198 I'HE entomologist's KliCORl). 



tail) is here of precisely the same structure and appearance as those on 

 the forward segments. Further, there is, on the 5th abdominal segment, 

 that is, the one behind the dorsal pencils, almost always a fifth dorsal 

 pencil, usually ill-developed and abortive, sometimes almost rivalling 

 those in front, and almost always with at least some white hairs. 



The doubts w^hich I raised last year in my remarks on (>. aum- 

 linihata, as to whether I was correct in supposing the female of (K 

 sph'iulida gave the male any assistance in entering her cocoon, doubts 

 which I regarded as being probably very ill-founded, prove, nevertheless, 

 to be fully justified. My original observation on (>. splfiulida, made at 

 Tragacete, proves to have been quite accurate, but my conclusion that 

 the female was at work within the cocoon during the quiescence of the 

 male was unjustified. The observation of a large number of specimens 

 this year shows that up to a point the procedure of (>. splendid a S and 

 (). anroUitibata ^ , is identical, each tears at the surface of the female 

 cocoon with the tibial claws, till it finds the proper place (or a proper 

 place) for entry, and there (>. aurulinihata continues tearing till it 

 makes an actual hole. <>. splcndida, on the other hand, takes a firm 

 grip of the cocoon with the tibial claws and presses the head down on 

 the cocoon close in front of them, just as if there was already a tube 

 prepared, and then, though apparently quiescent, and certainly doing 

 no more tearing, it keeps up a steady pressure on the selected spot, 

 until the threads of the cocoon give way and allow a hole to form. 

 The threads of the cocoon appear to slip aside as the depression deepens 

 under the pressure. Unfortunately my observations Avere made by the 

 time I began to know what to look for on the weaker later specimens, 

 and on cocoons unnaturally placed, and more or less weak, so that I 

 still remain in doubt, whether a special point of the cocoon is selected 

 (the proper emergence end, if so) and whether the effect is produced 

 entirely by continuous pressure or whether any softening fluid is used 

 by the male. 



British Lepidoptera '. 



The fourth volume of the Xatiiral I listuri/ nf t/w Jliitlx/i I jpiddptna 

 maintains fully the high standard of the preceding volumes. In it the 

 Hphingides are concluded, and ofi'er to the lepidopterist a fresh mass 

 of material concerning the species treated both for study and reference. 

 In the preface the author maintains his position with regard to 

 synonymy against the innovation of Hampson, Rothschild, and Jordan, 

 who, as we understand it, ignoring the work of their predecessors as to 

 generic restriction, alter the generic names wholesale, on the plea that the 

 first species named by an author shall be considered the type of the genus. 

 As this mode of selection is contrary to all acknowledged rules we presume 

 that our author's criticism will meet with the approval of most advanced 

 lepidopterists. It is often asserted that the subject of British lepidop- 

 tera has been worn threadbare, but the series of books to which this 

 volume belongs causes one to doubt whether, in reality, anything of 

 importance has hitherto been published in our so-called text-books 

 about them. Scattered throughout our magazines is a great quantity 



* ,1 Natural HiMurij of the Britixli T.epidoptera (a text-book for students and 

 collectors), hy J. W. Tutt, F.E.S., pp. 535-1- xvii, pi. i-ii, portrait. London: Swan 

 Sonnenschein A Co., Paternoster Square, E.G. Berlin : Friedlander & Sohn, 11, 

 Cavlstrasse, N.W. 



