1895.] 127 



The GeometrcE call for little notice ; in spite of careful work only 

 one example (and that in wretched condition) of Eupithecia cojistrictata 

 was met with, and larva; of E. suhciliata proved very scarce. Two or 

 three Cleora lichenaria were reared, and some beautiful Cidaria siterata 

 paid the penalty of their partiality to ivy bloom. 



Among the Noctuce a few aristocratic species occurred. A fine 

 Triphcena subsequa, disturbed from the edge of a sandpit, was se- 

 cured by one of two friends, who during July collected on the Dorset 

 coast a nice supply of the larvae of Heliothis peltiger, and subsequently 

 bred, between August 20th and November 11th, a splendid and very 

 variable series, which was exhibited at the meeting of the Ent. Soc, 

 Lond. on the 6th inst. Through their kindness I had the pleasure of 

 finding a few larvae and breeding half-a-dozen moths from September 

 2nd to November 13th, and also took two imagines at large. The 

 larvae, which showed a wonderful range of ground-colour from deep 

 green to bright pink, and reminded one strongly of the variation 

 shown by the larvae of Platyptilia acantliodactyla, were, with the 

 single exception of one on Hyoscyamus niger, all found on Ononis 

 arvensis. Both in nature and in confinement they preferred the 

 fresh flowers, though, failing to get these, they took readily to the 

 tender green seed-pods, but all forms alike refused to touch the 

 leaves, thus proving that no reliance must be placed on Mr. Reading's 

 statement in Newman's " British Moths," p. 438 (where, in column 

 2, line 26, there is an evident misprint of "No. 2" for "No. 1") 

 that the pinkish larva feeds on the bright flowers of Ononis spinosa, 

 and derives its colour from their hue being shed through its transparent 

 skin, whilst the green larva feeds on the leaves and seeds of one or 

 more of its food-plants. The ground-colour and the skin are of such 

 natures that the former clearly cannot depend directly on the colour 

 of the food devoured by the larva, though it is doubtless attributable 

 to protective resemblance : both the green and the pink varieties are 

 equally well protected, though under different conditions, the former 

 when at rest among the green leaves, and the latter when engaged in 

 feeding on the pink flowers. Although, in our joint experience, every 

 living pupa had produced a moth by the middle of November in spite 

 of the facts that none were forced, and that mine were kept in a very 

 cold outhouse, one can hardly doubt that some must, in nature, hiber- 

 nate in the pupa state, and that the insect is thus " semi-brooded twice 

 a year," as stated by Mr. Reading (op. cit.). My lucky capture of a 

 specimen of H. armiger in East Dorset has already been chronicled 

 {ante p. 49). Odd specimens of Bryophila muralis were to be found 



