ascertained the situation of the wood when collecting. I unfortunately 

 omitted to make a note at the time, and he himself afterwards forgot, but said 

 he would find out for me again. Not knowing of his illness, I wrote the day 

 before his death to remind him, and it was a great shock to me to hear in 

 reply that he was gone. His constant readiness with help and advice on any 

 point in Entomology endeared him to all of us. 



I require this information for my next book — on tlie British Myrmeco- 

 philous Fauna — as I have variovis records of ants' nest beetles from Birch 

 Wood. — Horace Donihthorpe. 



Abraxas grossulariata var. albovarleyata. — I liavc recently added to my 

 series of Abraxas grossulariata a very beaiitiful, and as a variety, I have no 

 doubt uniqiie, example of the species. It was bred in May last by Mr. J. Lee, 

 of this town, from a pairing of the variety varleyata, obtained from wild 

 larvae collected in a garden in this district in the spring of the previous year. 

 About fifty specimens were bred from the brood, all typical varleyata except 

 this specimen, although the brood generally showed proportionately consider- 

 ably more white in the usual wing-rays of the S than in any other brood I 

 have seen, several of the specimens being exceptionally fine in this respect. My 

 specimen differs from tlie typical varleyata $ in that tlu' hind wings are en- 

 tirely white with the exception of the veins, and a series of four mai-ginal spots 

 (one between each of the basal wing veins), and a few almost lannoticeable 

 freckles, all of intense black. The fore-wings, besides the usual white shoulder 

 band, have a series of seven large oblong-squai-e white marks on the outer 

 margin, separated from each other by black streaks ; and there are also two 

 parallel short streaks of white just antei'ior to the middle of the black central 

 area. The form probably represents the extreme form of varleyata in the pale 

 direction, and I think var. albovarleyata is an approjjriate name for it. — Geo. T. 

 PoRRiTT, Dalton, Huddcrsfield : March 5th, 1917. 



Note on the habits of the Tropical American Fulgorid, Pterodictya ephemera 

 F. — In Distant's enumeration of the Central American Fulgoridae, it is stated, 

 on my a\ithority, in connection with the habits of this species (Biol. Centr.-Am., 

 Rhynch. Homopt., i, p. 38, Nov. 1887), that it was sometimes fovmd four or five 

 specimens together on tree-trunks in the forest, the tree in question having the 

 trunk closely studded with long sharp sjiines, between which the insect rests, 

 thus adding to the difficulty of captux-e, as it immediately flew off when 

 approached. This tree was not identified at the time, but it can now be stated 

 that it was Bombax fendleri Seem. (Bombaceae), one of two species recently 

 placed under a new generic name, Bombacopsis, by H. Pittier (Contribs. U.S. 

 Nat. Herb., Vol. 18, Pt. 4, 1916), whose excellent photographic plates (74 and 

 75, loc. cit.) at once reminded me of this remarkable Fulgorid, of which I cap- 

 tured many examples in the State of Panama in the early 'eighties. Its large 

 size, talc-like tegmina, etc., and the pei'pendicular spiral flight, render P. ephemera 

 a very striking insect. StoU figured and described it in 178S, under the name 

 " La Cigale Demoiselle," from a specimen from Surinam. — G. C. Champion, 

 Horsell, Woking : March ISth, 1917. 



