SCIKNTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 235 



Attractiveness of LKmT.— The discussion on the attractiveness 

 of light brings forward a subject of great interest, and one which is 

 also very puzzling, as everyone who has paid the least attention to the 

 matter can testify. As far as this district is concerned, I have not 

 found light by any means a productive method of collecting, but this 

 may be in part caused by the number of street lamps, etc., causing 

 the attractive power to be too much difi'used. A moth trap was kept 

 going three or four nights a week during the summer of last year, but 

 the result was practically nil, although the lamp employed was a 

 fairly powerful one, and the ray of light had a clear range over about 

 half a mile of hillside covered with gardens. It is the exception to 

 see moths in any numbers settling upon, or even flying around, the 

 street lamps in the immediate neighbourhood. So far, two gas jets 

 in a room with an open wnndow have been found the most productive, 

 but even then, four nights out of five turn out blank, although the 

 conditions may be identical. A curious instance of the attractiveness 

 of light came under my notice only a short time ago. On the evening of 

 June 22nd, the house was illuminated by means of a number of 

 " fairy " (sometimes called "bucket") lamps. These were alight for 

 about four hours on that night only, and when they were removed, a 

 few days after, I was somewhat surprised to find a number of moths 

 in nearly all of them. The amount of light given by lamps of this 

 kind is very small, so the brightness could not have been the attrac- 

 tion, but it would seem to suggest that coloured light — green, blue, etc., 

 more particularly blue — is more attractive than ordinary light. Has 

 the attractiveness of coloured light ever been investigated exhaus- 

 tively ? It certainly seems worthy of attention. Another question is. 

 Why is light attractive to the males only of so many species ? Mr. 

 Bowles' contention that white- or light-coloured flowers are more at- 

 tractive is distinctly contrary to my limited experience. To give only one 

 instance: In the garden there is a patch of Kiiilohiiu)} aniinstifdliiitn, the 

 flowers are scentless (to the human olfactory sense, at any rate), purple 

 in colour, and therefore invisible after dark. Near by there is plenty 

 of (Knothcra biennis, the flowers strongly scented, and pale enough in 

 colour to be distinguished with ease at any time during a summer 

 night, yet for every moth visiting (E. biennis, at least twenty come to 

 K. ani/ustifoliwn. Other instances of moths visiting flowers which 

 are not white- or even light-coloured enough to be conspicuous, might 

 be multiplied indefinitely, which proves that in a large majority of 

 instances, where flowers are concerned, moths are attracted, not by 

 colour, but by scent. — W. Groveb, Cxuildford. Juli/ dt/i, 1897. 



:i5^0TES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARVAE, &c. 



Description of Lepidopterous eggs. — Pygaern hucepliahi. — The 

 Bgit, forms about two-thirds of a sphere, and is attached by its 

 flattened end. The basal half green in colour, the upper portion 

 opaque white, the green and white areas being sharply separated 

 from each other. The micropylar area consists of a green circular 

 area placed at the apex of the egg. It is scarcely a depression, so 

 shallow is it. It is covered with large oval cells with shiny raised 

 edges, these cells forming three concentric rings around the central 

 stellate point forming the true micropyle. This consists of six fine 



