220 THE entomologist's record. 



that he is referring to the sexes, and calls the females var. suffusa. 

 Bradford is the great centre for var. suffusa. I have a fairly long series 

 from Mr. Mansbridge's locality, Leeds, but the specimens are practi- 

 cally lypical, the females slit^htly darker grey than the males, but not 

 the peculiar dark grey in both sexes required to form var. suffusa. I 

 may be wrong, but I do not think Mr. Mansbridge refers to Mr. 

 Robson's variety when he speaks of var. suffusa. — J. W. Tutt. 

 October, i8gi. 



Dark vars. of Cymatophora duplaris. — I think it will be found 

 that the C. duplaris on Cannock Chase are all, more or less, black. I 

 have bred a beautiful specimen this year from the only larva I had, and 

 my friend, Mr. G. Baker, has done the same, both being nearly black. 

 — Charles F. Thornewill, The Soho, Burton-on-Trent. September, 

 1891 [It would be interesting if Mr. Thornewill would inform us 

 whether he gets the type or var. obscura, or both {vide British JVoctuce 

 and their Varieties, i., pp. 4-5). — Ed.] 



Thyatira batis (Type). — On looking over a series of Thyatira batis 

 taken here in 1887, I find three specimens with the light spots entirely 

 devoid of rose-colour, and notice the same in a specimen I took in 

 South Devon last July. All the examples mentioned are in fresh 

 condition. Among the full-fed larvae of Smerinthus tilice that I pick up 

 pretty commonly here, I notice that the green colour of the larva while, 

 feeding, is generally replaced by a dull livid bluish-brown, violet, or even 

 dusky rose-colour, after the larva has descended the tree and is seeking 

 a place for pupation. Probably Mr. Anderson's larva {Ent. Rec, vol. ii., 

 p. 200) was in this stage when found, and had doubtless been of the 

 usual light green colour previously. — R. M. Prideaux, Clifton, Bristol. 



Variation in and abundance of Melit^a artemisne\r Carlisle. 

 — -In the middle of April last my nephew kindly went for me to Orton 

 Moss, six miles from Carlisle, to obtam some larvae of the above, of 

 which he returned with between 400 and 500 (mostly small, but less 

 likely to be ichneumoned on that account), gathered with handsful of 

 the dead leaves. When he revisited the spot for food (Devil's Bit 

 Scabious, ^cabiosa sucdsa) the day was dull, and larvae were only to be 

 seen when odd ones crept up to bask in the occasional gleams of sun ; 

 constant visits were necessary for fresh food, until a kind and practical 

 friend gave me "the tip" to try honeysuckle which they took to and 

 fed up well, although plenty of ichneumons emerged later on. Another 

 visit early in May for more revealed the fact, that owing to the invasion of 

 a flock of starlings with a few cuckoos, there was scarcely one to be found. 

 Out of a hundred pinned by my nephew, quite fifty were varieties, in 

 fact there were not more than a dozen of the typical arteinis, and 

 some of them are " gems." One is transparent black with a blood-red 

 spot on each wing, another without any scales at all, another with the 

 left underwing pink like Euchelia Jacobcece, two or three with a bright 

 chain of canary-coloured spots, one similar to a small dull Colias edusa, 

 and several again with broad deep black borders, and others more like 

 small Hipparchias than " Fritillaries." I have altogether a row and a 

 half of vars., and I may add there were very few of the varieties 

 developed. I should like some opinion as to the " disease " and " pig- 

 ment " theories. The larvae were kept in a tub under a shed, out of 

 doors. — J. B. HoDGKiNSON. September, 189T. 



