NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 189 
road. Dismounting, we saw it fly over into a field by the roadside 
and settle on a brick which was lying by the side of an inner fence. 
To my surprise I saw that it was a large specimen of V. antiopa. 
It remained where it settled with its wings spread out, basking in 
the sunshine, which was very hot, it being about 12.15 p.m., and [ 
climbed the palings and went round so as to get to it from the 
other side to the sun. It allowed me to get quite close. Unfor- 
tunately I had nothing but my cap to try and capture it with, and 
I got almost above it, but, being over anxious, I struck too soon, and 
it rose at a sharp angle a few inches from my cap. The butterfly 
went over the road again into a private garden, where I followed 
as quickly as possible, but did not see it again, there being a 
number of trees around the grounds. We hung about for some 
time, and also visited the spot next day in the hope of seeing it 
again, but with no success. It was a very large specimen, larger 
than those I have in my collection (which were purchased). The 
border was very wide and very white. The blue spots were hardly 
noticeable. I was close enough to see that its fore wings were 
worn in some parts, the veins showing almost bare here and there ; 
otherwise the colouring was very rich and good. Is this not rather 
unusual for anéiopa to be encountered so far north? Though my 
friend Mr. J. J. F. X. King informs me he has seen a specimen 
in Shetland.— Wm. A. R. Jex Lona; 13, Hamilton Crescent, Partick, 
Glasgow. 
Ovirosrtion orf CeruRA FuRCULA.—Last summer (1915) I devoted 
a good deal of my spare time looking for the ova of Cerura furcula 
in Carmarthenshire, and found them in every instance except one 
on the underside of the sallow leaves ; as this is contrary to what is 
generally stated in books, I looked on it first as an accident, but 
eventually came to the conclusion that the insects prefer to deposit 
their ova under the leaf, although they are not so particular that they 
will not lay them almost anywhere. Females of this species will lay 
quantities of infertile eggs all over a breeding cage.—FREDERICK 
GiLLETtT (Major); Sundridge, Sevenoaks, Kent. 
On Rearina CaLtmorrna pominuLA.—It may interest some of 
your readers to know that in breeding C. dominula this year I found 
they required certain treatment to bring them successfully to the 
imago stage. The females lay very freely in captivity; the larve 
feed up well on nettle, but at first they require careful counting 
when the food plant is changed, as they are very easily overlooked. 
When old enough to be put into a breeding cage, some dry moss 
should be placed on the floor, as they like to hide amongst it. About 
October they began to hibernate, and continued in that state until 
January 9th, when they commenced to move about. They took 
readily to dead nettle, and continued feeding on this until the 
common nettle was available. On March 24th they began to 
spin up. I had hardly lost a single larve up to this date, but 
as the weather got warmer I began putting them in the sun- 
shine. This I found they did not like, and as the sun did not 
make up for the warmth they had had, most of them began 
to shrivel up and gave up feeding. I put them back on the 
