NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 243 



emerged from the chrysalis, and not one of them were of the pale 

 variety, which is typical of the first generation on the Continent. 

 Two of the specimens captured were sitting upon their empty pupa- 

 skins, so that it proves that the dark forms seen in the early summer 

 are not all hybernated specimens. — W. Harcourt Bath ; Birmingham, 

 July 14th, 1894. 



" Smerinthus tili^ Two Winters in Pupa." — On May 2ud, two 

 days after reading Mr. Claxton's note on the above (((nte, p. 177), I had 

 a fine dark female <S'. tiliw, which had been in pupa since 1892. I have 

 noticed that in most of these cases of retarded emergence, the moth 

 proves to be of the female sex. Several pupae of D, vinula and 

 S. carpini, which I have had for three years, produced perfect insects 

 last month, and all proved to be females. One expects the two latter 

 moths to be erratic as to their duration of time in pupa, but I fancy it 

 is of rare occurrence for S. tilicB to pass two winters in that state. — • 

 N. F. Searancke ; Mitcheldean, Gloucester, June 17th, 1894. 



Plusia festuce Double-brooded. — Is it generally known that this 

 moth is double-brooded ? The first brood appears here in June or 

 July, and the second in August or September. Newman's account 

 evidently mixes up the two broods. — J. Arkle ; Chester. 



Nyssia hispidaria. — Which is the type, — for authorities differ upon 

 the point, — the light or the dark form ? I find the latter to be the 

 type in Delamere Forest. Some of my correspondents have never seen 

 the dark form, although well acquainted with the light one, which, by 

 the way, also occurs sparingly in Delamere Forest. — J. Arkle ; Chester. 



A New Food for Exotic Silk-producing Larv/E. — No doubt 

 students and breeders of the exotic silk-producing Bombyces will be 

 glad to hear of a new stock-food upon which, I believe, all the species 

 may be reared. I have been successful in rearing the following 

 species, from the Qgg, upon the common wild apple, usually known 

 as "crab-apple": — Actias luna, Platysamia cecropia, Jli/penhiria io 

 (American), Satumia pijri (European), Actias selene (Indian). As is 

 well known by all breeders, A. luna and A. selene are both walnut- 

 feeders, and considerable trouble is often experienced in finding a 

 suitable substitute where walnut cannot be obtained ; with me the 

 larvffi took to wild apple readily from the first. — T. J. W. Finch ; 

 Swindon. 



Aphides at Treacle. — When visiting my "treacles" on Saturday 

 last (July 7th), I found that they were simply smothered with Aphides, 

 mostly of the green species ; and that, not only on one, but on every tree 

 I had treacled on the Saturday previous (June BOth). Coleoptera are 

 of frequent occurrence, but I have never met with Aphides before ; and 

 I should like to know if any other entomologist has had a similar 

 experience. My hunting-ground is that part of Epping Forest known 

 as " Leyton Flats." — Richard W. Taylor ; 36, Shacklewell Lane, 

 Hackney, N.E., July 11th, 1894. 



Mr. Wellman's Collection. — Collections of Lepidoptera that find 

 their way to the hammer are too often made up of so-called rarities 



