CURRENT NOTES. 2? 



after the time, Cidaria tnmcata or C. imtnanata (I do not know 

 which) was common on the ling liowers, and 'J'n'ji/iosa dubitata was 

 present in smaller numbers. I tried beating for larva? both in August 

 and September, but in vain. An average of twelve larvae per hour, 

 all of the commonest species, is not good enough to make one go on 

 long. Towards the end of September, however, I found t'lieaiaa 

 rnfata larvffi not uncommon, and there were a good many imagines 

 of (.'. spartiata about. From October 15th-27th I sugared on a good 

 many nights in the New Forest in spite of water above and below, 

 with a result of fifteen X>/lena socia, eighteen A', nrnithojtits, two 

 ('alo('a)iijio c.voleta, two Veridroma saiicm, one Hadena jirotea, one 

 Aviphi/pra pyraiiiidea, and swarms of A'/riopis oprilina, about 40 

 Ortluma niacilenta, and half-a-dozen (J. lota. Except of A', tiocia, 

 these numbers represent about 20 per cent, of what I saw last year. 

 H. protea was abundant last year, almost absent this. Cidaria psittacata 

 appeared in small numbers this year, but was almost absent last year. 

 This year I worked ten nights, last year fourteen nights, from October 

 2nd-18th, beginning a fortnight earlier and ending a week earlier than 

 last year. I was told that beating in the forest for larvfe this autumn 

 was an utter failure. For the second time I have tried forcing larvie 

 of Arctia caia, and again have bred about 100, all of which might 

 almost have been marked with one stencil. The only attempt at 

 variation has been that one has got a pinkish ground in the primaries 

 instead of white. — F. C. Woodforde, B.A., Market Drayton. October 

 SOtJi, 1903. 



Tephrosia bistortata in Yorkshire. — With reference to my local 

 form of Te/ihrotiia bistortata, which Mr. Tutt says resembles the Perth- 

 shire specimens, I may mention that it was very scarce this year, 

 three or four visits to its localities resulting in only about ten specimens, 

 all of the dark aberration. The first two examples were taken at 

 Kildale on May 16th, and, on May 23rd, at Eston, I took five or six. 

 Last year, in the same localities, I could have taken the insect in 

 numbers ; larch and fir are the principal trees in the localities in 

 which I take 2\ bistortata, and they are situated at an elevation of 

 between 700ft. -800ft. above sea-level. — T. A. Lofthouse, Middles- 

 borough. Novewber 19th, 1903. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Proportion of males and females in a brood of reared butter- 

 flies. — I was somewhat surprised that, in a batch of eggs laid by 

 Mycalesis subdita, there resvilted 12 <3^s.and 27 ^ s. Can any one tell 

 me what is usually the proportion of the sexes resulting from a batch 

 of eggs laid by the same female butterfly? I shall also be glad of 

 references to literature showing that a male butterfly can successfully 

 impregnate a second female. — N. Manders (Major-Surgn.), 7, Salisbury 

 Terrace, Stoke, Devonport. December Qth, 1903. 



@^URREN T NOTES. 



At the meeting of the Entora. Soc. of London, held on November 

 18th, 1903, Professor Poulton said that, during the past summer, he 



