NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 217 



LoPHOPTERA, Guen. 

 Lophopteni squammi(/eya. 



Lophoptera squammiqem, Guenee, Noct. 3, p. 55, n. 1388 

 (1852). 



L. vittifiem, Walker, Lep. Het. Suppl. 3, p. 920 (1865). 



Australia. In Coll. B. M. 



The genus Lophoptera is closely allied to Stictoptcra, but 

 differs in its somewhat less produced comparatively broader 

 primaries, on which are sometimes (I think not always, unless 

 they tend to disappear in set specimens) little spots of raised 

 scales. Like all the Lophopteridffi, the frenulum is single in both 

 sexes, and as the antennfe are also simple, the discrimination of 

 the sexes is not easy, until one's eye becomes accustomed to the 

 difference in the form of the thorax, and the slightly more slender 

 antenna? of the female. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Natural and Artificial Extermination of Lepidoptera. — Some 

 years ago I planted, in a small reservoir, some Tijpha latifoUa, which 

 in due time became a flourishing little colony. After a time Nonaipia 

 tijph(B was found to have made a settlement amongst it, though the 

 nearest place where the plant grows is nearer three miles than two, 

 and it is in very sparing quantity there. In the spring of 1892, as 

 the young Typha came up, it was found to be swarming with young 

 larvae of N. typha, often ten to twenty in one shoot. The result was 

 that not one Typha plant grew a ilovver-head, and not one .V. ti/phce 

 larva produced a moth. In 1893 the moth was entirely absent, and the 

 plant flowered abundantly. This spring (1894) I see traces of youu" 

 .v. typhte larvfe, showing that a moth had again reached the spot last 

 summer. This shows how far moths may travel to a vacant habitat, 

 and is especially interesting as showing how a moth in a limited 

 habitat may exterminate itself by its own luxuriance and abundance. 

 As an illustration how much more this natural process is effective than 

 any injudicious collecting by the entomologist, it may be noted tbat 

 last year Dr. Wood and I, wishing to study the insect, took from Poa 

 aquatica, in the same small reservoir, all the Chilo forficellus we could 

 find. But I see the larva3 are there again this spring. — T. A. Chapman; 

 Firbank, Hereford, June, 1894. 



Entomological Cabinets. — A question frequently asked by young 

 collectors of British Lepidoptera, who are thinking of setting up their 

 first cabinet, is " how many drawers shall I be likely to require?" 

 Now before advice on such an important matter can be given, it is 

 necessary to ascertain the lines upon which the enquirer proposes to 

 form his collection. If he intends to be satisfied with a short series of 

 each species of Macro-Lepidoptera, he will probably find a cabinet of 



