242 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The Oldest Name for Homopyralis tactus, Grote. — Prof. John B. 

 Smith, in his excellent ' Catalogue of North American Noctuiflfe,' has 

 shown that Mr. Grote's name of H. tactus was superseded hy Walker's 

 name of Homoptem zonata in 1865, and earlier still hy his H. contracta, 

 published in 1860. Walker, however, described the same species still 

 earlier; for, in his Catalogue, vol. xiii. p. 1073, n. 44 (1857), he called 

 the same species Homoptem qiiadrisi/jnata. It was in the same drawer 

 with Walker's //. zonata ; but, in consequence of its having no locality, 

 was overlooked by Prof. Smith. Another very closely- allied species from 

 Santarem stood next to H. quadrisii/nata ; it only differs in having the 

 post-median line of the primaries denticulated above (as well as below) 

 the upper radial vein ; and, in my opinion, is very doubtfully distinct. 

 Should this one character prove as unimportant as one might expect it 

 to be, the name of H. dotata, Walk., will take priority over all the 

 others. — A. G. Butler ; Natural History Museum. 



Note on Coccyx ochsenheimeriana. — This species was first described 

 as British by Mr. Barrett m 1878, from a specimen captured by Lord 

 Walsingham among Pinus cephalonica at Merton, Norfolk (E. M. M. xv. 

 146). In 1885, Mr. Warren beat some specimens out of spruce fir at 

 Brandon, Suffolk, about the middle of June, but these, with the 

 exception of one fine female, were in bad condition. Mr. Boyd records 

 one example from Waltham Cross, taken May 1st, 1893. I captured 

 two specimens in 1893 at Pinner, Middlesex; one on May 22nd and 

 oneon June 3rd. This year I visited the same locality several times 

 during May, but I only saw the species on one occasion, viz., May 18th, 

 when three specimens were taken between 4 and 5 o'clock in the after- 

 noon. Probably C'. ochsenheimeriana may be found among spruce fir in 

 many other localities in Britain than those mentioned above, but our 

 present knowledge of the distribution of the species in these islands is 

 very limited. — Eiohard South; Oxford Eoad, Macclesfield, July, 1894. 



PoLYPHAGOus Larv^. — It may be useful and interesting to entomo- 

 logists to know that I have this season found several species of insects 

 in the larval stage to be very polyphagous. I had feeding at the same 

 time, and in one large case, larvre of Satuniia carpini, Sphinx li<imtri, 

 and Attacus pernyi, the Chinese oak-silkworm. The S. carpiiii IsiYVie 

 were placed, on hatching, upon sprays of plum, upon which they fed 

 until the second age; S. lii/ustri, similarly upon lilac; and A. penuji, 

 upon oak. Up to the second age they were separately confined within 

 bags of book-muslin, upon their respective food-plants. They were 

 then allowed the freedom of the case, each batch being placed upon its 

 own food-plant apart from the others. I found, however, they all fed 

 indiscriminately upon the several food-plants named above ; and 

 S. carpini from the third stage fed exclusively upon oak, by preference. 

 8. lif/ustri also fed freely upon plum and oak; and A. jyernyi seemed 

 equally at home upon lilac. — T. J. W. Finch ; Swindon. 



Vanessa c-album. — I am very pleased to be able to prove beyond 

 doubt that the dark form is the type of the first brood (in this district, 

 at any rate), for I have to-day taken five specimens near here, all freshly 



