300 THE entomologist's kecord. 



" The usual period required, in the neighl)Ourhood of Morpeth, for 

 Jj. callunac to pass through its different transformations is two years. 

 The eggs are laid at the end of June, or beginning of July, and hatch 

 in from 10 to 18 days, according to temperature. The larva during 

 the winter is about an inch and a half long. The full-fed caterpillar 

 spins up in June or July, and, if the weather is very fine, a few 

 insects may occasionally emerge on the moors at the end of August ; 

 but the usual time of emergence is about the end of the third week in 

 June in the following year." Again, the specimens of B. callunac, 

 exhibited by Mr. C. Nicholson, in May last, were from ova laid in 

 July, the imagines emerging in November of the same year, a period 

 of about four months. 



(4). As to the food-plants, it is probable that ling is the most 

 natural food for B. callunac ; but I understand that Mr. C. Nicholson 

 obtained his specimens from a district where there was no ling. The 

 following note as to the food-plant of both B. ij nc re i if; and B. callunac, 

 by Mr. G. T. Porritt, is interesting. He writes:—"! have once or 

 twice been asked whether the larva of Ji. (jucrcim will eat heather, 

 and this season, having collected, on the Lancashire coast, a few larvfP 

 of that species, I supplied them with heather (Calhnia nihiarh), and 

 they immediately began feeding with apparent relish, although an 

 abundance of fresh hawthorn (on which they had previously fed) had just 

 been taken out of the cage. Of course, it is well known that rallwiae. 

 will eat almost anything that qncrcus will" {K.M.M., vi., p. 117). 

 Again, iMr. F. Hutchinson writes (7*;'.3/^.il/'., vii., p. 17) that B. callunac 

 will, in confinement, feed well upon ivy. Mr. 0. S. Wilson (K.M.M., 

 xix., p. 1G5) gives Portugal laurel as the food-plant of a larva of 

 J}, (picrcus, captured in May, when half-grown, reared to full growth 

 on this plant, spinning up on June 22nd, and emerging on August 

 17th, the same year (1882); whilst Mr. Elliot {E.M.M., xix., p. 237) 

 records the rearing of a fine series of B. qucrciiR var. callunac, the 

 larvfe being fed exclusively on poplar and hawthorn. Mr. Prideaux 

 [Ent. Rcc, v., p. 213) reared forty specimens of B. (jucrcushoni ova 

 laid in August, 1886, and fed throughout the following winter on 

 bramble. Mr. Pitman says [Ent. Rcc, vi., p. 34) that both 

 B. qucrciis and B. callunac feed on plum, whitethorn, blackberry, and 

 laurel. 



(5). I observe that Mr. Merrifield f Trani^. Ent. Soc. Land., 1892, 

 p. 39) talks of B. qiicrcus and B callunac as the "southern" and 

 " northern " forms respectively, and Captain Thompson says that 

 Mr. C. G. Barrett classes them as the " northern race" and "southern 

 race." This is deplorable, because it is so utterly misleading as to 

 actual facts. The distinction seems to be a matter of altitude, rather 

 than latitude or longitude, although the distribution of callunac in our 

 more northern latitudes, being usually in places that exhibit an in- 

 crease of altitude, the latitude, rather than the altitude, is apt to be 

 considered as the important factor ; but the high-lying moorlands of 

 the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Cornwall, Devon, Wales, etc., produce 

 B. callunac as marked in character as those from the Scotch moors ; 

 whilst Dumfries, Lancashire and Yorkshire, at the sea-level, produce 

 typical 7f/('>c/).s. Birchall says (E.M.M., iii., p. 35) that ^^ Jnnnhi/.r 

 quercus var. callunac is abundant in Ireland, and that he has not met 

 with the true qucrcus there." Hellins says that ^' qucrcus, of course, 



