288 THE entomologist's record. 



Anthocaris (Euchloe'?) helia and A. misonia. — I have had sent to me 

 this spring pupte of these two sjiecies, which are said by some to be 

 two forms of the same species — A. helia hybernatino; in the pupa, 

 whilst A. nusonia is the summer brood. The pupaj of the two are ex- 

 tremely similar in form and markings ; in fact, there is no difference 

 that I can detect. That of A. helia is, however, easily distinguishable 

 by its much darker coloration ; the pujia of A. ausonia might be called 

 green, that of A. helia brown, though the difference is chiefly caused 

 by the markings being faintly indicated in the former, whilst they are 

 brown or black in the latter. There is, however, a much more re- 

 markable difference — an extremely remarkable one, indeed, if they be 

 really only forms of the same species. The pupa of A. helia is solid, much 

 like that of A. cardamines only a little straighter, whilst that of A. ausonia 

 possesses movement between the 4th and 5th abdominal segments. 

 In my paper on butterfly pupaj (Ent. Bee, vol. vi., p. 127), I pointed 

 out that I had not met with this form of pupa in any Pierid, but indi- 

 cated that it probably existed in some grouj), classed either with the 

 Yellows or with the Orange-tips. That it should occur in one brood 

 of a particular species and not in the other is extremely interesting, and 

 enables us almost to see how movement of segments is lost, and (perhaps 

 not very profitably) to speculate as to how and why it is lost. The A. 

 ausonia have already emerged ; the A. helia have to wait till next 

 spring. It is notable that the neuration of A. ausonia does not resemble 

 that of A. cardamines, but is rather that described by Mr. Tutt (Canad. 

 Ent., 1894), as characteristic of Pieris. This confirms the idea 

 suggested by the pupa, that A. ausonia is nearer the main stem than is 

 A. cardamines, and, perhaps, renders doubtful ray notion that the 

 Anthocarinae were derived from the Ehodocerinae, indicating rather that 

 A. ausonia is nearer Pieris and that, therefore, the Pieridae with curved 

 pupas, were jointly derived from Pieris, and there never was a curved- 

 pupa form with two free segments. Further observation on the point 

 becomes necessary. — T. A. Chapman, M.D., Firbank, Hereford. 3Tuy. 

 1895. 



gURRENT NOTES. 



Mons. Danysz redescribes (Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., vol. Ixxii, p. clxxviii., 

 et se(|.) an anatomical observation (first made by Professor Poulton some 

 years ago) on the larvje of Ephcstia. linehniella. Many of the larva? pre- 

 sented on the dorsal aspect of the 5th anal (? abdominal) ring, a large 

 brown or black blotch. When the larva moved it was easy to see that this 

 blotch was due to a pigmented body, situated underneath the cuticle. On 

 dissection, two reniform corpuscles, strongly pigmented with red- brown, 

 were discovered in the cellular tissue above the digestive tube ; 

 these seemed to have no connection with the other organs of the 

 larva. Under the microscope, each of these bodies appeared to be 

 formed of four segments separated from each other by pigmented 

 films, which, viewed in profile, presented the appearance of bands 

 deeper in colour than the rest. Each segment was filled with 

 elements of two kinds: (1) bundles of very thin fibres, bordering on 

 one side a cellule provided with a large nucleus ; (2) sjiheres 

 undergoing segmentation, more or less pronounced. Mons. Danysz 



