NOTES OX NEW AND RARE BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 39 



been considerably later than in the South, whereas such was 

 certainly not the case. 



Parthenogenesis in Sphinx ligustri. 



In Newman's " Entomologist," Mr. Stephen Clogg, of Looe, 

 makes some interesting observations on parthenogenesis. It 

 appears that that gentleman obtained from an unimpregnated 

 female, *S'. ligustri, eggs which produced sixty-three larvae; 

 of these, Mr. Clogg kept ten for his own personal observa- 

 tion, gave nine to one friend, six to another, and turned the 

 remaining thirty-eight (i. e., about three-fifths of the whole 

 number) adrift. The larvae selected throve, and in due course 

 went to earth. From the twenty-five pupjE twelve moths 

 emerged, all of which proved to be barren females. 



It is much to be regretted that the whole batch was not 

 retained, for no doubt Mr. Clogg did not pick out for inves- 

 tigation the smallest larvae, and these would have been the 

 most likely to produce males. 



Variety-breeding. 

 In the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," vol. viii., p. 

 272, Mr. Llewelyn records the results of some most interesting 

 experiments in the breeding of varieties by selection. A few 

 years ago Mr. Llewelyn obtained ova from three " dusky 

 smoke-coloured" females of /. crepuscularia {Laricaria of 

 Stainton's " Manual") impregnated by males of the ordinary 

 type, from which he succeeded in rearing 160 moths in the 

 exact proportion of half dark and half tyj^ical. From these 

 broods two dark parents were selected, the offspring, this 

 time, being in the proportion of about two dark to one pale. 

 In the next generation, the darkest specimens having been 

 chosen, the whole batch, ninety in number, emerged imbued 

 with the parental melanism, not one being of the typical 



