St'IRNTTFrC NOTrOS AND OBSKUVATTON'S. 9o 



collecting, if we are to l^eliove half we hear) there were records ami 

 " Proceedings," and very few captures of extreme rarities failed to 1)0 

 noted either in print or in manuscript, wliich notes may possibly still 

 be extant. It is the duty, therefore, of purchasers to insist on being 

 furnished ]\v dealers with full and convincing evidence of the nationality 

 of specimens reputed to be British, and auction-room rarities unac- 

 companied by such evidence should be regarded as doubtful, or better 

 still, be severely left alone. 



Scientific notes & observations. 



Does Cucullia ciiamomill^ hybernate ? — Merrin, in his Calendar, 

 includes this moth among the hybernated species which have been found 

 in February, and, in the following month, mentions it as having been 

 taken at rest on various materials, adding '' probably hyl)ernated." Does 

 it hyljernate ? Neither W. F. Kirby {Enrojx-cui Butterflies and Moths), 

 Stainton nor Newman, mentions the fact (Is it a fact ? — Ed.), but the 

 dates of appearance given by the three auth(3rs vary, both as regards 

 imago and larva. Kirby, speaking for Europe, gives April to June for 

 the imago, and Jiine to August for the larva. Newman says that the 

 imago appears on the wing in April and May, and that the larva? emerge 

 at the end of May or beginning of June, and are usually full-fed at the 

 end of June, although stragglers may be occasionally met with as late as 

 the third week in July. Stainton gives later dates than the others — the 

 end of May and June for imago, July and August for larva^. During 

 the last season or two, I have taken the handsome larva? feeding on 

 Fyrethrvm marltimnm, the earliest date Ijeing April 27th, and the latest, 

 July 7tli. (On July lyth I faih'd to find a single larva). Whilst small, 

 the}^ recjuire to be carefully searched for, owing to their resemblance to 

 the flower-buds and to their habit of curling themselves round the stems 

 of the food-plant. On several occasions I have found half-grown larva? 

 on a plant of ryrethnun, \\'\\\q\\, ten days beft)re, I had searched carefully 

 without finding any. The larvje prefer low-growing flat plants, rather 

 than the more robust ones ; fre(iuently, on the same jolant, are some 

 nearly full-fed and others very small ; they feed up very rapidly. 

 Kirby {I.e., p. xvi) says " larvae of C. charnomiUae, Ijred from eggs, have 

 l)een known to reach their full growth in 14 days. Considering their 

 size, and their habit of feeding exposed in the sunshine, they are 

 singularly free from the attacks of parasites ; the percentage of imagines 

 reared, is much larger than is the case with C. verbasci. The earliest 

 date at which I have known imagines to emerge from pupa? which were 

 found in Ma}^, is Feb. 2nd ; from July })upfe, the earliest emergence 

 was on March loth. Out of many pupa? which I had in 1892 and 1898 

 (in the latter year nearly lUO), nt)t one imago appeared in the autunui, 

 though Merrin mentions the species, in November, as hybernating in 

 tliat stage. If the moth does hybernate in a state of nature, sm-ely some 

 s])('(amens would emerge during the autumn, when ai'tificially reai'ed 

 and to a certain extent forced. I have never taken tlie imago in the 

 autumn, and my experience leads me to supjjose that the species does 

 not hybernate regularly in this state, but I should like to hear the 

 opinion of others. — (Major) J. N. Still, Seaton, Devon. Feb., 1894. 



