1886.] 165 



and if captured, continue to do so into the hand or into the box. But now and then, — 

 I made the observation six times in four evenings — and from the number of ovipositing 

 $ , I have no doubt I was a day or two late, a ? moth coui'ses along in a wilder 

 manner, buzzes against or collides with, or appears to do so, a hovering male and 

 settles as soon as her impetus is exhausted, on the grass a few feet in advance ; the 

 male, so challenged, follows almost simultaneously and settles immediately on the 

 same spot. 



On one occasion I had half a dozen ^ humuli in view ; of these, one was within 

 two yards of me, another three or four yards further, and two more close together were 

 further and a little to the left. Of these last, one was a very diminutive specimen ; 

 a $ humuli came up with a dash to the S nearest me, but passed by within three or 

 four inches without attracting his attention, then went straight for the second, but 

 passed him by in the same manner, going for the two that hovered close together, 

 touched the diminutive one, and at once settled down with him a few feet further on. 

 This case emphasized two circumstances that I had already satisfied myself about, 

 viz : that the female makes an actual selection, and that she actually strikes against 

 the selected male. It also appeared that she had committed a serious error in selecting 

 the smallest specimen of the four, and doing so apparently with decided intention. 

 It has occurred to me, however, that the two moths hovering together were mistaken 

 for one very large specimen ; the silvery brightness of the (? is no doubt what the ? 

 is attracted by, and an excess of this must be a determining point, and this may 

 account for the decided tendency observed to two cJ hovering together, or sometimes 

 even three. One is tempted to theorise as to the diminutive antennae being correlated 

 with the (J not having to find the ? (by scent ?), but the habits of other members of 

 the family must be better known first. 



When the twenty minutes of suitable light have elapsed, any male under obser- 

 vation flutters down into the grass, closes his wings and creeps down to the roots, and 

 by the time one is satisfied that a secure hiding place till the next period of flight 

 is his only object, it is found that all other specimens have also disappeared — the 

 increasing darkness renders it impossible to say certainly whether all the $ , which 

 are now very inconspicuous on the wing, act in a similar manner, and I have not been 

 heroic enough to ascertain whether or no another flight takes place in the morning 

 twilight. — T. A. Chapman, Binghill, Hereford : November 11th, 1886. 



Note on Aleurodes vaporariorum, Westw. — On May 18th, in Mr. Stainton's 

 forcing-pit, the leaves of cucumber plants (Cucumis sativusj were in a state of dilapi- 

 dation from the attacks of larvae of Aleurodes vaporariorum ; these having success- 

 fully passed through that transitory stage, and then that of pupa, had emerged in 

 the unspotted whiteness of their perfect condition, and existed in great abundance 

 on and flying about the plants. The under-side of the leaves was to a great extent 

 covered by the empty pupa skins and a few larvae, all tightly adherent ; the rest of 

 the space being mostly occupied by Dactylopius destructor in all stages of growth 

 {cf. p. 154 ante), efiicient assistants, if not prime movers in the havoc, leaving only 

 small portions of the leaf free of tenants. In a microscope, under a half-inch objective, 

 the larvae with their projecting, glassy, transparent tubes on the circumference, and 

 the very long, hair-like and extremely brittle ones on the back, so characteristic of 

 the species, are wonderfully beautiful objects, or as Signoret not unaptly says (/. c), 

 " Cette magnifique espece." 



