60 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



house near Truro, and the second in the gamekeeper's house 

 here. They are both females, and the latter laid a good number 

 of eggs. — H.W.Vivian; Boshahan, Helston, Cornwall, Jan. 11. 



A London form of Melanism. — As Dr. Kendall's remark 

 (Entom. 202) as to the complete absence of any London form of 

 melanism seems to pass unchallenged, it may be worth while to 

 mention one good instance of melanism that came under my 

 notice last year. Mr. S. T. Klein, during the summer of 1886, 

 found Miana str'igilis in considerable abundance in his garden at 

 Willesden, and nearly all the specimens were of the melanic variety 

 cethiops, the type being rare. Whether this form has only become 

 prominent in the district of comparatively late j'ears, like the 

 Amphydasis hetularia var. doubledayaria, about Manchester and 

 other localities in the north, I do not know ; and it would be of 

 extreme interest to have the experience of anyone who collected 

 years ago in the west metropolitan district on this point ; but it 

 is at least a case of London melanism which ought not to be 

 overlooked. — T. D. A. Cockerell ; West Cliif, Custer Co., 

 Colorado, October 20, 1887. 



Retarded Emergence. — I took two Gortyna ochracea on the 

 wdng during the latter end of September. They were attracted 

 by the light of my lantern, and thus enabled me to capture them. 

 Is not this rather an unusual time for this species to be out ? — 

 Chas. E. G. Phillips; Castle House, Shooter's Hill, Kent, 

 October 8th, 1887. 



Eupithecia curzoni? — Is this a species or a variety ? In 

 vol. xviii., p. 280, of the ' Entomologist ' will be found a 

 description of this insect as a " Eupithecia new to science." For 

 this, and not a few other new species, we are indebted to the 

 liberality of Mr. C. S. Gregson. He gives us an elaborate 

 description of imago, larva, and pupa ; tells us that " it has 

 nothing common {sic) in appearance with that genus {EupitJiecia), 

 except perhaps its shape" ; and finally announces that " this will 

 be called Curzon's pug." So far, so good. At page 270, however, 

 of the same volume we find a reply to this from Mr. H. McArthur. 

 He, it appears, and not Mr. Curzon (as one would gather from 

 Mr. Gregson's account), discovered the insect in 1880. "In 

 1883," writes Mr. McArthur, " I determined to work the extreme 

 northern islands of the Shetland group, and succeeded while 



