120 THE entomologist's record. 



tbat Mr. Wainwright's note is somewhat superfluous. — Alfred H. 

 Martineau, F.E.S., Warwick Road, Solihull. April At/,, 1908. 



BisToN HiRTARiA AT FoRREs. — It may 1)0 Well to record the fact that 

 I got several larvae of Biaton hirtaria at Forres, a new locality, and I 

 believe far north of any previously recorded locality. — J. W. H. 

 Harrison, B.Sc, 181, Abingdon Road, Middlesborough. April Qth, 1908. 



Macrothylacia rubi larv.e EATEN BY GULLS. — When 1 was in 

 South Devon last week, April 18th-23rd, I noticed the gulls pulling 

 out the cocoons of Macrothylacia rubi ; they tore each open, extracted the 

 larva, pulled it in half, and ate its inside. The larvae were just spinning 

 up, and I found several on the rocky ledges where the gulls had taken 

 them.— H. M. Edelsten, F.E.S., Forty HiL, Enlield. April 26t/i, 1908. 



W' A R I A T I N . 



Aberration of Celastrina argiolus. — At the exhibition of the 

 Lepidopterological Society of Geneva, Colonel Agassiz, of Lausanne, 

 amongst many remarkable aberrations, exhibited a beautiful modifica- 

 tion of Celastrina argiolus ab. subtusradiata, Obth., reproduced in the Nat. 

 tlist. Brit. Butts., ii., pi. xviii., fig. 10. On the underside, the forewings 

 are without spots, but the lower wings have the black streaks even 

 more marked and wider than in Oberthiir's example. — (Professor) C. 

 Blachier, 11, Tranchees de Rive, Geneva. April 26th, 1908. 



j^CIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Cross-pairing between Philosamia cynthia and Callosamia pro- 

 methea. — I got a pairing between Philosamia ojnthia $ and Callosamia 

 /iroinethea 3 which produced fertile ova, but only two hatched. The rest 

 contained dead, but fully-formed, larva?. This seems to be an addition to 

 the many successfiil cases of cross -pairing noted among the Attacides 

 in " Hybridisation in Lepidoptera " {A Nat. Hist. Brit. Lepidoptera, v., 

 pp. 25-27). — J. W. Harrison, B.Sc, 181, Abingdon Road, Middles- 

 borough. 



URRENT NOTES. 



Mr. E. Simon has been elected Hon. President of the Societe 

 Entomologique de France. The previous Honorary Presidents have 

 been Latreille, Dumeril, Dufour and Fairmaire, whose occupancy of 

 the highest post that French entomologists have to oft'er lasted almost 

 three-quarters of a century. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held on 

 April 1st, Mr. E. R. Bankes sent for exhibition : (1) Four specimens 

 of Hepialus huniuli, L., more or less covered by a sprouting fungoid 

 growth, which was stated by the editor of the Field newspaper, in 

 1880, to be possibly an early stage of a species of Clavaria, and to have 

 attacked the moths after death. Mr. Bankes has only met with eight 

 lepidopterous imagines thus affected, and had received one from a 

 friend ; all of which appeared to be referable to H. /tumuli. They 

 were found in the heath district of south-east Dorset, mostly 

 attached to shoots of Ulex europaeus, though U. nanus, Calluna vuhjaris 

 and Erica ciliaris each yielded a solitary example. (2) Many dead 

 larvae of Hepialus lupulinus, L., infested with the fungus Cordiceps 



