290 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Sphceria larvarum, Westw. — I have just seen the interesting notes 

 on Sphceria larvarum, by Messrs. George Howes and W. W. Smith, in 

 the ' Entomologist ' of June last (ante, pp. 128-130). There appears 

 to have been some question as to the liability of wood-boring larva? to 

 attack from the fungus. As bearing on this point I may mention that 

 I have on several occasions found larva? of our large wood-boring 

 hepialid, Phassus purpurascens, destroyed by this or an allied fungus. 

 In each case my attention was attracted by the appearance of the 

 clavate extremity of the fungus at the opening of the gallery. The 

 stalk extended some six to eight inches down tbe tunnel, and termi- 

 nated in tbe head of the dead larva, whose body was completely filled 

 and extended by the mycelium. To tbe best of my belief, tbe larva? 

 of Phassus never leave their tunnels in the tree, so the spores of the 

 fungus must get washed down to them. Their galleries are usually 

 vertical, running down the very centre of the stem, with a lateral 

 aperture at the upper extremity, through wbich the frass is ejected. 

 This frass does not fall to tbe ground, but is woven into a thick felt-like 

 curtain, tbat screens tbe entrance to the tunnel. The Phassus larva? 

 affect the following trees in this neighbourhood : — Trema orientalis, 

 Cinchona robusta, Callicarpa lanata, and a species of Rubus. — E. Ernest 

 Green ; Eton, Pundaluoya, Ceylon, October 14th, 1898. 



Amphidasys betularia (Linn.) var. doubledayaria (Mill.) in London. 

 — It is interesting to note of late bow this variety has become spread 

 over tbe London districts, and it seems by the notices that the captures 

 have been mostly individual ones, so perhaps the following may be 

 interesting. A. betularia has been very common here this season, and 

 maintained its popularity to the end. But the first appearance of 

 doubledayaria was not till June 28tb, when I took a light melanic male. 

 At first I thougbt it bad been robbed of its pigment, but afterwards 

 found I was mistaken. The next visit to light was July 2nd, when I 

 found another specimen on the ground, losing one tbe same evening. 

 The cold and windy nights made captures difficult except to the bats. 

 It was not until August 4th or 5th tbat this variety again came to 

 light, making a total of six specimens, including two found by a boy. 

 I had reason when collecting to note that the majority of the speci- 

 mens attracted by light were males, and also that this sex showed less 

 tendency to vary than tbe females. — H. W. Bell-Marley ; Ravens- 

 court Park, W., October 28th, 1898. 



Lyc^na lycidas. — In reference to the note on Jjyccena lyciclas [ante, 

 p. 260), I should like to mention that I took tbis insect in the valley 

 in which St. Nicholas lies as long ago as 1886, and it bad also been 

 taken tbere a year or two previously. In the same year I took two 

 specimens of it high up on tbe Gemmi Pass, which Dr. Staudinger, to 

 whom I showed them, pronounced to be an entirely new locality, but 

 I have not heard of their occurrence there since. — R. S. Standen ; 

 Thorpe Hall, Colchester, November 2nd, 1898. 



