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NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. '365 



M. Oberthixr, however, associates it in Brittany with the granite 

 chffs of the Cote d'Emeraiule, flitting over the flowering gorse 

 and heather. — H. Rowland-Brown; Harrow- Weald, October 14th, 

 1915. 



HiPPARCHiA SEMELE AND Flowers. — You may hardly think it 

 worth while to add any further notes on the habits of Hipparchia 

 semele in relation to flowers, for like most butterflies it appears to 

 vary its practice according to locality. But this summer on the 

 Guernsey cliffs H. semele was very abundant, and on large patches 

 of heather and cushions of wild thyme was to be seen resting in 

 numbers, and as actively enjoying the sweets as any other visitors. 

 Had it not been for Mr. Rowland-Brown's experience of its fondness 

 for sea holly — and Messrs. Russell James's and F. W. Frohawk 

 quoting scabious, majoram, centaury and field thistle — I should have 

 said its attentions were, with few exceptions, confined to flowers 

 lying close against the ground. It is, I think, probable that its 

 habits vary less with locality, than with its length of days. It will 

 not often, I believe, visit flowers when it is recently emerged from 

 chrysalis, but as it becomes worn and vitality is lowered, it seeks 

 rejuvenescence from the flowers. Perhaps after pairing, or between 

 the labour of ovipositing, the females thus refresh themselves. 

 Certainly those captures (in my own experience) settled on flowers 

 are often far past their first beauty. — Frank E. Lowe; Guernsey, 

 October 13th, 1915. 



SiREX GiGAs IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. — A Specimen of Sirex gigas 

 was captured here on September 4th, on the wall of the house in 

 the early morning. — B, A. Coney ; Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, 

 October 23rd, 1915. 



CucuLLiA LYCHNiTis AND VERBASCi. — Having met with the larvae 

 of verbasci feeding indifferently on various species of Verbascum 

 (mullein) and Scrophularia (figwort) in sundry places, I was rather 

 puzzled to reconcile some of Mr. Spiller's statements on p. 244. He 

 speaks of a waste piece of land "in most places soft and spongy," by 

 which, I presume, he means boggy or marshy, and " covered with a 

 profusion of the golden-yellow flowers of the food-pla7its " (italics 

 mine), by which, I presume he refers to several species of mullein. 

 It would be interesting to know which species they were, because 

 the mulleins, as a genus, are characteristic of dry calcareous or 

 gravelly soils, and all our British species have yellow or creamy- 

 yellow flowers. On the other hand, all the figworts have reddish 

 or purple flowers, except one, in which they are yellow, and all, 

 except this one, prefer damp or wet situations. If Mr. Spiller 

 found mulleins growing in boggy or marshy ground it is a botanical 

 observation worth noting. Possibly, though, the plants were growing 

 on dry "islands" amongst the surrounding "soft and spongy" spots; 

 but even this would be worth noting. I myself met with four larvae 

 of lychnitis in Gloucestershire, in July, 1913, and they were feeding 

 on the flowers of water figwort {Scrophularia aquatica) along the 

 banks of a stream in a low-lying meadow. All pupated safely and 

 went over two winters, three of them producing nice specimens last 



ENTOM. — NOVEMBER, 1915. Z 



