168 THE entomologist's record. 



bred. The cocoons were obtained by sifting the dead leaves, accu- 

 mulated in the forked branches, through my fingers. There was 

 no heather anywhere within miles of this locality. There is no 

 doubt that the larvaB had fed on Cratact/Hs (u-i/acanthus. — H. Tunaley, 

 F.E.S., 80, Fairmount Road, Brixton Hill, S.W. 



TEPHROSrA BISTORTATA (cRP^PUSCULARIa) AND T. CREPUSCULARTA (bIUN- 



dularia). — I have taken Tcjilirosia cri'imscidaiia [biundidaria) here 

 about the second week in April, but only sparingly. At Port Talbot 

 the year before last it was out in the woods in plenty during the first 

 week of May. 7'. histortata {'■repuscnlai-ia) appears here in the first 

 or second week of March. I think that these are decidedly distinct 

 species, although, in general appearance, one seems sometimes to 

 run into the other so closely, that it is somewhat difficult to tell the 

 one species from the other. I get both species nearly black, but 

 T. bistdftata always has a browner tint, T. crcjm.sndaria {hinnduhiria) 

 being in its extreme forms pure black with a white line near the 

 margin. — (Major) R. B. Robertson, Royal Arsenal, Swansea. Awixixt, 

 1896. 



Protection of larva of Zephyrus betul.^. — I never saw the larva 

 of Z. hctulac move in day-time in nature. They always sit on the 

 underside of a leaf along the mid-rib, and are most difficult to see. 

 It is, I believe, a matter of common observation, that they are pro- 

 tected when young by their resemblance to a Si/rphm. The laws of 

 "mimicry," as established by Bates and others, are well exemplified. 

 Thus the larvre are doubly protected. — H. J. Turner, F.E.S., 13, 

 Drakefell Road, St. Catherine's Park, S.E. Awjmt, 1896. 



Hybernation of Pararge egeria.- I have been greatly interested 

 in your paper in the Knt, Beeord of 1st July, on the hybernating 

 stages of British butterflies, a subject on which full and trustworthy 

 knowledge has long been wanting. So far as my own experience 

 goes — unfortunately it only extends to between twenty and thirty 

 species, and not by any means to every stage in all of these — it con- 

 firms your conclusions, except in the case of P.e(/<'ria, which, I incline 

 to think, sometimes hybernates as a pupa in England. In the latter 

 part of August, 1892, I obtained in the New Forest a large number 

 of eggs of this species. They were fed on grass, in a cool room, and 

 pupated between the 28th October and the 27th November. As they 

 pupated they were placed in a balconette, exposed to the north-west. 

 About twenty pupated, and of these five survived. Three, which were 

 forced in the middle of February, emerged in from seven to eight 

 days, the other two emerged on the 10th and 14th April respectively. 

 Of course this is not conclusive, as the larva^ were probably 5 to 10 

 degrees warmer than they would have been out of doors, and there- 

 fore pupated earlier ; but the facts that the pupa will bear the winter 

 temperature, and that the perfect insect appears in the spring earlier 

 than any of the other English species which are stated to pass the 

 winter as larvae, leads me to believe that a considerable number of 

 individuals, in some winters, at all events, hybernate as pup;B. If Mr. 

 Greene could state in what month he found his pupte, that would 

 probably settle the question. — F. Meiuufield, F.E.S., 24, Vernon 

 Terrace, Brighton. 



Mr. Merrifield's note seems pretty conclusive that P. ei/rria might 

 possibly hybernate in Britain in the pupa state. It recalls to my 



