( 268 ) 



NOTES AND OBSEEVATIONS. 



The Supposed New Species of Euchloe. — Regarding the description 

 of the supposed new British butterfly Euchloe hesperides, Newnham, I 

 should like to make a few remarks. I have noticed in a small series 

 in my own collection that many of them differ (some rather consider- 

 ably) in the shape of the discoidal spot, and also in the size of the 

 orange patch in the males, but neither of these features seei<ii' in any 

 way constant, except in the case of the small male and female 

 captured at Kennington (Ent. Rec. v. p. 172), when the discoidal spot is 

 extremely small. Again, in the males the apical blotch is very large 

 and dark, but in the small female the blotch is very small, in fact 

 almost obsolete, and of a grey colour. I stated that I believed that the 

 small variety was called var. turritis, Ochs., on the Continent ; this I 

 have since verified, and also cannot find any distinguishing feature 

 regarding the wing-scales. I am not prepared to assert that the small 

 form is distinct enough to be considered as a distinct species, unless it 

 is shown to differ in its earlier stages. Again, too much stress must 

 not be made upon the orange spot, because this is certainly not a con- 

 stant feature. The following note may explain something regarding 

 the small variety (Entom. xiii. 139) : — " With respect to A. cardamincs, 

 which is double-brooded on the hills which border the Garonne, at two 

 leagues distance from the city. Collectors in Bordeaux despise the 

 first brood, which appears in March and Apiil, because it is smaller 

 and less beautiful, and go in search of the specimens of the second 

 brood, which are remarkable for their large size and brilliant colouring. 



The Bordeaux type of A. cardamines would not fail to pass as 



large and more brilliantly coloured than the specimens of the north, 

 and nomenclators of varieties would not fail to christen it as perhaps 

 cardaminoides (A. Wailly)." — John W. Shipp. 



Papilio machaon Fourteen Months in Pupa. — I took two full-grown 

 larvae of P. machaon in one of the oases near Biskra (South Algeria) on 

 April 11th, 1893; they pupated at once, and assumed different colours. 

 One was of a brownish dead-grass tint, and from this a butterfly 

 emerged in England on May 6th ; the other was green, and did not 

 produce a butterfly until June 9th, 1894. — W. M. Christy ; Watergate, 

 Emsworth, Hants. 



A Puzzle. — On the 18th and 20th of July last I captured a couple 

 of larvae feeding on a species of Aconitum in a garden at Penzance : 

 one, taken on the former date, was about half- fed, and was green, the 

 intersections of the middle segments being whitish ; the other, nearly 

 fvill-fed, about an inch and three-quarters in length, was of a darker, 

 more velvety green, the capital segment being also green ; but both 

 were evidently of the same species, as each rested with the anterior 

 third of the body pressed against the middle third of the left side, a 

 position reminding one somewhat of a hook. The younger larva I gave 

 to my friend Mr. W. E. Baily ; the larger one I brought home, when 

 it icent to earth on the 24th. I was inclined to think that these larvte 

 might pertain to Plusia moneta, as no other species, excepting Plusia 

 illustns, that I am aware of, feeds upon monkshood ; but subterranean 



