40 THE entomologist's record. 



"VARIATION. 



Breeding the dark variety of Spilosoma menthastri, — I have been 

 very much disiippointed in the specimens of S. menthastri that I have 

 bred. I have obtained a considerable number, but they have not at 

 all followed the dark coloration of their parents, and much more 

 nearly approach the ordinary South of England forms. This has 

 surprised me, because the dark moths that I bred were not isolated 

 extremes of the buff-coloured form. The whole race, so far as I can 

 make out, is of that shade of colour in those parts of Argyllshire in 

 which I have collected. Possibly the food they eat in the North, or 

 the climate there, is the cause of the darker colour. — W. M. Christy, 

 F.E.S., Watergate, Emsworth. June lith, 1895. 



I had some pupse of S. menthastri from the same locality as those 

 of Mr. Christy. One male emerged very dark brown ; the others 

 varied from quite white to buff-coloured. — T. Maddison, South Bailey, 

 Durham. June 28th, 1895. 



Larv.e of Acherontia atropos (type and variety) at Chichester. — 

 The larva? of this species have appeared in some numbers in this 

 neighbourhood during the month of August. I had eleven of them 

 in my possession. Although I have, from time to time, reared a good 

 many of the larvfe — one year I had forty — I have never before had a 

 variety, though I have occasionally seen such. Singularly enough, 

 several of my larv;B this year were of the dusky variety, which, instead 

 of being of a beautiful apple-green tint with violet and yellow streaks, 

 is dingy brown with a latticed pattern of dull blackish purple on the 

 sides and back, and a sprinkling of dirty white spots, the anterior 

 segments being white, with two stripes broken up into spots a little 

 darker than the general colour of the body. Both type and variety have 

 a similar whitish warty caudal appendage. Some of the larvte were 

 found feeding on potatoes, some on jasmine. All have now gone to 

 earth. None of these larvae emitted any sound. On other occasions 

 I have repeatedly heard a sound emitted by larvae, which resembled 

 the "click" of the electric spark, and was quite distinct from the 

 " squeak " of the moth. — Joseph Anderson, Junr., Alve Villa, 

 Chichester. 



@^URRENT NOTES. 



On July 8rd, the bust of Senator T>v. H. Roemer was unveiled in 

 front of the Museum building in Hildesheim, with appropriate cere- 

 monies. The Museum bears the name of its founder and chief 

 benefactor ; the collections in different departments of Natural History, 

 as well as in the Fine Arts, are more important than might be ex- 

 pected in a city of the moderate population which Hildesheim contains. 



The Rev. W. C. Hey, M.A., reports {Naturalist, Aug.) the capture 

 at Askham Bog, in the spring, of two specimens of a rare weevil 

 {Elmidomorphns aubei). The species was at first supposed to be new 

 to ]3ritain, but it was afterwards found to have been described by Canon 

 Fowler, in The Naturalist, under the name of Bagous petro, from a 

 single example taken at Askham many years ago. 



Ilerr. Jachontoft' thus describes {Societas Entomologica, Aug. 1) a 

 now aberration (?) of Eijinephele ianira, from Vladimir, under the 



