SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 89 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



A STATISTICIAN WANTED. — I should like to draw attention to what 

 would be exceedingly valuable in reference to the records of captures, 

 double-broodedness, and many other phenomena. It is that there should 

 be prepared a statement of the weather, showing earliness or lateness of 

 the seasons for say thirty or fifty years back. Anyone who is a Fellow of 

 the Meteorological Society can get all the particulars. What is 

 wanted are the temperature, rainfall and sunshine for each month for 

 Greenwich or Kew, and, if possible, some station in or near York 

 and Aberdeen, and perhaps South Wales ; with general remarks on 

 the earliness or lateness of season (spring and summer), as showing 

 by budding or blossoms, or appearance of certain insects, very true to 

 season, in their exclusion from pupa. It would be invaluable for 

 many biological purposes. The stations selected should be near sea- 

 level. There is a reputation to be earned by any trustworthy person 

 who would do this work. — F. Merrifield, F.E.S., 24, Vernon 

 Terrace, Brighton. 



:]^OTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARV^, &c. 



Bearing Polia xanthomista var. nigrocincta from the egg. — 

 With regard to the rearing of P. var, nvjvocincta, I failed completely 

 in 1896, as have all your correspondents, but in 1895, under different 

 conditions, I was successful in breeding two examples of the moth. 

 The larvae were kept in the open on potted plants of the narrow- 

 leaved plantain, gathered on the shore near here. — F. G. Whittle, 

 3, Marine Avenue, Southend. March, 1897. 



A note not having appeared in reply to Mr. Christy's in- 

 quiry as to whether anyone has had success in rearing the above 

 species from ova [Ent. Bee, viii., p. 241), I think it only just to Mr. 

 Murray to record mine, which, although not great, may be an 

 encouragement to others to try again, and do still better. In 1895, 

 Mr. Murray kindly sent me, as a present, two dozen ova ; twenty duly 

 hatched, the larvae feeding very slowly on a species of sallow, with 

 small and hard leaves ; the whole twenty eventually entering the soil 

 in their breeding cage. On Sept. 2nd, two moths emerged, and a third 

 on the 7th. As no more appeared during the following fortnight, the 

 earth was turned out, when it was found to contain three pupa-skins 

 and seventeen dead larvae. — B. A. Bower, F.E.S., Lee, Kent. 

 March, 1897. 



Food-plant of Lasiocampa callun^e. — At St. Bees, last September, 

 I noticed large numbers of L. callunae feeding on the flowers of 

 stunted gorse on the sea-coast. So abundant were they that some 

 hundreds might have been collected in an hour. I had never seen 

 them so abundant before. — A. Robinson, B.A., F.E.S., Sylvanhoe, 

 Chislehurst. 



Descriptions of Lepidopterous eggs [(Jontinuecl from p. 61). — 

 Dicycla ooS' — The egg of this species is the most aberrant Noctuid 

 egg that I have observed. It is of a honey-yellow colour, and looks 

 almost spherical to the naked eye. It is attached by the base in 



* On pointing out the peculiar egg of this species, Mr. Bacot informed me that the 

 head of the mature larva of D. oo is also aberrant, being somewhat square in shape, 

 find notched like that of Apatela aceris. 



