VARIATION. 7 



In the 5th skin, the larva assumes the adult plumage, and, in 

 many, this is the last skin, others assume a 6th skin ; this I 

 take to be the normal procedure, but my notes do not state 

 the proportion of each, which is, however, variable. In one 

 instance a whole brood had only 5 skins (4 moults). This 

 differs from the preceding skins in the greater length of the 

 hairs, these being no longer straight, and in the larval skin 

 being yellow or green and by having less or none of the 

 chocolate markings. 



{To be conimiied.) 



DESCRIPTION OF PL A TE VI. 



F"ig. I. — Larva oi JcroJiycla {Cnspidia) rsi x 25 diam. ; newly hatched. 



Fiij. 2. — ,, ,, ,, tridens x 18 diam. ; fed two days. 



Fig. 3. — ,, ,, ,, a:ni x 18 diam. ; fed two days. 



Fig. 3a. — ,, ,, ,, alni, lateral view. 



Fig. 4. — ,, ,, ,, megaccphala X 16 diam. ; nearly full (ed. 



F'ig. 4a. — ,, ,, ,, megacephala, lateral view. 



Fig. 5. — ,, ,, ,, leporina X 20 diam. ; newly hatched. 



Fig. 6. — ,, Aloiiia orioii, x 30 diain. ; dorsal view. 



Fig. 6a. — ,, ,, X 30 diam., lateral view. 



s^^^ARIATION. 



V.^RiATiON IN Chauliodus ch^rophvlellus. — This species shows 

 some amount of variation in colour and intensity of markings, a few 

 specimens being ahuost entirely black, and some with the grey of the 

 type replaced by a sandy brown. — \V. Farren, Cambridge. Noi>ember 

 \ith, 1891. 



BoMBYX QUERCUS VAR. CALLUN^K. — The usual period required in 

 this neighbourhood by Bombyx querciis var. caliunce, to pass through 

 its different transformations, is two years. The eggs are laid at the 

 end of June or beginning of July, and hatch in from ten to eighteen 

 days according to temperature. The larva during the winter is about 

 an inch and a half long. The full-fed caterpillar spins up in June or 

 July, and, if the weather is very fine, a few insects may occasionalh 

 emerge on the moors at the end of August ; but the usual time ol 

 emergence is about the end of the third week in June in the following 

 year. — John Finlav, Meldon Park, Morpeth. 



Mei.anic var. of Polia chi — An almost melanic form of F. chi \n 

 both sexes has been captured here, this and last season. — G. T. PoRRrrT. 

 December ith, 1891. 



Cerastis spadicea and C. vaccinii. — The former is a rare insect 

 in Ireland ; I have taken it with the anti-marginal yellow streak, but 

 only once without. C. vaccinii varies through all moods and tenses. 

 from the uniform mahogany colour, to the pale yellow with strongly- 

 defined markings. Although the distinctions are sufficiently notable, 

 there seem to be often specimens the contour of whose wings makes 

 them not easy to define to which species they belong. The breadth of the 

 wing, the apical angle, and the outer margin are not quite so marked. 



