SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. Ill 



England, for Mr. Buckler {Larvae of Brit. Butts., [., p. 175) states 

 that: " On August 17th, 1885, Mr. Fletcher wrote that he had lately 

 seen two pairs of this hutterfly I'/t co^)., so that no douht there has heen 

 a second brood or partial brood this year." With this I quite agree, 

 for I believe that all specimens (even of ordinarily hybernating 

 species) of butterflies that pair in the autumn lay eggs, and so attempt 

 to produce another brood, and then die. 



In the same work (p. 50), Mr. Buckler says that he received larvae 

 on September 18th (evidently from August parents). These fed up 

 and pupated about the middle of October, and then " early in the 

 first week of February, 1869, Cynthia cardui came forth." Mr. 

 Buckler suggests that the appearance was probably premature owing 

 to the pupa having been kept in a warm room." No doubt the con- 

 ditions of the environment brought about this result ; but it is clear 

 that in nature these larvtB would have fed more slowly than in a 

 warm room, and that the pupa would have matured more slowly. It 

 is therefore evident that P. cardui tries to pass the winter in Britain 

 in the larval and pupal stages, and its failure to do so is an explana- 

 tion of our never getting specimens except in those autumns following 

 a spring migration of the species. Mr. Buckler's warm room allowed 

 the species to do what I suppose it does every year naturally in 

 northern Africa. — J. W. Tutt. 



On the rapidity with which some parasitic insects perform 

 THEIR METAMORPHOSES. — The remark {ante, p. 67) made by Mr. Enock 

 as to the rapidity with which Qgg parasites go through their meta- 

 morphoses, and as to their multiple-broodedness, reminds me of a 

 note which that excellent observer, Mr. J. J. Wolfe, of Skibbereen, 

 wrote me on May 18th, 1893, about the parasite of the larvae of 

 Melitaea aurinia, which suggests that that also is multiple-brooded. 

 He writes : "I have often met with the parasites of M. aurinia, 

 referred to in this month's Becord (vol. iv., p. 156). The egg is, I 

 believe, deposited singly in the young larvae shortly after hatching. 

 After the larva stops feeding for the winter the parasite forms its 

 cocoon inside the web. Possibly there are three broods of it. I 

 have seen it (or another) sting full-sized larva3, which then remained 

 for two or three weeks without turning till the parasites emerge, when 

 they spin in a cluster and emerge quickly (at least in captivity), per- 

 haps to sting very young larvjB again." If parasites go through 

 their metamorphoses at this rate, there can be no doubt that we have 

 much underrated their destructive powers. — J. W. Tutt. 



"IT" AR I ATION. 



Variation of Hepialus humuli and Emmelesia albulata in 

 Shetland. — The varieties of H. humidi captured in Shetland this year 

 were very fine, ranging through (1) unicolorous creamy-white, (2) 

 creamy-white with brown spots, (8) creamy-white with grey spots, (4) 

 creamy-white with pink spots. Males also occurred of the same 

 yellow colour as the females, but with dark markings. — Emmelesia 

 albtdata ranged from the ordinary type to leaden-grey, almost without 

 markings. — J. J. F. X. King, F.E.S., 207, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. 

 October 10th, 1895. 



