THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 253 



This drew forth the following communication from M. E. 

 Bellier de Chavignerie : — 



"Under the title of 'Simple Notes' there have appeared, 

 in 'Les Petites Nouvelles Enlomologiques,' several interesting 

 articles by M. le Marquis de Lafitole regarding observations 

 about Lepidoptera, which he has made during several years. 

 In one of these articles M. de Lafitole, in writing of Chelonia 

 caja, gives an account of some experiments which he made 

 in order to obtain varieties of this very variable species, and 

 concludes by suggesting whether electricity is not one of the 

 principal causes of variation among Lepidoptera. 



"This opinion of M. de Lafitole on the influence which 

 electricity may have in causing varieties, coincides with IJiat 

 expressed by me many years ago in a ' Note on the 

 Accidental Variation of Lepidoptera,' ]Dublished in the 

 ' Annales de la Societe entomologique de France,' 1858, 

 p. 299, and to support it I related a very remarkable fact 

 which I had witnessed. The note is as follows: — 'On the 

 15th of August, 1847, 1 was in a locality where Lycaena Adonis 

 is found in abundance, in order to obtain a supply of its 

 food-plant. The heat had been intense for several days, and 

 a storm was evidently at hand. In fact, I had scarcely 

 arrived at the hunting-ground, and had only time to pin my 

 first five Adonis, when a violent storm burst and forced me 

 hastily to return. What was my astonishment, on leisurely 

 examining my captures at home, — the result of an excursion 

 so suddenly interrupted, — to find that the colour of my five 

 Adonis, which had emerged but a few hours, was a 

 beautiful lilac, instead of the bright blue which is so notice- 

 able in all the Lycacnidae. It was in vain that 1 frequently 

 revisited the same locality ; never again did I see this curious 

 aberration. It would have been interesting to know whether 

 all the Adonis which emerged on the 15th of August, 1847, 

 in the same locality, under the influence of an atmosphere 

 highly charged with electricity, were affected in the same 

 way as the five specimens that I took on that day.' 



" My reason for recording this incident — which is, alas ! 

 thirty years old, and which the labours of M. de Lafitole 

 have brought to mind — is to draw the attention of entomolo- 

 gists to the subject, and to advise them to direct their 

 investigations to, and to increase their experiences in, the 



