SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 153 



(liHixir (<■./., W. S. Pearce, in Eutom. Bee, vol. vi., p. 7). I will iiK-rcly 

 quote Weijenbergli's "en resume" {I.e., p. 201): — "Fertile eggs of 

 autumn ISGl!, hatched in April 18G7, imagines, August, 1867; from 

 these, without fecundation, eggs hatched in A\n-il 18G8, imagines, 

 August 18G8 ; from these, without fecundation, eggs hatclied in 

 April, 18G9, imagines, in August, 1869 ; from these, witliout fecunda- 

 tion, eggs not hatched in sjjring of 1870, but dried up." — Louis 

 B. Prout, 12, (ireenwood Road, Dalston, N.E. Feb. 22nd, 1895. 



Eruata. — Page 80, line 20 from bottom, for " generic that have 

 titles " read " generic titles that have." P. 81, line 24 from top of page, 

 for " 1851 " read " 1867." 



guRRENT NOTES. 



The structural affinities of the Sphingidae are discussed by Mr. 

 Harrison G. Dyar in his very original classification of lepidopterous 

 larvae {Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., vol. viii., p. 232); the result at which 

 he arrives is that they are probably to be regarded as nearest the 

 Notodontidae and Lasiocaiiipidae. The a{)parent structure of the 

 embryonic larva of DeiUphlla euphorbute, figured by Weisraann, 

 would determine this relationshif). In the highly specialized larvse 

 the only trace of the normal tubercles left is the " caudal horn," an 

 unpaired dorsal process on the 8th abdominal segment. Mr. Dyar 

 concludes from the study of the larvae in later stages of growth that 

 the view that this horn represents the consolidated tubercle i of the 

 Saturnina has no more to support it than the other view that the horn 

 represents the base of the unconsolidated pair of tubercles i, the 

 tubercles themselves having disappeared. The tendency to the 

 formation of this latter structure is referred to by Mr. Dyar in the 

 case of the Notodontidae and Lasioeampidae. According to Grote the 

 line of development wdthin the Family itself has for its generalized 

 or central form the Smerinthoid. From tliis type the Choerocampinae and 

 Macroijlossinae have deviated in the direction of a specialization of the 

 imago by a narrowing of the wings, a strengthening of the costa of the 

 fore-wings, a reduction of the hind-wings, and an increase in the 

 relative size of the prothorax and mesothorax. In the lower genera 

 of the Choerocampinae, as for instance Amhnlyx, the wing-proportion 

 of the Smerinthinae is carried over, no less than the soft brown colour, 

 and, in the case of A. sexoculatiis, Grote, from Brazil, the ocellated 

 hind-wings. While these three groups stand in a nearer ascending- 

 relation, the typical Sphinrjinne have probably a different line of 

 development, standing nearer to the Acherontiinae, the latter group 

 appearing now somewhat independent. A study of the embryonic 

 larvae in all the genera would apparently be of the greatest value in 

 throwing light upon the development of this Family. The Sesiidae 

 {^^Aeijeriidae) are now generally referred to the Microlepidoptera. 



The homology of the elytra of the Coleoptera with the teyidae of 

 the IJi/menoj>tera and with the jMitayia of the Lepidoptera, first demon- 

 strated by F. Meinert {Ent. Tidsk., 1880, p, 168) has been again 

 brought forward recently by Prof. J. H. Comstock. Meinert pointed 

 out the fact that in many Coleoptera {e.g., Dytiscus) rudiments of the 

 front wings exist beneath the elytra. In the Diptera the fi'ont pair of 



