116 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



may decide, I think that most entomologists will agree witliMf. Tutt's 

 acceptance of bradyporina for the greyish form we most frequently get 

 in England ; and also, when they have seen the, at present, scarce 

 variety which I have called melanocephala, that it is distinctly a 

 melanic race, characterized by a predominance of black in the colora- 

 tion of the fore wings, and with black thorax and abdomen. — Wm. 

 Mansbridge. 



IscHNURA EiiEGANS IN Spain. — Mr. K. J. Morton calls my attention 

 to the fact that Ischnura elegans has at last been recorded from Spain, 

 on the strength of specimens now in his collection, and which were 

 were sent for I. graelhlL The record is in the ' Bulletin of the Spanish 

 Natural History Society.' — W. J. Lucas. 



Extraordinary Number of Pup^e of Culex hirsutipalpis. — On 

 November 21st, 1905, while journeying from the Port of Benguella, 

 West Africa, to Ohiyaka, in the interior, I noticed two small pools by 

 the roadside near a native village, and which appeared from a little 

 distance to be of a brown colour. On approachmg them, I found the 

 surface of the water literally packed with mosquito pupfe. Over most 

 of the surface of the smaller pool (in which they were most numerous, 

 and which comprised an area about two yards square), the pup^e lay as 

 closely together as capillarity would allow, while only in a small space 

 less than a foot square, near the middle of the pool, did they seem 

 to be perceptibly scattered. On watching them for some minutes, I 

 observed a wave-like motion throughout the brood, which went on 

 after the following manner at nearly regular iutervals. At one edge 

 of the pool the pupfe sank out of sight and quickly rose again to the 

 surface, their neighbours following suit until the opposide side was 

 reached, the whole procedure producing the odd impression of a bar of 

 clear water, about eight inches wide, which appeared to move across 

 the pool like the shadow of a narrow plank. As the pup® rose each 

 time many could be seen straggling for room to protrude their spiracles, 

 and the lack of space perceptibly delayed the appearance of some. Of 

 course the pupae sank when I placed my hand near the water, but after 

 holding it quiet until they rose again, I made a quick dip with a flaring 

 cup about five inches across. In this manner I secured over six 

 hundred pupas. besides a few larvffi of different sizes. About eleven 

 hundred pupse would have completely occupied the surface of the water 

 in the cup. There seemed to be but few larvffi in the pool, but I saw 

 eighteen egg-rafts. On breeding out some of the pupa3 they were seen 

 to be C. hirsutipalpis, Theob. — F. Creighton Wellmann ; Benguella, 

 West Africa, February 25th, 1906. 



The Barrett Collection of British Lepidoptera, — The first 

 portion of this notable collection, comprising all families to the end of 

 the Geometridas, was disposed of in 301 lots by Mr. J. C. Stevens at 

 the well-known auction rooms in King Street, Covent Garden, on 

 March 13th last. 



Owing to pressure on our space we are unable to report results in 

 any detail, and the following notes therefore only refer to the more 

 important items. Among the Pieridae tliere was one lot of sixty-eight 

 specimens including a fine sulphur-yellow example of Pieris napi, and 



