64 THK ENTOMOLOtUST. 



one hybernated larvae of Lasiocampa quercus ('? vav. callnncB) and three 

 hybernated larvte of Arctia caia. 



The eggs of T. opima hatched a few days after, and the larvae w^ere 

 full-fed on the 16th of July. In spite of giving them plenty of air and 

 room in large flowerpots nearly filled with soil, and with net over the 

 top and a piece of glass almost covering it to keep the food (sallow^) 

 fresh, I lost exactly fifty per cent., chiefly in the last stage, through 

 diarrhoea. 



My share of the L. quercus larvae was eleven. They were all 

 nearly full grown, and soon spun up. Five moths (two males and 

 three females) emerged between July 20th and July 26th — the rest 

 (six) are lying over the winter. Mr. South, in his welcome book, 

 ' The Moths of the British Isles,' p. 116, refers to " the outward 

 turn of the lower ends of the yellow bands " in the northern variety 

 calluncB. Four of my five moths have this feature strongly marked ; 

 a female is referable to the pale southern form (the true quercus) and 

 is without this outward turn of the lower ends of the yellow bands ; 

 one male possesses the buff-yellow basal patch ; and the other male 

 has the right upper wing and the outer third of tlie right lower wing 

 coloured as in the female. The left upper wing has also a costal 

 suffusion of this feminine tint. 



On the 15th of May lialf a dozen Cliester pupaj of Spilosoma 

 menthastri I had kept out of doors through the winter began to 

 turn out imagos. Two of the latter are worth special notice as 

 follows: — No. 1. Upper wings buff — a broad, uniform streak of white 

 from the base of the wing to very near the outer margin. The 

 streak is situated above the inner margin, and runs parallel to it. 

 The black spots are well developed on the upper wings, and especially 

 large on the lower wings. No. 2. The left lower wing is two-thirds 

 smoky-black from the outer angle inwards towards the base. One or 

 two streaks of this smoky-black appear on the right lower wing. The 

 upper wings are fairly normal, but inclined to buff, and well spotted. 

 A result of the advent of these interesting specimens is that I have a 

 large number of Chester pupie lying, naturally, through the winter, 

 in the hope that further developments in melanism will sliow in the 

 species next May. 



On May 18th I took off tree trunks nine male and three female 

 Tephrosia hiundularia, in Delamere Forest. They were all typical 

 specimens of the Delamere dark form. From eggs laid by these 

 females, and resultant pupae now lying over the winter, I have little 

 doubt about getting two or three, or more, of black examples with 

 the white zigzag line near the wing margins. There can be no ques- 

 tion that the species is single-brooded at Delamere. 



Throughout May and continued into August I made many 

 excursions among the romantic Denbighshire hills and valleys — some- 

 times alone and sometimes with pleasant companions, all with Nature 

 hobbies. The only drawback was the unseasonable weather. On 

 May 19th (Whit-Monday) there were cold northern airs, and a cloudy 

 sky occasionally lit up by gleams of weak, wintry sunshine. There 

 were six degrees of frost at Hampton Court, four degrees at Oxford, 

 and it was ten degrees warmer in Iceland than at Folkestone, doubt- 

 less through the influence of the Gulf Stream. In fact, we had 



