NOTES ON COLLECTING. 83 



loecras, Com. The true jiiwaom, 111., is not found in the Seine 

 basin. 



Aphthona non-striata, Goeze, is not found on the Continent with 

 <lark legs and antennae ; with us it is the common form. A. atratida, of 

 the Cat. and Fowler, becomes atro-virens, Forst. Our insect certainly 

 does not agree with Allard's description of atratida ; it occurs here 

 freely on thyme. The genus Jjatophila becomes (ihiptina, Le Conte. 

 Spliaeroderma tcstacetiiii, F., and cardui, Gyll., being considered 

 synonymous, the teataceum of ¥ovi\ev=riibiduiii, Graells. Mantxra 

 mattlieicai, Curt., var. aeraria, Foud. (with blue elytra), is var. dicliroa, 

 Bed. {noiH. nov.). Ochrosis salicariae, Pk., of the C3it. = Li/thraria 

 salicariac, Pk., Bedel having created a new genus to receive it. He 

 follows Foudras and Weise in further subdividing the old genus 

 Crcpidodcra ; thus ('. rmtralh, 111., becomes Ochrods ventralU^lW., and 

 <.'. nijipes, h.—Dennrepis n{fip('s, L. The genus of the metallic species 

 becomes C/ialcoUles, Foud., the specific names having the following 

 alterations — helxines, Ij.=aurea, Geoff. ; Moris, Fon([.=2)li(tH.'<, Latr. ; 

 and smarai/dina, Fond. — fidvicornis, F. Chaetocncma arithda, Gyll., is 

 said to be very common, but it is a rare species here. ('. Iiortensis has 

 the old name of aridella, Pk., restored. It seems doubtful if the 

 confitsa, Boh., of our collections is identical with Bedel's species, which 

 is described as " blackish-bronze." 



Dibolia c>jnoiilot>fii, Koch, recently reinstated as British by Mr. H. 

 Donisthorpe, is said to feed on Stachi/a recta, according to Kutschera. 

 Neither Pai/llioden fijanoptera. 111., nor P. Inridipcnnis, Kuts., appears to 

 occur in the Seine basin. P.cuprea, of the catalogue =/*crfcrtcrt/, Foud. 

 (JassUla mnrraea=niurra>ii , L., the green form being var. uiacidata, L. 

 ('. sanuuinolenta, "F.," should be " Miill." C cJdorU, tinf^v. =j)rasina, 111. 

 f'. siibfcrrwiinea, Schr., appears to equal ferriifpnea, Goeze (nee L.). 

 M. Bedel gives the following characters to separate rittata, Vill., from 

 Hobilis, L. : — 



Facial grooves forming a V, of which the branches commence at the insertion 

 of the antennae ; thorax scarcely less shiny than the elytra, convex 

 behind. C. vittatn, Vili. 



Facial grooves almost in the form of a Y, their two branches in part united 

 on the median line ; thorax very dull, not convex behind. C. iiobilis, L. 



It would be premature to offer an opinion on a large number of 

 these changes. The effect of them in modifying the British list may 

 well form the subject of future enquiry. 



:^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Pyrameis cardui in 1903. — I think Mr. ]\IcLachlan {P!nt. Mo. 

 Ma;/.) is right about Pi/raiiwis cardui. The butterflies were abundant 

 about Vienna in the autumn of 1903. It is well known here, 

 too, that it is a great migrant. A very large number of larvte was 

 collected, but they were nearly all ichneumoned. Probably next year 

 the butterflies will be rare. — A. HiRscmiE, Wien. Janjianj %th, 1904. 



British Alucitides. — LiFE-msTORiES and habits. — Little by little 

 our material on the British plumes is accumulating, but it is on 

 a remarkably small number of species. Many of our lepidopterists 

 will find Pterophorns inonodacti/la as soon as the sallows are out, 

 probably before. Eggs are wanted badly ; there is no description of 

 which we know extant, and either the eggs, notes thereon, or living $ s. 



