292 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



1907, and as the buckweed has been in flower this winter, it cannot be 

 the food-phant, or lianardi would have turned up by now, as all the 

 other Ophiusa species have been about for the last six weeks. It was 

 common in 190i5 and 1905> as previously mentioned, and I feel certain 

 it will turn up again in 1908. I have had as many as thirty pupae of 

 the moth at one time, and all not ichneumoned have emerged within a 

 mouth, so the moth, I think, cannot go over in the pupal state. 

 There are several species that do go over from one year to the other 

 in the pupal state, but they are chiefly Saturnids and Lasiocampidfe. 

 Two Sphingidfe remain under the ground in the larval state for about 

 eight months, whilst other larvse of the same moths change at once 

 into pup^ ; these are Andriasa viutata and Nephele arf/entifera. I have 

 also had Daphnis nerii remain for over six months in the pupal state, 

 but this is very unusual, as the larvae pupate upon the surface of the 

 ground or in the dead leaves. — F. T. Leigh ; Durban, Natal, August 

 31st, 1907. 



CoLiAs EDUSA IN 1907. — Has Colias edma really been so "unusually 

 scarce this season " as Mr. Edward Goodwin's note {(intea, p. 257) 

 appears to suggest ? The only likely opportunity that I had of making 

 its acquaintance was while spendmg a portion of the month of Sep- 

 tember on the South Coast, and what I learned regarding the species 

 during the earlier part of that time led me to think that, although it 

 could hardly be regarded as common, it was far from being rare. The 

 first I heard of it was a report by a friend, who had preceded me 

 by a few days, that he had seen one flying over the downs below 

 Beachy Head, on the 3rd of the month, and that two others had been 

 noted at the mouth of the Cuckmere river at about the same date. On 

 the 8th I captured one, and my brother another, in the same place as 

 the first-mentioned specimen ; on the 9th one was seen about a mile 

 inland; on the 11th another, on the downs below Beachy Head ; and, 

 finally, I captured another, on the lower part of Seaford Head, on the 

 14th, thus accounting for eight specimens in all during possibly two or 

 three hours' ramble on each of some twelve days. From what I was 

 able to see of the individuals noted, I am inclined to regard them as 

 probably being immigrants ; this is, however, merely a matter of 

 opinion, and it would be of interest to know whether other parts of 

 the South Coast were similarly affected, or, indeed, whether the species 

 has been noted in other places. — Robert Adkin ; Lewisham, Novem- 

 ber, 1907. 



The Food-plants of Pyrameis cardui. — Of the adaptive habit of 

 the larvae of Pyrameis cardui, an interesting example was presented 

 this year in the village of Binn, Valais. The ova of a brood evidently 

 had been laid upon some nettles growing sparsely by the side of a 

 chalet. These had all been consumed to the ground, or otherwise 

 destroyed, before the larvtB were half-fed, and they had betaken them- 

 selves en masse to the only other weed in the immediate neighbourhood, 

 which happened to be a Chenopodium. — a plant that I have not seen 

 recorded as food for the species, though Mr. Buckler reared it success- 

 fully on Malva sijlvesttis, and Mr. W. H. S. Fletcher found it on 

 Echitim vulgare (Buckler's ' Larvfe of the British Butterflies, &c.,' 



