265 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Food-plants of the Larva of Cnephasia sinuana, Steph. — Mr. 

 Bankes's remarks on the food-plants of this species had escaped my 

 eye until the other day, when I was looking over the July number of 

 the ' Entomologist.' He there (p. 194) states that Mr. G. Elisha bred 

 it from spun-up flowers of Ckrysanthcnuuii leucanthemnm, collected in 

 North Kent. If he will turn to the ' Entomologist' for the year 1879 

 (vol. xii. p. 61) he will there see that Mr. Elisha says: " I have also 

 bred 8. pasivana (sinuana) rathe^ ireely the last two seasons from larvae 

 feeding in the flowers of Chri/santhemum leucanthemnm .... various 

 parts of Kent and Surrey." Now the question is, Did he breed 

 sinuana, Steph., from this plant at all ? Of course pasivana, or more 

 correctly pascuana, Hiib., is, as everyone knows, a very different species, 

 bearing no resemblance whatever to sinuana, Steph., and it does feed 

 (as well as upon several other plants) upon the flowers of the " dog 

 daisy." I am aware that for some extraordinary reason Dr. Wocke 

 sank simiana, Steph., as a synonym of "pasivana," Hiib. ; not by any 

 means the only mistake he made. Possibly Mr. Elisha was using 

 Wocke's name, otherwise surely there must have been some mistake 

 somewhere ! There is one great difficulty to get over. If the late 

 Mr. Sang saw the specimens which were bred from C. lencanthem.}im, 

 and pronounced them to be simiana, Steph., I of course must bow to 

 his decision, as so good an entomologist could never have mixed up 

 two such very distinct species. — A. Thurnall ; " Mascotte," White- 

 hall Road, Thornton Heath, Sept. 12th, 1902. 



Note on Euzophera pinguis. — On Thursday, August 7th, I was 

 passing (about 8 p.m.) a solitary ash tree about ten minutes' walk from 

 here, and upon glancing at the trunk as I passed was rather surprised 

 at counting thirteen specimens of Euzophera piiufuis upon it ; most of 

 them had only just left the pupa, their wings being held butterfly 

 fashion over their backs. I visited this tree for several successive 

 evenings until the 17th, and never failed to find several on each visit. 

 On two occasions the moths were seen to leave the pupa. After an 

 interval of nearly a fortnight I revisited the tree, and E. pinguis was 

 still coming out, but in much smaller numbers, and last evening (31st) 

 I saw one just emerging. In all I boxed forty, and saw quite fifty 

 more out of reach, as they come out late in the afternoon, and very 

 soon run up the trunk, generally well out of reach. How long they 

 had been appearing before the 7th of course I am unable to say, but 

 during the month I think I may say, without much exaggeration, that 

 hundreds must have emerged from this one unfortunate ash ! — A. 

 Thurnali. ; Whitehall Road, Thornton Heath, Sept. 1st, 1902. 



Aberration of Vanessa urtic^e. — Miss G. Jeddere-Fisher caught 

 a specimen of V. urticcc, at East Grinstead, Sussex, ou August 28th, 

 1901. This example is entirely without the two spots on the disc of 

 the wing, and is similar in form to that mentioned in Newman's 

 ' British Butterflies ' as the variety ichnusa of Bonelli. 



Aberrations of Zyg^na minos. — On June 18th I visited the Welsh 

 locality for the above-named species, and found it in great numbers. 



EKTOM. — OCTOBER, 1902. Y 



