VARIATION. 253 



Cenir a- f^.sh'ion, so as to make the cocoon quite like its 

 surroundings. In some specimens there is almost a valvular 

 arrangement by which a strong edge of silk easily separates 

 from the surface in which the cocoon is made, but I fancy this 

 is accidental, as in most cases the cocoon is ruptured for 

 emergence. 



The moth emerges from 5 to 7 p.m. {A crony etas 11 to 3), and 

 by 8 p.m. is usually paired ; the date is about the first week in 

 October. They pair readily in confinement, and the female 

 sits very quietly till this occurs, remaining on the same spot 

 even for several days, only moving in the evening enough to 

 find a spot where she can conveniently raise her wings a 

 little, but practically on the same spot where she expanded her 

 wings. This is not at all usual in any other species I know, 

 the female usually taking a short preliminary flight, obviously 

 with the view of finding a more protected spot, and is espe- 

 cially unlike Acronycta, where the females certainly often sit 

 still and " call," but very often also is so active that the male 

 must have some difficulty in finding her. 



(To be conimued.) 



ARIATION. 



ZoNOSOMA PUNCTARiA V\]VM DiMORPHic. — Mr. Hollis and myself 

 have been rearing the above species from ova this autumn with the 

 following results : Mr. Hollis's ova hatched early in August, and the 

 larvce commenced pupating towards the end of the first week in 

 September. All his pupje are bright green, some being marked with 

 black spots. My ova were laid on August 17th, by a female captured 

 at Wimbledon, and hatched on August 25th. The first larva turned 

 to pupa on October 3rd. This pupa was green, though of a darker 

 tint than those of Mr. Hollis. All the remaining larvae have turned to 

 pupae of a light wainscoat-brown colour. These results show that the 

 pup^e of the autumn brood are dimorphic. It is interesting to note 

 that Mr. Hollis's pupre, which were formed a month earlier than mine, 

 were all green, and that the earliest ot mine was green, the later ones 

 being brown. 



In 1887 I reared a brood from ova laid by a Wimbledon female in June 

 — all the larvse of this brood turned green in their last skin, and formed 

 green pupae. — Francis John Buckell, 32, Canonbury Square. Oct. 

 22 tid, 1892. 



Variation in Cerostoma radiatella. — I have been hunting and 

 beating for larvae for the last few days, and in the beating no end of 

 Cerostoma of all sorts tumble out. 1 have gathered a hundred or two 

 and set. What endless variety there is in the common radiatella to be 



