that they were more 

 brightly marked when young than when more advanced in age. They 

 pupated in or on the earth, without forming any cocoon. Several of 

 the females had failed to develop their wings, and he suggested that 

 this was owing to the sluggish habits of the insect, and that, as their 

 wings were used so seldom, they were gradually becoming apterous, 

 like the allied species, Phigalia pilosaria and Nyssia hispidaria. Mr. 

 Battley remarked that he had a specimen in his box, taken at 

 Southend, but it was the only one he saw there. He had found the 

 larvje common in his garden on the side-shoots of elm and poplar, 

 which seemed to point to the ova being deposited in the cracks of 

 the bark. Mr. Simes had also noticed that the larvae were most 

 common on the lower boughs of trees. 



Mr. Heasler exhibited a series of Hallomenus hiwieralis, taken in 

 fungi at Mitcham. Mr. Smith stated that he had found Ephyra 

 trilinearia and Platypteryx ujiguicula common at Epping Forest. 

 Mr. Battley had taken twenty-five larvae which he believed were 

 Apamea ophiogramma, feeding in the interior of the stems of riband- 

 grass in his garden. Mr. Jackson had worked in the New Forest 

 and Isle of Wight, and had taken Tczniocampa rubricosa, T. stabilis, 

 Agrotis puta, Phibalapteryx vitaibata, Boartnia cindaria, Tephrosia 

 consonaria, Ligdia adustata, and larvae of Cleora glabraria, Boarmia 

 abietaria and Geotneira papiliomiria. — G. A. Lewcock and A. U. 

 Battley, Hon. Sees. 



