144 THiB entomologist's record. 



ment with Polia chi and its var. (tliracca. Last autumn I caught wild 

 females of each and obtained eggs from them. These I kept quite 

 distinct, with the object of seeing whether the var. bred true from the 

 female variety, and whether the type bred true from the female type ; 

 in each case the male parent was unknown to me. Both batches 

 hatched at about the same time, and the larv« were to all appearances 

 exactly similar. I could see no difference whatever between the two. 

 Both lots were fed alike and under the same conditions, inz., indoors 

 in tins, on whitethorn, dock, groundsel and willow, just whichever 

 came handiest. Both lots emerged almost together, and both pro- 

 duced the type and the variety, though in the case of the specimens 

 bred from the female variety the percentage of the variety was greater 

 than in the specimens bred from the female type. There were also 

 two or three specimens of a yellowish ground colour, scarcely inter- 

 mediate, but Avith a slight tendency to the variety. I did not get any 

 eggs from a couple of the var. which I tried to pair. I have been 

 searching again for the variety, and have got two or three females, 

 which have laid eggs, but in no case have I been able to ascertain the 

 male parent ; but I took a typical female with the male (also typical) 

 sitting close beside her, and she has laid eggs, so that I shall be able 

 to see, if all goes well, whether the ofispring keep to the type or 

 otherwise. — T. Maddison, South Bailey, Durham. S,'pfe)iihi'rl2tJi, 1895. 



®*URRENT NOTES. 



The sale of Mr. W. Farren's insects assiimed considerable im- 

 portance, and a note or two thereon will perhaps give a clue to the 

 public pulse on one or two points. First of all, the butterflies were 

 practically given away, except the fine series of VajiiUo marJuton 

 (described in Ent. Record, vol. iv.), which produced £2 lis. ; the 

 Sesiids all fetched long prices, each lot going at about 30/-. The 

 market value of fine ArJwrontia afi-njxis and Sphinx cnvndndi is about 

 1/3 each, whilst Ih'ihqihila i/alil, bred by Mr. Tugwell, is worth about 

 2/6. Hrjiialus IiHiiiuli var. Iwtldandica practically has no sale value ; the 

 market is evidently glutted, whilst ^[(uroija^^tcr anunJinis, in fine order, 

 are worth but little more than 8d. each. Nola ccutimalis, on the other 

 hand, averaged between 6/- and 7/- each. The extreme vars. of Sjiilosoma 

 Inhrii-iprda of the noted Lincolnshire strain, of which one has 

 heard so much, evidently have not taken on with the public, for series 

 containing these only were almost given away, whilst, on the other 

 hand, those containing the Irish var. rnsticci of S. niendica, and 

 Cambridge vars. of S. Udn-icipcda and .S'. menthantri fetched big prices. 

 When two bred C. hcra, a white male K. rn.ssnla and 56 other speci- 

 mens produce only 6/-, it may easily be assumed how generally C. hera 

 must now be distributed in collections. Two pairs of Laelia cueiutm 

 produced 10/- and 14/- respectively, whilst two fine varieties, one of 

 Nutodonfa cliatmio, the other of A'. Irimanda, brought £2 7s. 6d. But 

 the series oi Jlri/njdiila nniralis var. /y/(y/(n- was the choicest morsel in the 

 collection, and the lots containing four or five of these were knocked 

 down at 22/-, 21/-, 45/-, 30/-, ^18/-, 26/-, 22/-, 18/- respectively. 

 They have of coui-sc a big historical value, as they are some of the 

 specimens described in T/tf lUitish Nuctuae mid their Varieties. Bred 



