140 THK ENTOMOLOGIST. 



crab-like. Fagi has a way, too, of throwing out its legs when 

 irritated, just in the same way that a crab has of rearing 

 itself up and hitting out with its claws to avoid being 

 handled. Perhaps the coming summer may give me another 

 opportunity of watching the transformation.— H. M. Golding 

 Bird; 45,'Elgin Crescent, March 13, 1877. 



" Assp:mbling" in Geometry. — Mr. Cooper's interesting 

 note, in the March number of the 'Entomologist' (Entom. x. 

 74), recalls to my mind two instances of a similar phenomenon 

 which came under my own observation. At dusk on the 4th 

 of July, 1874, my brother and I were engaged in "mothing" 

 in one of the enclosures near Lyndhurst, when we noticed a 

 number of Hemithea thymiaria hovering over a small black- 

 thorn bush in a very peculiar manner. Investigation proved 

 them to be all males; and a little further search, by aid of 

 the lantern, revealed the cause of their proceedings in the 

 shape of a fine female moth seated on a twig, and unmistakably 

 "calling" the eager green suitors to her bower. The other 

 case in point presented itself on the 23rd of May in the 

 following year, the spot being the hedge-row surrounding 

 " Three-acre Field," on the outskirts of Woodford Forest. A 

 dozen or more male Rumia cratcegata were fluttering over 

 and around a bush, in which, after a considerable search, we 

 found the female: she was not quite so bold in coquetry as 

 the Hemithea, but had ensconced herself somewhat in the 

 interior of the thicket. The only record of the observation 

 of this habit among the Geometrcv that 1 remember is that by 

 Mr. C. G. Barrett (E. M. M. iv. 160). There the species was 

 the beautiful Phorodesma bajularia ; and he remarks that 

 the female appeared to have as great a power of " assembling" 

 as some of the Boinhyces. I cannot help thinking, however, 

 that the power must reside with many species, for in the 

 majority of cases female moths fly little, if at all, before 

 impregnation ; and therefore it is only reasonable to suppose 

 that they possess some subtle means of enticing their 

 vagrant consorts. I have often taken specimens of various 

 species off tree trunks, &c., in perfect condition, and with the 

 meconium unexpelled, but which have still laid batches of 

 fertile eggs. The males of Boarmia rohoraria are generally 

 worn to tatters, whilst the females, although capable of 

 all matronal duties, may be found at rest, still retaining every 



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