42 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



Christy informs Mr. Frohawk that " the insects are decidedly sluggish 

 and disinclined to fly, even at night. My idea is that their time of 

 flight is in the day, and when the smi shines." 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Larva of Saturnia. — I have recently studied the larva of 

 Saturnia pyri, with the result that it approaches in type the 

 North American Samia cecropia. Through these observations, 

 the North American genus is seen to diverge from the Aitacid type, 

 represented in North America by Callosamla promelhea and Philo- 

 samia cynihia. A true Saturnia is found in California, S. 

 mendocino, Behrens ; it is an instance of the isolation on the West 

 Coast, through the barrier of the Rocky Mountains, of Palearctic types 

 not spreading over the Atlantic States or Canada. The larva of 

 Saturnia pyri has also been examined by Mr. Dyar, who finds 

 it peculiar in lacking the unpaired dorsal tubercle on the 8th 

 abdominal segment. From a study of the larva? of pyri and carpini 

 it is difficult to say whether tubercle 1 is consolidated into an unpaired 

 tubercle with its fellow, and the structure lost, or whether 1 is 

 separate and 2 is gone. By analogy it may be concluded that 

 1 is unconsolidated. The young larviB of pyri and carpini are 

 alike in structure, and have the same arrangement of tubercles ; each 

 tubercle has the central seta and circular row of spines (eight in number, 

 according to my observations), and the skin bears soft, fine, secondary 

 hairs. According to Dyar, carpini is the more generalized, pyri the 

 more specialized form ; the secondary hairs are greatly reduced, but 

 the central sette on the tubercles elongated, having acquired flattened 

 and enlarged tips. The tubercles themselves stand up prominently, 

 and are coloured blue, strongly suggesting a simple form of the type 

 of the N.American Samia cecropia. — A. Radcliffe Gbote. July, 1895. 



Pairing of Hepialus humuli. — On the evening of June 15th, whilst 

 observing a male of this species taking his pendulous flight, I saw a 

 female come up, knock against him, and then drop into the grass 

 below. He also dropped, and in less than a minute the pair were in 

 cop. and remained quite motionless. Last night I observed two 

 couples paired; in one case the male was suspended in the air, whilst 

 the female was clinging to a grass culm. — J. Finlay, Morpeth. July 

 8th, 1895. 



Eggs of Bombyx rubi ichneumoned. — About the middle of June, I 

 had fifty eggs of B. rubi sent to me from Bournemouth. Thirty of 

 them yielded larvte ; the remainder I thought were not fertile, but 

 to-day, looking in the box in which they are, I discovered a great 

 many small flies. Is this a common occurrence? — J. P. Thompson, 2, 

 Gladstone Terrace, Grantham. July Idth, 1895. [Vide, Ent. Becord, 

 vol. v., p. 253 ; vol. vi., p. 38. — Ed.] 



:ii^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Sphinx convolvuli in Somerset. — A specimen of S. convolruJi 

 was given me yesterday by a lady, who found it in a greenhouse. In 

 1891 three specimens were found under similar conditions by my 

 brother. — A. R. Hayward, Ilminster, Somerset. Aug. 25th, 1895. 



