5^ tHE entomologist's RECORl). 



likely to prove misleading. Talking at Mr. Eobson [E.M.M., xxxii., 



p. 267), he asserts that the latter laboured under the disadvantage of 

 not having seen the enormous series exhibited by Mr. Tutt and Mr. 

 Henderson, " in which the arbitrary nature of the separation of the 

 two forms into species seemed to be evident." Apart from the fact 

 that Mr. Robson has stayed with me, and overhauled my collection at 

 leisure, I would point out that, of the thousand or more examples com- 

 prising every conceivable form of variation of both species obtainable, ex- 

 hibited by Messrs. Henderson, Mera and myself, there was not a smgle 

 specimen that we had the slightest difference of opinion about as to 

 which species it belonged, and it is surely too late in the day to talk 

 about " arbitrary separation " of species in the light of our present 

 knowledge.] 



j^CIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Habits of the CocHLiopoDm moths. A query. — I know nothing of 

 the habits of the imago of lletcrivjcm'a asella, except that, when breeding 

 the species, one finds that it copulates at mid-day, and that unless 

 one kills and sets the specimens at once, they Hy about the 

 breeding cage in the afternoon, and very soon spoil themselves. The 

 male of Apada [LiniacoiJes'j liiiianidcs (^tcstudu), however, flies wnldly in the 

 hottest sunshine, in July, above the tall undergrowth in our Kentish 

 woods. The female is lethargic, and is usually obtained when 

 " beating," falling down like a little lump of brown clay to the ground. 

 Barrett says of this species: — "The moth frequents oak woods, and 

 doubtless flies at night. In the daytime it is rather sluggish, sitting 

 in oak trees — young ones especially — among the leaves, and is readily 

 disturbed by jarring the tree, when it usually darts to the ground, and 

 there shams death, but if touched becomes excessively restless " {Brit. 

 Lep., vol. ii., pp. 171-172). Meyrick says the species of this family 

 " fly by night, and are retired in habit." Of course, the insects maij 

 fly by night, but the general incorrectness of these statements, so far 

 as they relate to the latter species in Kent, leads me to ask for 

 information on this point. — J. W. Tutt. 



:^OTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARY^, &c. 



Aplecta prasina from ovum to imago in seven months. — On 

 June 18th, last year, I boxed a worn specimen of A. prasina (Jwrhida) 

 on a tree in Jones' Enclosure, Lyndhurst. It laid eggs the same 

 evening, and the young larvae emerged in about a week's time. They 

 fed at first on dock, later on plantain or dock indifferently. As they 

 developed very rapidly after the beginning of September, I began to 

 think, if the weather continued mild, they might not intend tohybernate 

 at the larval stage, ^^'ith this idea I introduced lettuce leaves, and 

 tender carrots into the breeding pan, keeping the larvae cool, but 

 indoors. They now increased in size very rapidly, and at the end of 

 October began to disappear under the cocoanut fibre which lined the 

 bottom of their abode. In the middle of November they were brought 

 into my study, where there was a fire all day, and on December 6th, 

 the first imago is-sued from the pupa, while many larvfe were still 

 feeding. The last larva disappeared beneath the fibre on Christuuis- 



