244 THE entomologist's FvECORD. 



Weise, has the elytra black, with an ill-defined, usually' irregular 

 brownish-yellow transverse band at the base, and one or two light 

 spots behind the middle. (It has been taken in this country on one 

 or two occasions.) (4) ab. illii/eri, Weise, with black elytra, which are 

 lighter only at the base. (5) ab. funiata, Weise, in which they are 

 uniformly black or brownish-black. In the latter forms the thorax 

 may be black, except for a narrow border at the sides. My specimens 

 all differ somewhat from each other. The first, which approaches 

 most closely to the type-form, has an elongated black dash on the 

 posterior third of each elytron, which is nearer to the margin than to 

 the suture. In the second this dash, which occupies the same position, 

 is more developed ; in front of it, in the anterior half of each elytron, 

 there is a minute black spot, occupying the same position relatively to 

 the margin. In the third specimen the posterior black line is longer 

 and more curved and the anterior spots are much larger. On looking 

 over my series of A. ohliterata I find one specimen, also from Boxhill, 

 in which there is a small oblong black mark near the apex of each 

 elytron. This is therefore an intermediate form. I would add that 

 these spots should not be confounded with the blackish or brownish 

 discoloration, usually asymmetrical, which are not infrequently found 

 on the elytra of this, as well as of most other species of Coccinellidae, 

 and which are clearly due to some mechanical cause. 



je^CIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Various Bionomical Notes. — There is probably nothing new in 

 what is here recorded. May I humbly suggest that British lepidop- 

 terists, with one or two laudable exceptions, are too much afraid of 

 publishing notes on rest attitudes, etc. ? We are apt to forget that 

 facts, which we observe every day, must be recorded in print, before 

 others can compare their observations with ours. We fail to 

 remember how much of Darwin's work was founded on minute 

 observations and accurate records on living nature. 



Papilio machaon, August 3rd, 1912, Stalham Broad. — Two full- 

 grown larvffi. One willingly protruded the well-known fleshy 

 tubercles. The scent of pine apples, but with a " bitter background," 

 was distinctly perceptible, as usual. The other larva refused to show 

 the tubercles, even when pinched. It appeared to be absolutely 

 scentless. 



Gonepteryx rhamni, May 9th, Wicken Fen, 3.35 p.m. — The day 

 had been heavy, and thunder was about. Just at the time the sun 

 was shining. I watched a mtAe Brimstone settle down for the night 

 under a leaf of meadow-sweet (Sfiraea i(liiioria). The disc of the 

 forewing was not completely covered by the hindwing. The insect 

 was sitting back downward, holding to one midrib of the leaf. The 

 white undersides of the tips of the antenme were strikingly con- 

 spicuous. They suggested the two eyes of some unknown beast, 

 whose body was outlined by the stalks of the antennae The antennae 

 were, of course, porrected, and the tips bent ventrally {i.e., upwards). 



Pleheiua aiffns {aeijon), June 27th, Ashdown Forest ; July 2nd, 

 Matley and Denny Bogs, New Forest. — Abundant on both occasions. 

 In sunlight the males generally orientated, but not always. Some- 

 times they orientate, head downwards, with wings nearly flat, and 



