VARIATION. 13 



darker spots. I have never seen or heard of such a remarkable variety 

 before. — Endymion Porter, Junr., Easthill, near Frome. June 20th, 

 1895. [A number similar to this were recorded as having been bred 

 at Elgin last year.^ — Ed.] 



:i^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Notes from the Bocjks of the Exchange Baskets. — Mr. T. 

 Maddison (Durham) writes on April 24th : " It is very difficult indeed 

 to say why some insects vary so much. I have bred from the same 

 batch of ova every form of Taeuiocampa instahUls, from very pale and 

 mottled forms to black ; so, from the same batch of ova, I have bred a 

 long series of very variable Hypsipetes sordidata, ranging from green 

 to black ; again, from eggs of Folia chi I have bred from the type to 

 very dark var. olivacea. Why this should be I have never seen any 

 complete explanation, and probably there is none. They seem to me 

 to vary in appearance without any absolute law. Abraxas grossulariuta 

 and Arctia caia will vary enormously ; in fact, of the former there will 

 scarcely be two specimens of a long bred series exactly alike, though 

 all may have received exactly the same food and general treatment. 

 Even from the same batch of eggs, laid on the same day, there is great 

 difterence in almost any common kind of larvte : some grow rapidly, 

 others lag behind ; some seem weakly from their birth, whilst others 

 grow rapidly and strongly to pupation. The earliest spring moths here 

 this year — Uyhernia marginaria, Phigalia pedaria, and H. 

 leucophaeoria — all appeared on Feb. 27th, but none of them were at 

 all abundant. It is here a very late season ; one of my boys during the 

 past two days has taken over 100 larvae of A. caia (a species which he 

 breeds assiduously every year), and many of them were very small, evi- 

 dently j ust up from their winter quarters. By the way, can anyone tell me 

 what is the best way to deal with hybernating larva? ? AVith Noctuides 

 such as A'^. c-iiigrum, Tryphaena lanthina, &c., sleeved out in the open, 

 I have had very fair success, but quite the reverse Avith Arctia villica, 

 A caia, Bowbyx ruhl, and other Bowbycides. Whether kept indoors or 

 out of doors, I fancy they all want a certain amount of feeding, even 



in winter, whenever the weather is moderately open." Dr. Gunning 



(Montrose) writes on May 2nd: "Insects seem to be very numerous 

 this spring. My first trip, on March 23rd, resulted in 12 pup* of 

 Acrouycta (Viminia) euphorbiae. and several larvse of Sjnloso^na 

 fuliginosa and A. caia. Panolis piniperda first appeared on April 5th. 

 Hallows have been working splendidly. We use a spread of four 

 sheets, 12 feet by 10 feet, which gives us 480 square feet, so that poor 

 Taeniae ampa gothica and T. stabilis get very little chance of escaping. 

 All the T. gothica are beautiful varieties. The only thing I have to 

 add is that Fachnobia rubricosa, which was so abundant last spring, is 



very scarce this season." Mr. W. M. Christy (Emsworth) writes on 



May 7th : "As to hybernating larvai. Geometers, at least those that 

 I have tried, will remain sitting on the twigs inside the sleeves all the 

 winter, and do well. Zygaenidae will do well if removed from their 

 food altogether and placed in a dry receptacle among bits of cork, &c., 

 and I am told that if left on their growing food plant they mostly die. 



