SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 33 



weeks. I then found that a number of small flies had emerged from 

 the eggs through small circular holes near the top. The whole of the 

 eggs appeared to have been attacked ; not one yielded a larva, and they 

 retained the dark livid colour after the emergence of the parasites. 

 Mr. Nicholson, who has seen the flies, is of opinion that they belong 

 to the same species as those which he bred from the eggs of Bomhy.v 

 rnhi.—X. Bacot, Clapton. Oct. 30th, 1894. 



Egos of Bombyx rubi " ichneumoned." — Seeing that Mr. (J. 

 Nicholson, in his note under this heading (Ent. Rec, vol. v., p. 253), 

 offered specimens of the ichneumon, I apjjlied to him for some and 

 received four (in about a hundred pieces). However I was able, after 

 a deal of trouble, to determine that they are Telenomu^ phahtenarum, 

 and belong to the family Oxijura. Some years ago I received about 

 two hundred eggs of B. rubi, from which I bred two thousand one 

 hundred of these flies ; each egg yielded from six to eight. — G. 0. 

 BiGNELL, Plymouth. Nov. 7th, 1894. 



Notes on Hadena dissimilis. — Mr. J. H. Pickering of Hull, who 

 has bred this species rather freely this year, informs me that the larvae 

 hatched two days after the eggs were laid, and began to pupate on the 

 twenty-first day, all having pupated by the twenty-fifth. The larvee 

 are very voracious. Bred specimens of the moth are larger than cajj- 

 tured ones. — Wm. Hewett, 12, Howard Street, York. Noc. 4//^ 1894. 



Catocala nupta ten months in pupa. — Last year I obtained a batch 

 of eggs from a female, which emerged rather early. I lost most of the 

 larv;B through being away from Cambridge a great deal, but one 

 pupated about the end of October and remained in that condition 

 until August in the present year. — Albert H. Waters, B.A., Cam- 

 bridge. Oct. 2i]fh, 1894. 



Polygamy and Polyandry in moths. — In Psyche for 1894 (vol. 

 vii., p. 1B7) is a note to the effect that a male ActiaK hina emerged on 

 the night of April 29tli, 1894, and paired the same night, the couple 

 remaining together until after 10 a.m. on the next day. On the night 

 of the 30th, the same male paired with another female. The eggs laid 

 bj' both these females proved fertile. The same observer also 

 records that iu 1893 a female CaUosamiu promethea attracted about 40 

 males, no less than 7 of which paired with her, when she was placed 

 outside on a low branch of an ash. The eggs laid by this female 

 hatched in due course. — J. W. Tutt. 



With reference to Mr. Burrows' note on Lepidoptura pairing 

 more than once (Ent. Rec, vol. v., p. 275), I may say that I have 

 several times taken very worn female Charaeas tjraminis paired ; this I 

 think suggests strongly that the}' must sometimes pair more than once 

 in nature, as the insect is usually abundant here. — A. W. Mera, Forest 

 Gate. Nov. Idth, 1894. 



Some vnusoal food- plants. — Thecia w-allnui). — Abovit the middle 

 of June, 1894, I got a nearly full-fed larva of this species off an ash 

 tree. I fed it for some days on ash until it })upated. The imago (a 2 



which measures only | in.) emerged on July 10th. Trichiura 



crataetji. — During the eai'lier half of June 1 found a larva of this 

 species sunning itself on the Inirk of an apple tree in the orchard liere. 

 The usual white dorsal lines were in this specimen rei)rcsented by 



light-blue s])ots. Foectlocanipa popnli. — I met with the larva of 



this species on the .same trees ; it feeds here on nearly every forest tree 

 as well. — (Kev.) h\ B. Newnham, Chiu'ch Stretton, Salop. Dec. 3rd, 1894. 



