SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 109 



SO as to seize the larva in her jaws about the middle, again pushing 

 it further into the hole, and seizing it again near the terminal segments, 

 pushing it right in, and then following it. The legs assisted in the 

 process, and the whole appearance was that of passing the larva on 

 from hand to hand, as a row of men might do, but done too rapidly 

 to enable one to notice the details. But the way in which the 

 hole was used to steady the front of the larva, and direct its course 

 when pushed on from the middle and behind, in a way quite 

 foreign to the relative positions of wasp and victim on arrival, 

 evinced engineering skill of a high order. — T. A. Chapman, M.D., 

 F.E.S., Hereford. ' Jnnr I'dt.l,, 1H96. 



^^ ARI ATION. 



Leucania fallens ab. kotypa. — Mr. Barrett (E.M.M., p. 99) 

 describes a form of Leiicaida pallciift, in which the red fore-wings 

 have no fine white longitudinal lines, and states that " this variety of 

 Leucania imllenx seems to agree with what Hiibner called L. ectifpa.'" 

 Mr. Barrett could hardly have compared this with Hiibner's figure, 

 which is particularly characterised by the presence of these white lines. 

 " Hiibner's fig. 231 has the anterior wings of a bright reddish ochreous, 

 with pale nervures, no central dot, two dots in outer row, one just 

 below the third branch of the median nervure. Hind-wings whitish- 

 grey, with a dark grey shade parallel to the hind margin. Dr. 

 Staudinger describes it as : — ' Abe anteriores ruf^e.' I have many 

 specimens in my long series almost like Hiibner's figure. The develop- 

 ment of the grey shade on the hind margin into a transverse band 

 is rarely very distinct in British examples. This is treated by Guenee 

 as a distinct species in his Noctuclites, p. 94. I have specimens from 

 Howth, Deal, Aberdeen, Rotherham, Strood and Forres" (British 

 Noctuae and their Varieties, vol. i., p. 41). — J. W. Tutt. June, 1896. 



Syrichthus malv^ ab. taras. — I took, near here, on the 13th 

 inst., a specimen of Si/richthus malrae ab. taras, in fine condition, 

 which variety is, I believe, rather rare in England. I have compared 

 it with specimens from the Continent, and it appears to tally accurately 

 as regards markings, although the spots are perhaps hardly so con- 

 fluent as in the foreigners. Butterflies have been very abundant 

 round here this spring. — Fredk. C. Lemann, F.E.S., Black Friars 

 House, Plymouth. 



Variation in what has hitherto been considered a critical mark of 

 distinction between Trlena tridens and T. psi. — A short time ago 

 Mr. Tutt asked me to ascertain the value of the direct continuation of 

 the ^ at the anal angle into a dark line of the fringe, as a character 

 of Acronycta tridens, or, as I suppose we are now to call it, Triaena 

 tridens. With this object 1 wrote to a good many lepidopterists, so as 

 to ensure a sufficient number of reliable data, asking them to examine 

 their series, and I must take this opportunity of thanking them for 

 their kind assistance. 



An examination of the tables thus collected gives the following- 

 results. Out of 447 bred specimens of T. tridens, 359 or 80*3 per cent, 

 have the line continuous. Out of 15G bred specimens of T. psi, 1 IG or 

 74'3 per cent, have the line intorrnpted. The tables of both insects, 

 not bred (some admittedly open to question as to species), give fairly 

 similar results ; thus, out of 84 captured T. tridens, 57 or 67*8 percent. 



