SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 169 



mind also a note by Mr. J. H. Carpenter, written on Feb. 13th last, 

 but not published {Science Gossiji, iii., p. 13) until my own note (Knt. 

 liccnnl, \m., p. 101) was in print. Mr. Carpenter writes : — " I have 

 had under observation, during the winter, a brood of I'aran/i' cijeria, 

 which I raised from ova deposited at the end of August, 1895. Some 

 of the various members of this brood have behaved unusually during 

 hybernation. The larger part fed up rapidly in autumn and turned 

 to pupae, the remainder being still in the larval condition. It is 

 usual, I believe, for this species to hybernate as a caterpillar. I placed 

 half the pupae of this brood out of doors, and the rest were kept in 

 the dining-room, where there is a fire daily during winter. No 

 change was observed until the first week in February, when some of 

 the chrysalides began to turn dark-coloured, and the first perfect 

 example emerged on February 7th. About the same time, the larvaj, 

 which had remained passive, commenced to feed and are rapidly 

 progressing towards maturity." This led me to write to Mr. 

 Carpenter, and in reply to some queries I put to him, he said: — 

 " With reference to P. e</eria, I may say, that for some little time past 

 I have been at a loss to understand its habits. The non-hybernators 

 (i.e., those that did not hybernate aslarvfe), as you suggest, pupated in 

 November, the portion of the pupa3 that I left out of doors emerged in 

 March and April, and all emerged with but one or two exceptions. The 

 other portion of these pupas, which were kept indoors all the winter, 

 emerged towards the end of February, but nearly all were cripples. This 

 may have been through an unfortunate mishap to the box they were 

 in, during the moving from Streatham to Sutton. The pup» got very 

 considerably shaken and no doubt injured. The wings seemed to be 

 properly formed, but the insects were quite incapable of holding on 

 to anything, and so the wings did not properly develop. The larvae 

 that hybernated pupated as usual, and emer.ged a little later than the 

 pupjB that were kept out of doors. As I still have this species under 

 notice, it will be well to see what results are obtained from another 

 winter ; but, at the same time, I feel certain that the species will pass 

 through the winter in either the larval or pupal stage." Of course, 

 the winter of 1895-6 was most abnormal, and not at all colder than 

 is the month of October in many years. Still there is here good 

 jiriiiia facie evidence that we have a butterfly, whose normal habit is 

 to hybernate as a larva, but which can, under certain conditions, do 

 so as a pupa. If so, the fact is most interesting. — J. W. Tutt. 

 Awjmt, 1896. 



Htrernation of Pykameis atalanta. — I agree with you in the opinion 

 {ante, p. 98) that Fi/raiiieis atalanta cannot hybernate as a pupa in Eng- 

 land ; my reason being that I never found that the pupa could survive 

 a long exposure to winter temperature. — F. Mkrrifield, F.E.S., 24, 

 Vernon Terrace, Brighton. 



@rURRENT NOTES. 



We apologise most humbly for the annoyance and inconvenience 

 to which our subscribers were put last month, owing to being charged 

 excess postage on No. 6. Before starting for our holidays, the various 

 parts which make up the Magazine were weighed on ordinarij scales, 

 and appeared to be within the weight allowed. Finding, on our 



