148 THE entomologist's record. 



ever, these colours are broken up into various hues, the disposition of 

 the colours, as a result of the embryonic development, continuously 

 undergoing re-arrangement and distribution. Successive eggs ex- 

 amined give the following results : — (1) x\lmost uniform reddish - 

 brown, with pale apex. (2) Pale at apex and base, orange-red cen- 

 trally. (3) Creamy base, apical half blackish-grey. (4) Purplish, 

 with creamy ring round the shoulder of the egg. (5) Purplish-red, 

 much mottled, suggesting strongly the mottling shown in the Acro- 

 nyctid eggs, figured by Dr. Chapman {Ent. Rec, vol. ii., pi. 7 

 and 8). The egg is of the typical Noctuid shape, about three- 

 fourths of a compressed sphere, with 27 conspicuous longitudinal ribs 

 running from the base towards the apex. Of these, 13 reach the 

 micropylar area, the others terminating just before attaining so far. 

 Theoretically, the ribs should be alternately long and short, but 

 practically the arrangement is not quite constant ; occasionally two 

 short ribs are adjacent, and more rarely two long ones. A number 

 of fine transverse ribs (twelve betwee i the micropylar area and 

 equatorial region of egg) surround the egg parallel with the base, and 

 where these cross the longitudinal ribs, the latter get a wavy appear- 

 ance in the upper part of the egg, whilst lower down, in the equator 

 of the egg, the points of section of these two sets of ribs are dis- 

 tinctly knotted. The micropylar area is small, and is banded by a 

 circular ridge formed by the union of the longer longitudinal ribs, 

 which, however, sub-divide before uniting to form its margin. The 

 micropyle proper forms a tiny raised rosette (reminding one of the 

 appearance usually given in pictures to a sea-anemone with its ten- 

 tacles retracted) placed quite centrally in the space within the circular 

 ridge. [Eggs received from Mr. Eustace R. Bankes. Description 

 made April 30th, under a two-thirds lens] . — J. W. Tutt. 



On the trapezoidal tubercles of Saturnia. — I made the following 

 note on a young larva of S. panmia last May : The anterior pairs of 

 trapezoidals are developed to an immense size, and bear numerous 

 hairs ; the posterior pairs are very small, in fact, they can only be 

 seen with the aid of a microscope, and do not, so far as I can see, 

 bear any hairs. This is also the case with the trapezoidals of the 

 larva of Bomhijx juori in its 1st skin, the anterior trapezoidals being- 

 large and bearing four hairs, while the posterior pairs are very small, 

 and only bear one hair. This can be best seen on 1st abdominal. 

 I also noted that I could just make out a downy appearance which I 

 took to be a coat of spicules. Are not the lateral flanges a feature 

 in the larva of Afflia tau ! — A. Bacot, Bow House, Croydon. 



Cocoons of Craxiophora ligustri on privet. — \\'ith regard to your 

 note [cintc, p. 43), I used to take C. lUjnxtri in my father's garden 

 freely in the " sixties." It there fed on privet. 'I'here was a privet 

 hedge bordered by a stone wall. The larvft were abundant on the 

 privet, and the pup^e, in tough, but not hard, cocoons, under the 

 " toppers" of the wall.— (Rev.) E. Hallett Todd, M.A.,2, All Saints' 

 Villas, Cheltenham. 



Site for cocoons of Gnophria rubricollis.— I used to obtain 

 the pupa of this species in a slight cocoon, surrounded by an outer 

 covering of spider-like web, under the "topper" of a stone wall 

 which surrounded a fir plantation (larch, spruce and Scotch) ; the 

 larvaj feeding on the lichens of these trees, and probably on the 

 iichens of hawthorn which hung over the wall, — Ibid, 



