124 THE kntomologist's record. 



In late August last year a second generation of Brenthis seleiw 

 occurred here, of which more than thirty specimens were seen. A few 

 days after, in a field about two miles from the first locality, 1 saw two 

 males. None of these diflered from ordinary typical specimens except 

 that they were all rather small. 



On September 20th a single specimen of Xylocampa areola J 

 {litlioriza) was seen, and a few days later an example of Odontopera 

 bidentata $ occurred. — R. Ashton Nichols, 30, High Street, 

 Ilfracombe. 



Micro- Lepidoptera oj? Canvey Island, Essex. — I had the pleasure 

 on Tuesday last of spending an hour or two on Canvey Island. My 

 special quest was larvae or pupae of our local Psychid Whittlela retiella. 

 I considered myself very fortunate in finding larv« feeding as well as 

 cases fixed for pupation, eight in all. 1 also got larvae of Gnnu>do}iiu 

 limoniella in old stems of Statice a,s well as Adacti/lufi bennettii larv;e on 

 the new growth. ElachUta anjentella occurred in numbers and one 

 pupa, as well as liHccnlatrix niaritinia, both larvte and pupae on Poa 

 iiiaritiina. — F. G. Whittle, 7, Marine Parade, Southend. Mai/ Qtli, 

 1912. 



jg^ClENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Folia chi and Protective Resemblance. — With reference to the 

 query in the March number of the F^nt. Record, p. 76, on I'olia chi, I 

 came across the species when in South Devon last year. Specimens 

 were found at rest on lichen-covered oak trees in a wood, and on 

 boulders on a moorland, where they were not easily seen. On out- 

 cropping and broken rocks along the roadside they were fairly easily 

 detected, and on railway arches made of brown stone they were very 

 conspicuous. On a grey lichen-covered wall, on one side of a main 

 road, they were as difficult to discover as the most difficult Briiophila 

 itnnalis [ylandifera), whereas on the other side of the road, where the 

 wall was dark brown, with here and there a dark green lichen, they 

 were quite easily seen. When once discovered on the grey lichen - 

 covered wall, it was apparent that the insect was much darker than its 

 surroundings, and had the appearance of being greenish-blue in colour. 

 Unfortunately I did not take my camera on this trip, but am quite 

 sure a half-plate photograph would have made the insect appear quite 

 conspicuous, whereas the reverse was the case. It is a difficult matter 

 in an ordinary photograph to convey a true idea of how well a moth is 

 concealed. Notwithstanding the conspicuous position in which this 

 species was at rest on the opposite dark wall, which I left for observa- 

 tion, they were as free from attacks by birds and other enemies by day 

 as their •'/>roffcf/«v" resemblance brethren on the light grey wall. 1 

 also found others of this species at rest on pine trunks, where they 

 were soon discovered by the practised eye, which is on the lookout for 

 a pattern and anything approaching a triangle, but the casual observer 

 would probably pass them by as patches of lichen. The term " pro- 

 tective resemblance," as applied to butterflies and moths at rest, does 

 not strike me as a very happy one. To be " protective," it seems to 

 me there must be evidence that these insects are subject to the attacks 

 of birds or other enemies when at rest in the day time. As far as I 

 can see this has not been proved. I quite admit that moths at rest 



