i^CIKNTrPlC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 183 



composed chiefly of the dead needles of the tree. Both sexes of this moth 

 will come in freely to light. P.S. — Since writing the above I have found 

 that a colony of these moth-larvas have taken possession of a deserted 

 nest of Vcspa sylrcstris, which I had been watching. This wasp is an 

 eariy builder, and the queens and males fly out at the beginning of 

 August. The nest — which was in a cavity of a stump, a few inches 

 inside was a small one, and it is difficult to imagine what the larvae 

 could feed upon, there being no honey or wax.— W. H. Tuck, M.A,, 

 Tostock House, Bury St. Edmunds. Aur/ust 15th, 1896. 



Ova attacked by Ichneumons. — I have lately had two more in- 

 stances of ichneumoned ova. (1) Some large ova discovered on a 

 piece of clean stick, possibly Boinhi/.v rubi, each egg contained a 

 number of small Ichneumon flies. This side branch of our science 

 appears particularly interesting when one comes to think of the mar- 

 vellous instinct which guides so small a fly, first to find the ova, and 

 secondly to place the right number of eggs within each ovum, so that 

 each larva shall be provided with suflicient nutriment to bring it to 

 maturity. (2) This was a batch of small ova on the underside of 

 Avillow, each ovum only producing a single fly. Surrounded as they 

 are in every stage by numberless enemies, it is indeed wonderful how 

 the lepidopterous insect ever arrives at perfection, and its race per- 

 petually continued ; true, some have become extinct, persecuted by 

 collectors, and possibly finished by Ichneumonides. — C. Bingham 

 Newland, Killetra, Mallow, co. Cork. Aui/uM, 1896. [Other cases 

 are recorded, Ent. Rfcoril, vol. v., p. 253, vol. vi., pp. 32 & 33, &c.— Ed]. 



The type of Ledereria. — A recent study of the species of 

 Luperina, Lederer (nee Boisduval), and the literature has brought me 

 to the conclusion that the type of Ledereria, Grote, 1874, must be 

 considered to be rirens. The contents of the genus Luperina, of 

 Lederer, comprise the types of at least three distinct genera. Accord- 

 ing to my researches, the type of Celaena, Stephens, would be 

 haworthii. — A. Radcliffe Grote, M.A., Roemer Museum, Hildesheim. 



^^ARI ATION. 



Capture of the black aberration of Limenitis sibylla. — While col- 

 lecting in the New Forest, on June 27th, I captured a splendid speci- 

 men of the black variety of L. aihijlla. — H. Broughton, 17, Riverdale 

 Road, Plumstead, Kent. August At/i, 1896. 



The black aberrations of Limenitis sibylla. — In working out the 

 variation of this species for my recently published work, British 

 ButterjUes, I found that the specimens which we know collectively 

 as " the black variety" of L. sibi/lla are divided into three distinct 

 aberrational groups on the Continent. The narrow-banded form is 

 the ab. angustata, Stdgr. The form in Avhich the band is reduced to 

 separate spots is ab. staenotaenia, Honr., whilst the wholly black form 

 is the ab. ninrata, Weym. It would be well if the correct name were 

 applied to future records. — J. W. Tutt. 



AitKRRATioNs ofTkyphaena pronuba. — Failing other species at sugar, 

 I have been collecting the various forms of T. pronuba at sugar, 

 and the following notes upon them may be of interest. (1) Pronuba, 

 Linn. — Very rare. I took one very small specimen in 1893, and a 

 second of the ordinary size with a dark reniform and very slightly 



