NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. IGl 



tioned (p. 207) that the pale variety then under consideration had been pre- 

 viously recorded, but that I could not then find the record. When search- 

 ing through the back numbers of the ' Entomologist ' a short time since, I 

 came accidentally across the record (Entom. ix. p. 253). It is by Mr. 

 Jenner Weir, who quotes M. E. Bellier de Chavigneiie, and the note dates 

 back to August loth, 1847. The note is to the effect that " five adonis, 

 which were captured just previous to a violent thunderstorm, were of a 

 beautiful lilac instead of the briglit blue of adonis;" but those who are 

 interested can easily read the whole of this most interesting note them- 

 selves. Suffice it to say that Mr. J. Jenner Weir, although not sup- 

 porting the view that " electricity " was the agent, inclined to the opinion of 

 the change of colour being due to "moisture ;" and this directly supports 

 the opinion of Mr. Briggs (Entom. xx. p. 254), who considered thai the 

 cause of these varieties should be sought for directly " in local or phyto- 

 phagical causes." Considering the light that appears of late to have been 

 thrown on the direct and indirect influence of moisture in the production of 

 certain forms of variation, it is most interesting to find that this record 

 should practically support that view. — J. W. Tutt ; Westcombe Park. 



OcNKRiA DisPAR. — Up to the end of 1888, 1 h:ive had in my possession 

 a race of this species, which the late Mr. Hem-y Willits and I have kept for 

 upwards of fourteen years. In 1886 I had fil'teen female pupae, from which 

 I bred one perfect imago, and from the remainder complete or partial 

 cripples (Entom. xix. 282). From five of these crippled spt^cimens I 

 obtained ova, and in 1887 I bred about 100 perfect speciuiens from those 

 larvEe which 1 retained for myself, and had only one cripple, a male. I 

 obtained ova from several pairs, and placed a few of these batches in 

 localities around here to try and naturalize them, but if they have fared the 

 same as mine the result will be nil. I reserved one batch for myself which 

 emerged on May 13th of this year. The greater part pupated during the 

 last week in August, but on October 21st I h.td eiglit larvae feeding 

 on withered whitethorn, there being no fresh procurable, which have 

 since died, though they were then only about half-grown. I have had 

 but one male out on September 2-lth. At the beginning of November, 

 though the pupae were alive, I felt anxious lest a night or two's frost 

 might prove fatal to them, and wishing them to emerge I brought them 

 into a room with a fire, All the pupae have now died and shrivelled 

 up, though not by any means kept too hot, and I have thus lost a brood 

 which I have reason to believe was of British extraction. I see the late Mr. 

 Buckler, in his ' Larvae of British Butterflies and Moths,' vol. ii., p. 32, 

 comes to the same conclusion with respect to forcing Deilephila when the 

 weather was mild, as I have done with my Ocnerla dispar, viz., " that 

 I ought not to have begun the forcing till the weather had become dry and 

 frosty, then the heat would have had due effect ; but, as it was, the great 

 humidity of the atmosphere had prevented this, and sufficient heat had not 

 reached the pupae to develop the imagines in them at once." Of course 

 these remarks apply to an insect which in a state of nature remains through 

 the winter in the pupa state, whereas 0. dispar is in the ova stage ; but the 

 same reason holds good for each, and, doubtless, if I had waited for cold 

 weather, I should have succeeded in getting at least a few out, as the pupae 

 were lively enough till I took them indoors, and twisted around in their 

 cocoons when touched, as noticed by Kirby and Spence in their ' Introduc- 



ENTOM. — JUNE, 188tJ. Kl 



