294 THE entomologist's record. 



it makes no special floor in constructing its cocoon. — E. S. Harrison, 

 Josnes, Loir-et-Cher, France. 



^^ ARI ATI ON. 



TiLIACEA (XaNTHIA) AURAOO AND ITS ABERRATIONS. AmOHg the T. 



annujo that I have taken this year are some ahnost scarlet in colour, 

 and not of an orange tint at all. I have found that the ab. rirgata ap- 

 pears first, whilst the ab. fncata does not appear until quite a week later, 

 and the numbers of these aberrations are then respectively about 

 7 per cent, and 10 per cent, of the number caught. The ab. virgata 

 is more common by far than the typical form, as described in the 

 British Noctuae and their Varieties. — (Mrs.) E. C. Bazett, F.E.S., 

 Springfield, Reading. October, 1897. 



Plebeius ^gon var. CORSICA IN WESTMORELAND. — The beautiful var. 

 Corsica of P. aegon was again captured this year on our Westmoreland 

 Fen. There is no trefoil within a considerable distance of the locality in 

 which they occur, but they are found among a very low species of rush, 

 about three inches high. — H. Murray, Lowbank Villas, Carnforth. 

 [We are much indebted to Mr. Murray for a very fine series of this 

 insect ; the females are very beautiful indeed. The form only occurs 

 as a very rare aberration in the haunts of P. aegon, in our southern 

 counties. — Ed.] 



PoLYOMMATUS (Plebeius) zephyrus VAR. LYCiDAS. — Trapp (Bepovt 

 Siviss Eat. Soc, I., 103) places this LycEenid as an intermediate form 

 between Plebeius aegon and P. argiis. Judging from the two speci- 

 mens I was fortunate enough to capture, I should be inclined to think 

 it much nearer to Poh/ommatns cori/don. However, I did not take 

 the male, though I know it to be a rather more important insect than 

 either the above. The locality for P. hjcidas on the Simplon is well 

 known to local collectors, but as it produces the species in great pro- 

 fusion, there is no immediate prospect of extermination. I found the 

 food-plant. Astragalus, growing freely at the spot indicated to me by 

 collectors at Berisal, but I was fully a fortnight late, and the two 

 females I took were in a wasted condition, one so much so that I did not 

 keep her. The little white eggs laid on the woolly leaves of the Astra- 

 galus were already (August 3rd) hatched out, and on one plant I dis- 

 covered tiny louse-shaped larvae, which I have no doubt were those of 

 this interesting species. They were pale green, with a yellowish 

 lateral stripe. I only know of one other locality in Switzerland 

 besides that on the Simplon, somewhere near Visp, at the entrance of 

 the valley leading to Zermatt and Saas Fee, where Mr. Standen, 

 writing in the Entomologist (vol. xxiii., p. 57), mentions that he took 

 a single specimen, in July, 1885. As, however, he records a capture 

 on the Gemmi, on the opposite side of the Rhone Valley, I am led to 

 think the species may be more widely distributed than the text-books 

 admit. — H. Rowland Brown, M.A., F.E.S., Oxhey Grove, Harrow- 

 Weald. 



:]p>RACTICAL HINTS. 



Field Work for November and December. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 

 1. — The cocoon of Kotodonta trepida is to be found in November, at 

 the roots of oak, It prefers a sandy soil. 



