10 THE entomologist's RECOKD. 



trouble with them, and they emerged next year in large numbers. 

 The essential point, in his opinion, was to leave them alone and to 

 disturb them as little as possible. The colour-variation extended from 

 almost white to dark ochreous. The food-plant of the larvie that he 

 captured was Lydniis irspertina. 



Resemblance of D. conspkusa to the colour of the rocks on 

 WHICH it rests. — Mr. McArthur stated that D. muspcrsa rested on 

 rocks, and that its colour to a very great extent responded to the 

 colour of the rocks on which it rested. He observed that, when 

 collecting in the Shetland Isles, the specimens that were captured on 

 Mainland were very dark in colour, approximating closely to the tint 

 of the dark rocks on which the moths rested. In Unst, on the north- 

 west coast, an intermediate form was taken, the rocks there being less 

 dark, whilst he had observed when collecting in the Outer Hebrides, 

 where the rocks were largely mottled with a yellow lichen, that 

 the moths were much mottled with a yellow tint. In the 

 Southern counties of England its natural habit was to rest on the 

 chalk, and in these localities the beautiful, although common, black 

 and white form was the only one obtainable. He observed, too, that 

 whilst Silcjtc injiata was the food-plant of the larva of this species in 

 the South of England, in Unst it fed on Silcnc viaiifima. 



DiANTHCEciA coNSPERSA VERSUS D. NANA. — It was auiusing (luriug the 

 discussion on this species to hear Mr. Barrett continually refer to this 

 species by the former name, whilst Mr. South referred to it by the 

 latter. Mr. Tutt pointed out that he had already shown that Hufnagel's 

 va)ia referred to llaiJcna thiitlna, and not to IHauthoccia ronxjx'r.sa, and 

 that it was, therefore, an error to continue to use the name nana for 

 D. cojispcrsa. 



Notes on Eupithecia stevensata. 



By SYDNEY WEBB. 



Very little is yet known of Kupithccia strrcnsata. It has never been 

 bred, the nearest approach to it being the finding of a female with 

 limp wings sitting on a stem of a golden-rod plant. It was not a bad 

 find, for I netted more than thirty visitors to her that evening. This 

 species is mentioned in Stainton's Manual as " suhrinata, Dover? " I 

 cannot see the likeness to this species, however, and its time of 

 appearance— the latter part of September and October — is against it. 

 I have searched in vain for a first brood which this date seems to 

 suggest. 



K. suhrinata flies in sunshine, at 5 p.m. or thereabouts, in 

 July as a rule, and around its food-plant. /'.'. stevensata flies close to 

 the short turf of the downs. It visits flowers, but is wary. If a net 

 be placed over it and the flower, it does not rise, but, on the contrary, 

 drops, and then starts out underneath. 



The very few eggs that have been obtained have mostly proved in- 

 fertile, but they certainly do resemble the green brick-shaped eggs laid 

 by K. sobrinata. Up to the present, the moth will not lay on juniper, 

 and the young larva' have refused to eat it. 



The only known locality is Dover. It has, however, been 

 erroneously reported from the Isle of Wight, Bond's specimens from 

 there being distinctly diflerent from the Dover insects. 



