NOCTUIDES AT WARRINGTON. 81 



by Mr. Tutt as being " almost pure ochreous." I am doubtful, too, 

 whether the typical swsiicrta occurs here, but I have a few specimens 

 very near var. grisea, although they are not altogether without a 

 tinge of red. 



From the above notes it will be seen that our Warrington speci- 

 mens run very strongly in the direction of vars. rufa and nigre.scens, 

 and their sub-vars. vaiiegata and uigrescnis-varicgata. Will not Mr. 

 Dennis or one of the York entomologists work out their varieties of 

 this species, and see in what direction the varieties run ? Mr. Home 

 and Mr. Reid, too, might give us an excellent comparison with the 

 Aberdeen specimens. 



"VARIATION. 



The Varieties of Leucophasia sinapis which occur in Britain. — 

 Writing of the varieties of Leucophasia sinajns, Staudinger describes 

 Hiibner's var. lathyri as belonging to '• the first brood, the posterior 

 wings beneath being obscure greenish." I presume that a very large pro- 

 portion of our British male specimens, captured in May and June, are of 

 this variety. Dr. Lang, in his Rhopaloccra Europae, converts this into 

 " has the hind Avings greenish instead of white," and says that " this 

 form is met with in this country." It would be interesting to know 

 whether any specimens agreeing with Dr. Lang's description exist in 

 British collections, as they would present a remarkable ap]3earance. 

 That this is no mere slip is evidenced from the fact that the underside 

 of this first brood is not " Avhite." The second brood of this species, 

 usually so rare in England, has a whiter ground colour, a smaller, 

 blacker and rounder apical spot, and often, as Staudinger correctly says, 

 has the "underside also white." The female has only faint traces of 

 the apical tip, but such traces are usually there. The Avhite -underside 

 form of this second brood is the var. diniensis of Hiibner. This, Dr. 

 Lang describes as : " The dark marks are wholly wanting, the wings, 

 both on the upper and undersides, being nearly pure white." Strange 

 this, considering that the male has a very black apical spot. Extreme 

 female forms of the var. diniensis are occasionally found without 

 any trace of the apical spot, and become then, as Staudinger correctly 

 says, "white on both sides." This is the ab. ? ('rys(»w of Borkhausen. 

 Lang seems to have overlooked the fact that it was a female form 

 altogether, and diagnoses it as " having no dusky tips to the fore- wings." 

 After this I shall not be much surprised at anything I may find in Dr. 

 Lang's work, nor shall I be at all surprised to find our collectors of 

 European butterflies with whole series of second-brood females 

 under the name of diniensu and lathyri, and not a male of this brood 

 among them.— J. W. Tutt. October ISth, 1895. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



On the Pupal suspension of Thais. — In my paper on "Butterfly 

 Pupje " {Ent. Ere, vol. vi., pp. 125-12G) I gave an interpretation of this 

 most unusual method of suspension of the pupa of Thais, derived from 

 an examination of the pupa>. As this was at variance with the view 

 taken by Prof. Scudder, who interpreted his observations in connection 

 with the writings of certain continental authorities, it became desir- 

 able to put the matter to the test of actual observation, although Prof. 



