(niUKENT NOTES. 156 



i\Ir. 0. G. Barrott (juotos {EJT.M., Marcli, ]». (jO) a letter written l)y 

 tlie late Jenuer VWnr to Mr. McKae, wliicli throws some interesting 

 light on the method of })airing among tlie Psi/cliirhw. Mr. Weir 

 found that, in the case of l^si/che villosclla, the female, as a rule, did 

 not leave the ease, but was fertilized by a male while still in the ease. 

 He further noticed " that no male paid any attention to those females 

 which I had helped out of the cases." Mr. Weir tlnis describes the 

 process of pairing, as he witnessed it : " The male always, when 

 emerging, leaves the pupa-skin nearly two-thirds projecting from the 

 larval case ; the female, on the contrary, leaves the unbroken abdominal 

 portion of the pupa-skin at the bottom of the case ; she partly emerges 

 and clears the emergent end, thus enabling the male to obtain access to 

 the case ; he inserts his extensile body as far into the case as the wings 

 will permit, so that I have seen the wings become horizontal. After- 

 wards the female retreats to the bottom or proximal end of the case 

 and deposits her eggs in a mass, apparently in the old skin." 



Herr A. H. FassI, Jun., of Teplitz, calls attention {Insekten Bilrse, 

 Mar. 1st) to the fact that pu})a3 of Vanessa nrticae which were found 

 on stinging-nettle were invariably dead. Last summer, in a stone- 

 (juarry near Teplitz, he came across a large brood of larva?, which he 

 kept under observation until pupation had taken place. Most of the 

 pupte were attached to stinging-nettle, these were all adorned with 

 beautiful gold spots, but all were dead. Close by, however, on the 

 rocks, were found seven ])upa3 which were alive, and which yielded 

 imagines later on. Herr Fassl suggests in explanation of this curious 

 fact, that either the larvse which are diseased do not (}uit the food- 

 plant for pupation or else that the nettle has some adverse influence on 

 the pupa. He inclines himself to the latter explanation, inasmuch as 

 he has found living pupa3 of V. nrticae on the leaves and stems of hop. 

 Dr. Standfuss, in commenting on the foregoing, admits that pupfe of 

 this species found hanging on the nettle yield only a very small i)er- 

 centage of imagines ; when the nettle is exposed to the sun for the 

 greater part of the day the pupa3 are golden all over, but when the 

 plant grows in shadier j^laces the pupfe found on it are of a more 

 normal grey colour. A very large proportion are affected with parasites. 

 Whereas healthy larvfe, reared under favourable conditions, have a 

 tendency to energetic wandering, this tendency is wanting in diseased 

 larva3, and so the latter pu[)ate close to or on the i)lant on which they 

 have fed ; they have energy enough to enter the pupal condition, but 

 not sufficient for the development of the imago. i)r. Standfuss denies 

 that the nettle exerts any lethal influence on the pu});v, inasmuch, as 

 in the case of larva3 bred in captivity, a great many pupate on the 

 nettle and yield imagines. We (piite agree with Dr. Standfuss. 



In June, 1854, the late Mr. ])ircliall took a fine series of Erehia 

 epiphron var. cassiopc about half-way up Croagh Patrick on the 

 Westport side " in a gi-assy hollow, where a little hut is erected for 

 the shelter of pilgrims." From that time no specimens had been 

 captured in Ireland until the summer of last year (1894), when, we 

 learn from the Irish Naturalist for March, the Kev. K. A. IMcClean 

 took a single specimen on the edge of a wood at Kockwood near Sligo, 

 at a height of about 1,0U0 feet. This locality is about fifty miles from 

 Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo, so that the species probably has a wide 

 distril union among the mountains of Western Ireland. 



In The Naturalist (Marcli, 1895) the Kev. C. D. Ash, li.A:, gives an 

 account of '' The Lei)idoi)tera at iSkijJwith in 1894." The bad season 



