NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 61 



appear to agree entirely with my Mendel specimens. Mr. Tutt, in 

 reply to a letter of enquiry, writes : "I have examples of achine I took 

 myself at Mendel Pass in 1895 ; some others taken in the same 

 district at Pejo by Chapman ; and some examples I got at Fontaine- 

 bleau. Only two real Switzers, though. These Mendel and Pejo 

 specimens are extra dark on the under sides. The Fontainebleau 

 examples are much larger and paler, the under sides with very much 

 white." Later, Mr. Rowland-Brown writes : " I have since examined 

 a fairly long series of achine in Miss Fountaine's beautiful collection 

 at Bath. Specimens from Switzerland (mostly Glion) are type, but in 

 the Buda-Pest specimens I find very much the same tendency of the 

 broad band to break up with light wavy interior, and leaving the 

 ocellated spots, as noted by you, in the ground colour of the wings." 

 Mons. L. Dupont says : " I was interested with this new var. of 

 P. achine, as I had never seen it. I have just looked at my specimens. 

 They are from Pont de l'Aube (Eure) and from Angouleme (Charente), 

 and I have also one from Japan ; they all have the white fascia." The 

 evidence collected then by Mr. Rowland-Brown and myself " seems to 

 suggest that the peculiarities noted in the Mendel series are not 

 necessarily constant or distinctive of this particular locality," to quote 

 Mr. Rowland-Brown. Ouly it does not yet appear that we have the 

 type from the Tyrol, nor " mevdelensis" from France or Switzerland ; 

 but in Austria, and Hungary, and perhaps Eastern Germany, this 

 latter form is the prevailing one. — Frank E. Lowe; Guernsey, 

 Dec. 20th, 1904. 



The National Collection of British Lepidoptera. — Mr. Porritt, 

 of Huddersfield, has contributed a number of species, chiefly from his 

 district ; also some beautiful specimens of Ayrotis ashworthii reared from 

 larvae obtained in Wales in 1904. 



Melanic Aspilates gilvaria. — On July 25th last, while netting 

 specimens of Aspilates gilvaria in the Warren at Folkestone, I took a 

 female very strongly affected with melanism. On the upper surface 

 the fore wings are of a smoky brown, with a slight ochreous tint, 

 the transverse bar scarcely visible, and the central luuule completely 

 lost in the ground colour. The hind wings are smoky white, clouded 

 with brown towards the hind margin. The only part of the insect 

 which is at all of the normal colour is the collar of the thorax. On 

 the under side the transverse bar on the fore wings is rather more 

 distinct and the lunule is also visible, but the hind wings are exceed- 

 ingly striking, as they are dark brown (darker than on any other part 

 of the insect), but inclining towards white at the base. As this is an 

 insect fairly constant in its markings and colour, it occasioned me con- 

 siderable surprise to meet with such a variation, especially in so 

 southern a locality as Folkestone. All the other specimens I took 

 were males, and strictly typical. The species appeared to be just out, 

 and all I obtained, including the insect above described, were in 

 excellent condition. — Hugh J. Vinall, 3, Priory Terrace, Lewes. 



The Entomological Club. — The meeting of this old-established 

 association held at the Holborn Restaurant on Jan. 17th last was by far 

 the largest that even Mr. Verrall, the chairman and host of the evening, 



