290 [May, 



Note on TracJiyphlosus alternans. — I observe that Mr. J. J. Walker has recorded 

 (p. 217 of the present Tol.) the alhed T. spinimanus and squarmdatus as occurring 

 at the roots of Helianthemiim vulgare in chalky places ; and I may remark that I 

 have found T. alternans not uncommonly near here on the same yellow cistus, when 

 in blossom, growing on banks by the road-side under chalk hills.— W. Tylden, 

 Stanford, Hythe : April, 1873. 



Note on Otiorhynchus mojiticola, Germ. — As the nomenclature of our Otiorhynchi 

 seems again to be coming under discussion, it may be worth while to inform readers 

 of the Magazine that we have not Otiorhynchus monticola as an inhabitant of 

 Britain, all our Scotch specimens so named being 0. hlandus, Sch. It is to this 

 species that Gyllenhal's description of 0. Icevigatus is to be referred f^ife^^e Thomson) ; 

 and, on tracing back the question, I find our mistake has arisen from Germar 

 having given IcEvigatus, Gryll., as a synonym of monticola, when describing that 

 species. Walton identified his specimens of our species as the Icevigatus of 

 Gyllenhal, by specimens sent from the Swede himself, and pretty clearly adopted 

 Grermar'a statement of the identity of Icevigatus, Gryll., with monticola. Stierlin, 

 too, has perpetuated the error, by having failed to distinguish the two insects, 

 and at the same time giving them as distinct. In his monograph, he reproduces 

 the description of blandus, stating that it is a species unknown to him, while 

 at the same time, from the localities he gives for monticola, and a remai'k he 

 makes as to Swedish examples he supposed to belong to that species, it is clear he 

 had the two species (or races) before him. The characters distinguishing the two 

 are briefly but lucidly given by Thomson ; and I find our Scotch specimens differ 

 from (Pyi'cncan) monticola, just in the same manner as Thomson says Swedish 

 individuals differ therefrom. — D. Sharp, Eccles, Thornhill, Dumfries : April, 1873. 



On the supposed new spiecies of European Butterjly. — There can be no doubt that 

 the Lyccena Arthurus, Melvill, described at p. 263 of this Magazine, is an aberration 

 of Lyccuna Avion, L. ; such aberrations are indeed not so very scarce on the 

 Continent. I have in my own collection four such specimens, all differing, it is 

 true, a little from each other, but all almost destitute of black spots on the upper- side ; 

 in one specimen, even the black marginal spots are absent. The disappearance of 

 the spots, especially on the under-side, occurs in all the Lyccenidce ; and also the occa- 

 sional appearance of black spots in species that are usually destitute of them. Thus, in 

 the variety Miegii of P. virgaiirece, a nimiber of large black spots appear on the 

 upper-side : this also occurs in P. Hippothoe, L. (chryseis, Brk.), and in the Lyccena 

 orhitulus from the mountains of the North of Persia. 



It is my firm conviction that, within the true limits of Europe (certainly not in 

 Central Europe), no new species of Rhopalocera remains to be discovered — O. Stau- 

 DINOER, Dresden : April 4:t?i, 1873. 



Vanessa Antiopa hibernated at Folkestone. — A hibernated specimen of V. An- 

 tiopa was taken by my friend Mr. Arthur Gore in a niu'seiy garden at Folkestone, 

 on the 2nd April. Mr. Gore has kindly placed the specimen in my cabinet. — C. A. 

 Beiggs, 55, Lincoln's Inn Fields : April, 1873. 



Natural History of Folia chi. — ^On September 14th, 1869, Mr. Longstaff, then 

 at Forres, kindly sent me a few eggs laid by a female of this species ; these began to 

 hatch on April 11th, 1870, and continued at the rate of about one or two per diem 

 until the 22nd. The larva;, when young, fed chiefly on Rumex crispus, and oc- 

 casionally on some other low plants, they at that time were not particular in their 

 diet, for they seemed to welcome any change given them ; but after two or three 

 moults they began to show a decided preference for sallow and osier, and on this 



