﻿NOTKS AND OBSEUVATIONS. 287 



and seed-heads, and on examining them to-day I find several of the 

 larvae still there and quite healthy and strong. It is evident, there- 

 fore, that the larva) can and do sometimes hihernate in the seeds, 

 and clearly Mr. Claxton's larva came to him among the seeds v^^hich 

 he purchased. But I feel equally sure that what usually happens is 

 that the larvte leave the seed-pods, or get thrown out of them when 

 the ripe seed is discharged, and that they then enter the ground or 

 the root crowns of the plants, and there hibernate. Mr. Nicholson 

 (vol. xlv. p. 206) states that the insect is double-brooded. This may 

 be so in some cases, but I have never known it to be so here, and 

 my young larvjE which were hatched early in July are even now not 

 more than an eighth of an inch long. The colour is dirty white, 

 covered with black spots, and a blackhead. — Percy C. Keid; Feering 

 Bury, Kelvedon, November 15th, 1915. 



Injury to the Wings of Lyc^na arion. — I see by Mr. J. H. 



Grant's note in the ' Entomologist,' p. 263, that he still is inclined 

 to believe that the injury to the wings of L. arion is caused by ants, 

 and adds that he " would like to know if the Cornwall specimens 

 exhibit similar injuries." If the damage was not caused by the 

 means I alluded to (p. 243), as one might suppose from Mr. Grant's 

 statement in his first note (p. 215), that all had similar injuries, it 

 appears hardly likely that it w^ould be the result of either accident or 

 the work of ants. I may say that I have not noticed similar injury 

 to the Cornish arion, although I have examined a great number of 

 specimens, considerably over a thousand. There is no butterfly 

 which appears more subject to become injured than arion, especially 

 in its Cornish localities, chiefly owing to its habit of taking shelter 

 in furze bushes. From what is known of this butterfly I think the 

 ant theory as regards injury the least hkely. — F. W. Frohawk ; 

 November, 1915. 



Unrecorded Food-plants op the Larva of Orqyia antiqua. — 

 In August last I received from a correspondent in Stirling, N.B., a 

 number of eggs, larvae, and pupae of Orgyia antiqua for identification, 

 together with a note stating that a pond filled with rushes on the 

 moors and surrounded with heather was swarming with the larvce in 

 "hundreds of thousands" feeding on the rushes, eating them down. 

 Some of the cocoons received were spun up in clusters among the 

 rushes, as well as amongst the heather. I believe this is the first 

 instance known of antiqua feeding on rushes and heather. I may 

 add that a large number of minute ichneumon flies emerged from 

 the eggs after they reached me. — F. W. Frohawk ; Nov. 15th, 1915. 



Resting Habit of Ccenonympha tiphon (davus). — This is a 

 species best to "mark down." The ground is usually too treacherous 

 for rushing, therefore keep your eye on the spot and advance to it 

 leisurely. The closed wings of the butterfly assimilate in coloration 

 with the surroundings, but the spots on the exposed under side 

 always give it away. This peculiar resting habit has always been 

 familiar to me in Hippardiia semele; but I cannot remember ever 

 having seen it in any other of the " Satyrs," excepting tiphon. 

 However, it is an interesting point, and it is to be hoped the readers 



