128 THE entomologist's record. 



He says that the female laid a number of eggs in the box, and that the 

 larvic hatched out on September 12th following, i.e., the insect took 18 

 days to mature in the ovum state. He also describes the larva of the 

 variety callunac, on page 58, and states that Mr, Doubleday sent him 

 seven larv;e on the 8th of June, 1868. Now, having regard to the 

 fact that the ova of the type took 18 days to mature, that would 

 indicate that the ova which produced these larvse were laid at latest 

 on May 21st, and we may safely infer that the larvte would be a week 

 old, at least, when sent to Buckler ; that would bring the date of the 

 laying of the ova to May 14th. I have given these particulars 

 because I find there is considerable scepticism as to the appearance of 

 cnllunar in May at all. There is not a shadow of doubt about B. quercm 

 appearing in the imago stage in late July and August, having taken 

 12 months only for its metamorphoses, and it is only one way of 

 showing the eccentric character of the variety by proving conclusively 

 that it requires two years to mature, and it then appears three months 

 before its type ! 



Both these larvse are found in April and May, both have hyber- 

 nated the preceding winter as larv^, the larva of IL (jucrcus being 

 full-fed at the end of May, spinning its cocoon and pupating in June, 

 and emerging in July ; whereas, B. caUnnae is full-fed at the end of 

 August, spins its cocoon in September, hybernates the second winter 

 lua pupa, and emerges in the following May. A correspondent in the 

 Entovioloi/ist says they sometimes lie over a second winter. Indeed, I 

 have a friend now who has two pupa', from larva' that spun up in 1894, 

 with others, that emerged last June. From inquiries I have made, 

 I have not heard of the type hybernating more than once, and if I 

 had heard of such an occurrence as a whole brood of B. ipicirns larvae 

 hybernating as pupa', I should have had to satisfy myself that my 

 informant knew the difference between the type and the variety, 

 before I accepted the statement as fact. In the latest published work 

 upon entomology, under the authority of our worthy president, it is 

 stated that " occasionally a batch of eggs laid by a female will pro- 

 duce both forms, a part of the progeny having the habits of qiicrcns 

 and the other part those of callunae." The value of this information 

 depends much upon whether the female was at large when captured, 

 or whether she had been bred and impregnated with a male of the 

 other race, and wliat the " Iiabits" were that are referred to. Because 

 we breed hybrids of Snwrint/ius pojndi and S. acdlatus, 1 venture to 

 think no one will set up a theory that they are one species.^-' 

 With regard to the "food," the "ornamentation of the young larva," 

 and " pupation," there is nothing, taking these difierences .s('iiatiiii,\s-h[ch 

 is extraordinary. In a state of nature, I believe, callunav is invariably 

 found upon heather, or, as Newman calls it, ling, and that the type 

 is polyphagous, if not omniphagous, and that they are never found in 

 the same locality. In the case of the wing rays and the shape of the 

 curvature of the bands, these distinctions are of great use in enabling 

 the student to distinguish the races at once, but are otherwise imma- 

 terial. 



(To he continued). 



* Species is largely a matter of definition. See Mr. J. Alston Moffatt's paper 

 on " Variation," in The lieport of the Entoni. Socicti/ of 0)itario, 1895, where ho 

 goes much further than this. The Report is in the library of the City of London 

 Entom. Soc. — Eu. 



