CURRENT NOTES. 41 



name ab, iUustris : — " Above, light brownish -grey with metalHc sheen. 

 The yellow-ochre spot on the fore-wings paler than in the type. Hind- 

 wings Avith an indistinct yellow central spot as in var. hispnlla, or 

 without such a spot." 



Mr. C. G. Barrett records [Ent. Mo. Mag.) the capture of an imago 

 of Tortrix jAceana, in Surrey, with a larval head. Mr. McLachlan 

 points out that there was a list of the recorded cases of this form of 

 monstrosity published by Dr. Hagen in Stettiner Entom. Zeitung, 1872, 

 pp. 388-402, in which 16 instances were noted, and that others were 

 noted by Prof. Westwood in the Trans. Ent. Soc, Lond., 1879, 

 pp. 221-228. There are also records in our own Mag., Vol. i., p. 175. 



Mr. W. H. Bennett adds {Ent. Mo. Mag.) Oclithehius lejoUsi to 

 the British list. It was captured in June, in small pools of very stale 

 and putrid salt water at Ilfracombe, and may be distinguished from 

 other species of the genus by " having the whole of the lateral margin 

 of the elytra toothed saw-like." 



Mr. Champion records {Ent. Mo. Mag.) that Bedel has discovered 

 (1) that the types of Centhorrhijnchidius crotchi were from Madeira, 

 and not England ; (2) that the specimens of G. crotchi are identical 

 with C. nigroterminatus ; (3) that C. nigroterminatns is probably 

 distinct from C mixtus, of which it is given as a synonym by Fowler 

 and Sharp. 



A record of Gelech'a (Lita) Tcnaggsiella, taken from tree-trunks, 

 at Reading, by Mr. A. H. Hamm, is most interesting, as it is some years 

 since its capture in Britain has been recorded. 



Mr. C. Gr. Barrett writes (Ent. Mo. Mag. J of Tephrosia biundnlaria 

 as a variety of T. crepuscidaria, a strange conclusion for an observant 

 entomologist who has collected in the South of England. One is 

 not surprised at northern entomologists expressing this opinion, but 

 it is rather inexplicable for southern collectors to do so. After all, 

 though, it only turns on an unanswerable question — What is a species ? 

 But so long as Ave separate Lycaena bellargus and L. corydon we should 

 separate T. crepusctdaria and T. biundtdaria. 



There are two articles in the August number of Science Progress 

 Avhich should be read by all naturalists, viz.: "Insular Floras," by 

 W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., and " The Reserve Materials of Plants," 

 by J. Reynolds Green, M.A., F.R.S. The other articles, entitled, 

 " Chemical Affinity," " Views on Mineral Species," and " The space 

 relations of Atoms," will be found interesting, both to general scien- 

 tists and to specialists. 



Mr. Frohawk gives {Entom., Sept.) a very interesting account of 

 the "Life-history of Nyssia lapponaria," and accompanies it by figures 

 of the several stages which are models of what illustrations of Natural 

 History should be. Mr. Frohawk obtained some eggs from Mr. W. 

 M. Christy {vide, Ent. Bee, vol. vi., p. 234). He describes the egg as 

 of a compressed oval form, and of a very clear bright greenish-yellow 

 colour; a fcAv days before hatching the colour deepens, and just before 

 that event becomes a very deep metallic blue-green. The larva? fed 

 upon both birch and whitethorn, if anything giving the preference to 

 the latter ; they did not eat the cast skin. Four moults took place, 

 and the larva buried itself for pupation at the end of 42 days. It did 

 not spin a cocoon, but the pupa was found simply buried an inch or 

 two under the surface of the earth. With regard to the imago, Mr. 



