NOTES ON COLLECTING. 



239 



Note on the early stages of Brenthis thore. 



By W. T. TRAVIS. 



Ah an addendum to the note on this subject by Mr. W. H. St. 

 Quintin, in the Knt. Record, vol. xv., pp. 301-2, and also to Dr. Chap- 

 man's longer article appearing in the current no. (pp. 236 et seq.) I send, 

 at the instigation of Mr. St. Quintin, the following particulars of the 

 larviie of Brenthi?. tliore, which we obtained from eggs laid in captivity 

 when Mr. St. Quintin and I were staying at Pontresina last July 

 (1903). The 20 eggs which Mr. St. Quintin handed to me hatched on 

 the journey home, at Zurich, and were fed on the common dog-violet, 

 although Mr. St. Quintin found that they would eat the common 

 yellow violet which was no doubt their foodplant where we caught the 

 insect. The young larvte were quite black, but after what I believe to 

 have been the first change of skin (it }iiai) have been the second), the only 

 one I got safely home had four conspicuous bright yellow spots on the 

 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th abdominal segments, on either side. In this 

 condition I placed it in the garden, protected from rain, but exposed to 

 the air, on a plant of yellow violet. I found it again in May, strong 

 and well and exactly the same as I had seen it in October. 



It now fed rapidly and changed a skin, and the yellow spots became 

 dull, and the caterpillar not so black. It changed one more skin, and 

 then its appearance was as like as possible to the figure of the larva 

 of Brenthif. selme in Hoffman's book of the larvffi of the lepidoptera of 

 Europe. The spines were of a dull yellow or red tint and the spots 

 almost gone. I unfortunately crushed it on a leaf when it had hung 

 itself up for pupation at the end of May. 



:igiOTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Senta ulv.e and Leucania obsoleta at Rochester. — It has long 

 been known that Senta idvae and Leucania ohwleta were to be taken in 

 most of the Thames marshes between Dartford and Sheerness, but it 

 appears not yet to have been recorded from the Medway marshes. I 

 have, therefore, pleasure in recording single specimens of these species 

 from the Rochester district during the last day or two. — J. Ovenden, 

 Frindsbury Road, Strood. Juhj l^th, 1904. 



Spring Lepidoptera in 1904. — For comparative purposes dates 

 are always instructive. Compared with 1903, the spring of 1904, 

 so far as vegetation and lepidoptera are concerned, has been very 

 backward, as the following comparative dates will show: Sallows 

 in bloom— 1908, March 8th; 1904, April 1st. Hawthorn in 

 leaf— 1903, February 9th; 1904, April 2nd. Blackthorn in 

 flower— 1903, March 24th; 1904, April 22nd. Pieris rapae put in 

 an appearance on April 19th, and Selenia hilunaria and Anticlra 

 liadlata were taken in the moth-trap on April 14th. Sallows w^ere un- 

 workable, as the bushes here are in very exposed situations, and a furious 

 gale set in on April 1st, and lasted with but slight intervals till the 12th, 

 by which time the blossom was pretty well beaten to pieces ; then fol- 

 lowed wet nights which finished off matters. Plum-blossom has so far 

 proved unattractive, but one or two Taeniocampa (jothica and some 

 dilapidated Ih/hernia iiiari/inaria visited the blackcurrant blossom the 

 last few nights of April. The small race of Ainhhiptilia ai-antlidddcfi/la 



