288 THE kntomologist's rkcoud. 



on the abdominal segments, give the young larva its characteristic 

 appearance. After the first larval moult, the ends of these bands on 

 the meso- and post-thoracic segments become very much lighter, and 

 upon the larva attaining its adult stage, these cream-coloured ends are 

 left as disconnected spots, due to the loss of the orange transverse 

 bands, or their obliteration by the dorsal hairs. Young larvae of 

 Odonestis potaturia possess similar bright yellow spots in the same 

 position, but, in this species, they are clearly marked as spots in 

 the first skin, and, although clearly marked in the fourth skin, have 

 not undergone, and do not undergo, any further development, at least 

 before hybernation. 



I was making some observations on the larva of L. tjucn-i'is in 

 August, 1896, and I was greatly puzzled as to the probable significance 

 of these spots, but, whilst examining larva? of French L. ijiwrciifi and 

 L. spartii, this autumn, I noticed that at or about the fourth stage, 

 the spots in question developed into a prominent white oval spot, with 

 rather pointed ends, and with a circular orange centre. This 

 combination of the two colours was too remarkable to be overlooked, 

 and they immediately called to my mind the manner in which the 

 ocellated spots on the larvae of Choerocampa elpenur are developed. 

 I at first thought that these spots on the larva of L. qiierciin might be 

 the remnants of identical ocellated spots transmitted from a common 

 ancestor, but on reference to my notes on the larva of ('. di/oior, I 

 found that the ocellated spots were situated on the first and second 

 abdominal segments from swellings in the sub-dorsal line, and not, 

 as in the larva of L. qiwrci'is, on the meso- and post-thoracic segments. 



I think, however, that the spots in question are really the 

 remnants of ocellated spots, that probably had a protective value as 

 warning markings in the ancestral larval form of L, cjuercih and 

 O. )H)tatoria ; and I would point out that imperfect or rudimentary 

 ocellated spots are present on the post-thoracic segment of both 

 C. elpenor and C. porcellm ; also that a large black ocellated spot, with 

 two blue pupils, is present on the third thoracic segment of the larva 

 of C. nerii, while the larvjB of Dcilepliila t/alii and D. euphorhiac have a 

 series of large yelloAvish spots on the sub-dorsal area of all the seg- 

 ments, from the meso-thorax to the eighth abdominal. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Aphomia sociella in bees' and wasps" nests {r'uie, luitc, p. 259- 

 260). — On August 13th I took the nest of Vespa ritfa — a rare wasp with 

 me — from a hole in a bank, formerly used by a mole, about a foot deep. 

 The top of the nest, which is composed of a tough grey paper, similar 

 to that used by V. si/lrestris, Avas full of ApJiomia larvje of various 

 sizes, but they had not attacked the interior of the nest, except one 

 tier of empty cells. 



Four days later, I took a large colony of Bomhux lapidarius out of a 

 rats' hole in a pig-stye. The bees lunl utilised the old rai's nest, com- 

 posed of hay, straw and bits of rags, stolen from the house, and had 

 deposited an immense quantity of honey in the empty cells. Here 

 the larvie swai-med in hundreds all over the nest, which had evidently 

 been selected foi- attack by more than one moth, and I found many 

 cells eaten through, and many dead bees spun up in the web, which 

 weighed just 18 ounces. 



