SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 201 



that this caterpillar is given to variation. I see no mention of the 



fact, either in Newman, Kirby, Buckler or Stainton. It has now 



turned into a pupa on the top of the soil in the pot. — Id. 

 September nth, 1891. 



fgCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Generic nomenclature and the Acronyctid.e. — My "assump- 

 tions " {Ent. Record, p. 106) as to the action of the Editor of the Record, 

 I took from what Mr. Lewcock had written before, that that gentleman 

 disclaimed the authorship of Ciispidia aceris because the Editor had 

 himself substituted Dr. Chapman's generic name for Acronycta. If it 

 was not so, will the Editor please tell us who was responsible for the 

 appearance of the name in Ent. Record, 1890, p. 167 ? If I remember 

 rightly in the report of the City of London Society elsewhere the 

 species appears under Acronycta. — T. D. A. Cockerell. [Mr. 

 Cockerell is entirely wrong, (i). I did not "substitute" Cuspidia {ox 

 Acronycta. (2). Mr. Lewcock neither suggested nor wrote that I did 

 so. (3). Mr. Lewcock disclaimed responsibility because others had 

 used Cuspidia before it appeared under his name and because it was 

 well-known the names were Dr. Chapman's, and not because I " sub- 

 stituted " Ciispidia for Acronycta. {4). The name Cuspidia could have 

 occurred at Record, \., p. 167, in one of two ways — either Cuspidia 

 was in the report, or, the report was without generic names and I 

 added it. — Ed.] 



" Dr, Chapman's recently proposed division of the genus Acronycta is 

 adopted in The British Noctuce and their Varieties, and if the genus is 

 to be divided at all we hope it will stand, as it is the result of a very 

 painstaking and careful study of the group on Dr. Chapman's part, and 

 as it seems to us superior to any division which had previously been 

 suggested." — G. T. Porritt, The Naturalist, p. 278. 



Use of spots on larva of Ch/Erocampa EUPHORBiiE. — I was 

 interested when on the " Landes " with what I did not see of Chcero- 

 canipa euphorbice. A Euphorbia (paralias ?J growing on the shore had 

 been eaten by it, and in one place there was much fresh frass. I could 

 not find the larvae, but I thought once I had done so, the stem of the 

 Euphorbia had the leaves so eaten off, as to leave their bases as round 

 coloured spots, and these, C. euplwrbice obviously mimics, and thereby no 

 doubt hides itself. This conclusion is very different to that to be drawn 

 from its appearance in Capri, where I saw it two years ago. There it 

 fed openly and most abundantly on a %\\xv^y\yy Euphorbia, •^w^i. its aspect 

 seemed to make it intentionally conspicuous as a warning to enemies. 

 Can the same larva use the same markings in two such diverse manners, 

 in different places and under different circumstances ? — T. A. Chapman, 

 Firbank, Hereford. 



Strange copulation. — On August 22nd, I found Charceas ^ramijtis 

 ? , in cop. with Noctua xanthographa $ . — W. Mackmurdo, Wanstead. 



Action of Chloride of Potassium on Gonepteryx rhamni. — A 

 friend who used to collect, showed me two specimens of G. rhamni, 

 which, after being kept for between two and three years in a bottle of 

 chloride of potassium, developed the deep orange blotches at the 



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