244 I Septoinber, 



Some of the piipse I have obtained show a hanrlsome dead-gold glitter on the wing 

 cases, besides the dorsal metallic spots ; doubtless they would furnish interesting 

 material for some of the " protective resemblance " experiments with which Mr. 

 Poulton has made us familiar in the case of the other Vanessidre. The range of 

 valuation between the proportions of ash-grey and brown streaks on the pnpre is also 

 very striking. I should mention that the larvae of V. cardui were also to be found 

 commonly on nettle, on which plant the ova, larvae and pupae of V. Atalanta 

 abounded. On July 12th I met with the first fresh specimen of the latter insect, 

 netting it to make sure ; so that on that date the ova, larvae and pupae, and fresh 

 and hibernated imagines, were existing synchronously — a curious condition of 

 things.— R. M. Prtdeaux, 9, Vyvyan Terrace, Clifton, Bristol : August *lth, 1892. 



Occurrence of SyricMhua alveus. Huh., in England. — Several years ago, when 

 looking through the collection of the Rev. T. H. Marsh, of Cawston, Norfolk, I 

 noticed that his series of Sgrichthus alveolus, Hub., consisted of specimens larger 

 than any known to me, and sliglitly different in markings. Of these he very kindly 

 gave me two, and these I compared, as opportunity offered, with types of the other 

 European species of this very puzzling group. My difficulty was that they did not 

 agree precisely with any, being apparently intermediate between S. alveus and S. 

 serratulce. Finally, however, it became evident that my specimens were truly S. 

 alveus, and perhaps the difficulty experienced in deciding this point will appear less 

 remarkable in view of the fact that Continental authors are divided in opinion as to 

 whether S. serratulce, is, or is not, a variety of S. alveus. 



Mr. Marsh took all his specimens in a damp open valley bordering a wood, in 

 his own district, at the end of May or early in June, probably eighteen or twenty 

 years ago. He recollects distinctly that they were on the wing when he was taking 

 Sesia homhgliformis, also that he never saw the species except in that one year, yet 

 believing the specimens to be .S. alveolus, and therefore no rarities, he made no 

 memorandum of the circumstance, and thus has lost the date. 



It is worthy of remark here that S. alveolus is singularly local in Norfolk and 

 apparently absent from large portions of the county. Mr. Marsh tells me that he 

 never saw it in the district nor any that he supposed to be it except those under 

 notice. The only explanation of their occurrence which he suggests is that they may 

 have been the result of a migration, such as he observed in Vanessa Antiopa in a 

 subsequent year. It is difficult to suggest any other explanation, since it can hardly 

 be supposed that tlie species has existed as a settled inhabitant almost up to the 

 present time in a county like Norfolk, the favourite hunting ground of so many of 

 the earlier Entomologists of this country ; while, on the other hand, there is not a 

 shadow of doubt about the actual capture of the specimens in question. However 

 they may have arrived they failed to establish themselves, for, as already stated, 

 none were seen in subsequent years, and a strict search in the present season has 

 served only to demonstrate the fact that not a specimen remained. S. alveus is very 

 similar to S. alveolus, about one-eighth of an inch more in expanse of wings, and 

 with the wings proportionately broader ; of the same blackish-brown colour, but 

 less suffused with grey hairs ; with the cilia similarly chequered with black and 

 white, but with fewer white spots on the fore-wings, and those grouped together in 

 the outer half of the wings ; while the hind-wings have no white spots, but two 



