NOTES ON COLEOPTERA. 13 



often yields good things. Many beetles, especially the Palpicornia 

 and L'anUdae, although, when feasible, they prefer aquatic plants, in 

 their absence will often sit just at the water's level on the mud at the 

 side of the pond, and may be washed oft" by throwing water on the 

 mud, and, as it runs back, it will bring with it a host of little beetles, 

 all struggling in protestation, into the water, whence they may be 

 bottled at leisure. Of the mud beneath the water, and the curious, 

 complex, and varied forms of insect-organisms there to be met with, I 

 will say nothing ; merely trusting I have shown that another of 

 the barren places of the earth teems with life for those who care to 

 look for it. 



Contributions to tlie fauna of the Dauphine Alps. 



II. — The Moths of Le Lautaret. 

 By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



The moths received nothing like so much attention as the butterflies 

 ((■(■(/(', ante, vol. viii., p. 253 I't seq.) during my stay at Le Lautaret. 

 They are less easy, too, as a rule, to observe, and, being less familiar, 

 the peculiarities of their habits are apt to be more overlooked. 

 However, meagre as my notes are, I trust they will interest British 

 entomologists, especially those relating to what are also British species. 



INCOMPLETiE. ZYGMmnKS. — Procris heijdenreichii, Ld. — 

 Staudinger gives two species of this genus as inhabiting the Alps, viz., 

 P. statice.s var. heydenreicJdi and P. (/fri/oii \av. chri/socephala. I should 

 not like to have to say for certain that the large male and two small 

 females which I captured here were specifically identical with either of 

 these well-known British species. Certainly they are not P. geryon 

 var. chri/socephala, but they probably are referable to Lederer's var. 

 hey deny eichii, which is diagnosed by Staudinger as : — " Var. major, al. 

 ant. Cferuleis ; al. post, aterrimis." Whilst acknoAvledging this, it must 

 not be supposed that I do not strongly suspect that lieydenreieldi is specifi- 

 cally distinct from staticea. I observe that Staudinger notes — ''sp., 

 Darw. ?." Zyyaena exidans. — In the utmost profusion, even on the grass 

 plot on which the " dependance " of the Hospice is built. On the slopes 

 from 7,000 to 8,500 feet, the imagines were in incredible abundance, 

 whilst the cocoons were equally so on the stems of juniper, grass, and 

 everything else, indeed, on the mountain side. Sometimes five or six 

 cocoons were placed altogether, partly on one another, so abundant 

 were they. The cocoon is a very feeble structure compared with those 

 of the other species with which I had hitherto been familiar. On the 

 high skrees, 9,000 ft., the species was still abundant, but decidedly 

 smaller (as might be expected in such an inhospitable place), although 

 quite up to those from the lower and more luxuriantly clothed slopes, 

 in colour. The variation in the specimens is simply marvellous. The 

 following of the named forms appear to have been taken : — (1) The 

 type, in great abundance. (2) ab. vanadis (= ab. subochracea, V^h\ie) 

 rarer in the male than among the females. (3) ab. clara, decidedly 

 rare. (4) nh.flaeiUnea, moderately common.*'^ Besides these, I have 

 a number of specimens almost unpigmented, pallid in hue, the fore- 

 wings whitish, and the ordinary red spots very washed out in appear- 



* These forms are all fully described Ent. Rcc, vol. v., pp. 258-207. 



