140 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



April 23rd and April 28th. I should be greatly obliged for references 

 to life-histories of this interesting species. — James Douglas ; Thorn- 

 cote, Chellaston, nr. Derby. 



(I have found this species very easy to rear. I pick off the infected 

 monkshood stems with the leaf and flower buds in which the young 

 larvtB are cradled, and place in water in the breeding cage. I cannot 

 recall ever having a failure, as the species appears at present to be 

 singularly immune from ichneumon attack. The following references 

 to breeding may be found useful : ' Entomologist,' vol. xxxvi, p. 132 ; 

 ' Entomologists' Record,' vol. xvi, p. 132 ; Tutt's ' Practical Hints,' 

 vol. ii, p. 34. There is a very interesting account of the cocoon 

 colour in Mrs. Onera A. Merritt Hawkes' paper " On the Factors 

 which Determine the Cocoon Colour of Plusia moneta, and other 

 Lepidoptera," in the ' Transactions of the Entomological Society of 

 London, 1916,' pp. 404-406.— H. R.-B.). 



Hibernation of Peronea hastiana. — Some time ago the late 

 Prof. R. Meldola drew attention to the circumstance that evidence 

 regarding the hibernation of P. hastiana was still wanting. I should, 

 therefore, like to record that on April 9th, 1907, I found a pair of 

 this species in copula on a plant of dwarf willows at Formby, 

 Lancashire, about an hour after dark. The female was var. viayrana, 

 the male being the unicolorous dark form, of which some 80 per 

 cent, of our sand-hill specimens are composed. As I had no facilities 

 at that time to breed the insect, the 'female was not kept for ova. 

 While referring to this species, it may be worth mentioning that in 

 this district the first brood is not often met with ; I have only bred 

 three examples altogether from sallow tips gathered at the beginning 

 of May ; these were smaller than the main brood in the autumn, and 

 were of the usual dark form before alluded to ; they emerged at the 

 end of May. I have several times endeavoured to keep hastiana 

 alive through the winter, but always failed with them indoors. Last 

 October (1917) I put twenty-four outdoors in a glass cylinder breeding- 

 cage, furnished with sallow twigs in water and with a liberal supply 

 of dead sallow leaves in the bottom ; the cage was sheltered from 

 rain but otherwise unprotected ; by Christmas all the moths were 

 dead. I carefully searched the twigs for ova but could find none, 

 neither did I see any of the moths paired when I took a look at them. 

 The insects were usually resting on the twigs with wings closely 

 pressed to the bark ; on mild nights they moved about, without 

 flying, when brought to a light for examination. Some years ago I 

 used to search the sand-hills frequently for hibernated larvaB, and it 

 is strange that, considering the abundance of the larvae of hastiana, 

 in some seasons, the imago is so seldom seen in the spring. — Wm. 

 Mansbridge ; 4, Norwich Road, Liverpool. 



Notes on the Spring Appearance op some Insects in York- 

 shire. — -I saw the first specimen of Pieris napi on March 21st, and 

 the first of P. rapce on March 24th, and after March 22nd both 

 P. atalanta and A. tcrticce were common, particulaidy the latter. 

 Humble bees appeared early too. The first ? of Bombus jyratorum 

 was seen on March 17th, and a ? of -B. terrestris was seen as early 

 as March 22nd. Last year I did not see any humble bees active 



