144 THE entomologist's record. 



There is really no bona tide excuse for any of these names being 

 overlooked, except the unfortunate necessity of going the pace of the 

 " highly civilised " twentieth century, which leaves " no time for 

 nuffin'." 



W"ARIATION . 



The geographical bearing on the variation in size or Polom- 

 MATus ICARUS. — I have often been struck, in looking at my series of 

 P. icanis, by the lai'ger size of the insects from the north than those 

 from the south, and have wondered whether this is constant. It may 

 be that I have selected the largest and finest specimens, but, as I have 

 collected all my southern ones myself from Folkestone and Devonshire, 

 I shoixld do the same with them. North-west Lancashire, near 

 Grange-over- Sands, produces a fine race fully as large as those I have 

 from Ireland, and from the west of Scotland I have similar forms. 

 Both the ^ and $ from Grange are as large as the Irish, but the ? 

 is not quite so blue, but the 5 s from Scotland are not quite equal in 

 size to the Irish forms. I do not know if this is likely to be of any 

 interest to others, but there is no harm in comparing notes. — Herbert 

 Massey, F.E.S., Ivy Lea, Burnage, Didsbury. May IStJi, 1908. 

 [The point raised by Mr. Massey is an interesting one, and applies in 

 a general sense to other species belonging to other groups. We have 

 hitherto explained it to our own satisfaction by supposing that it is 

 largely due to a longer larval existence, added to the condition of the 

 food-supply, the conclusion being based on the fact that where a species 

 is single-brooded it often gives larger examples than where double- 

 brooded, and that, when double-brooded, the brood that has the longer- 

 feeding larvfe gives the larger specimens, cj/., the first brood of Melitaea 

 phocbe (larvae August to May) is larger than the second (larvae June 

 and July) in Savoy and Piedmont, and the single-brooded specimens 

 in the Swiss Alps (larvfe July to June) larger than either. Similarly, 

 the second-brood of Scolitantides orion has nearly double the Aving-area 

 (larvjB April to July) of the spring emergence (larvje September to 

 October) in Piedmont. Many cases of larva^ living from August to May 

 and then producing a larger first-brood, whilst the larvae from June to 

 July produce a smaller-sized second-brood, must be known to all 

 lepidopterists. — Ed.] 



:ig^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Eupithecia tamakisciata. — I am much obliged to our Editor for his 

 note {antca, pp. 102-4) on his investigations, and have great pleasure 

 in withdrawing the suggestion that his previous article was " perhaps 

 a little premature " (inadvertently amplified by Mr. Tutt on p. 102 

 into an assertion that it "was premature") — a suggestion which was 

 certainly not intended to give any oftence. I do not wish to embroil 

 Mr. Holmes, and will only say that, between him and myself, the 

 extent of the work that Mr. Tutt had put into the subject was mis- 

 apprehended. Possibly his own words, that he had "little difficulty " 

 in referring Mr. Holmes' specimens, aided the illusion. For the sake 

 of readers who are unacquainted with K. tainarimata, I may say that 

 it is usually darker than E. innotata, the avera/fe size perhaps smaller 

 (though E. innotata is variable both in size and colour), and that 



