1896 IgQ 



pallens seema to agree with what Hubner called L. ecfypa." Mr. Barrett can 

 hardly have compared the specimen he describes with Hiibner's figure, which is 

 particiilarl}' characterised by the presence of these white lines. " Hiibner's fig. 231 

 has the anterior wings of a bright reddish-ochreous with pale nervures, no central 

 dot, two dots in outer row, one just below the third branch of the median nervure. 

 Hind-wings whitish-grey, with a dark grey shade parallel to the hind margin. 

 Dr. Staudinger describes it as ' Alee anteriores rufae.' I have many specimens in my 

 long series almost like Hiibner's figure. The development of the grey shade on the 

 hind margin into a transverse band is rarely very distinct in British examples. This 

 is treated by Guenee as a distinct species in his Noctuelites, v, p. 94. I have speci- 

 mens from Howth, Deal, Aberdeen, Rotherham, Strood, and Forres " {British 

 NoctucB and their Varieties, vol. i, p. 41). 



I have also a suspicion, after carefully studying Mr. Barrett's desc-ription of the 

 supposed new Leucania from the Suffolk (or Essex?) coast, that it is identical with 

 that I have already described as an aberration of L. impura, under the name of 

 punctilinea {Ibid, p. 40).— J. W. Tutt, Westcombe Hill, S.E. : May ind, 1896. 



[Possibly I may not be quite accurate with regard to the ecti/pa of Hiibner. I 

 am not so fortunate as to possess his great work; and have not had time just 

 recently to consult a copy. With regard to the wove\\y—L.favicolor — I should be 

 sorry indeed to pay Mr. Tutt so poor a compliment as to suggest that he had 

 mistaken it for a variety of L. impura. — C. Q-. B.] 



Flies riding on beetle-hack. — Across the mouth of the Seybonse, on sandy 

 pasture land bordering the seashore, big coprophagous beetles are common, sheltering 

 in large holes in the soil when at rest, and running about on business. A small 

 species of Borborince may often be seen riding on their backs, chiefly on the prono- 

 tum and about the bases of the elytra — sometimes half-a-dozen females on or.e 

 beetle. The beetles occasionally throw themselves over on their backs to try and 

 get rid of them by rolling; but the flies elude all their efforts to dislodge them, 

 dodging out of harm's way into the joinings of the thorax and out again, and 

 darting from back to breast and back again, in a way that drives the beetle nearly 

 mad. In vain she scrapes over them with her legs ; in vain does she roll over or 

 delve down amongst the roots of the herbage ; the flies are as active as monkeys, 

 and there is no shaking them off. It is difficult to get them off into the killing 

 bottle ; nothing persuades them to fly ; and they would very much rather stick to 

 the beetle than be driven off it down into the tube. — A. E. Eaton, B6ne, Algeria : 

 May 9th, 1896. 



Stylops meliitcB at Leatherhead. — On April 18th I caught in our garden a fine 

 specimen of iS. melittoe. It had a very curious flight, somewhat resembling that of 

 a burnet moth, and was very lively in the pillbox. — C. A. Bkiggs, 55, Lincoln's Inn 

 Fields: May I8th, 1896. 



The " Bower Collection." — Entomologists will be pleased to hear that the 

 " Power Collection " has been acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum, and 



