NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 275 



taken a good number at Dulwich and Croydon, and have had the same 

 experience with regard to a number shrinking and drying. I think 

 this is due to constipation, owing to the dry state of the food-plant 

 caused by the very hot weather ; I had the same thing occur with larvas 

 of Arctia caia earlier in the year. — C. W. Colthrup ; East Dulwich. 



Lepidoptera from China. — I have only recently seen Mr. Kirby's 

 article (ante, p. 31), but I think a few further notes may be of interest. 



Crebeta deidamia, Eversm. — March 28th should of course be May 

 28th, as we only took over Wei-hai-wei on May 25th. This butterfly 

 occurs during May and again in August, and I have taken it both at 

 Wei-hai-wei and Chifu ; it has a special liking for steep hillsides strewn 

 with fragments of rock. 



Ccenonympha amaryllis, Cram. — Common during the first half of 

 June, and occurs again in August, but more sparingly. 



Chrysophanus turcicus, Gerh. = phlceas, L. et auct. — The spring 

 specimens are quite typical, but summer and autumn examples are 

 darker, and fall under the head of var. eleus, Fabr. They are not, 

 however, nearly so dark as some of the Japanese summer brood. 



Pieris daplidice, L. — Common at Wei-hai-wei and Chifu in May and 

 August, and especially fond of patches of dry sand near the beach. 



Macroglossa stellatarum, L. — Common at Wei-hai-wei and Chifu 

 almost all the year round ; I have taken it from April to October. 



Zygcena (Syntomis) phegea, L. — Occurs during the first three weeks 

 of June. It was abundant in 1898, but this year I only noticed a few. 

 These Wei-hai-wei specimens are peculiar as wanting the characteristic 

 white tip to the antennre, and so fall under ab. nigricomis ; this form 

 therefore occurs here, not as an occasional aberration, but as a perma- 

 nent local race. 



On p. 31, line 9 from top, for Len-kung-tan, read Leu-kung-tao 

 (or -tau). — T. B. Fletcher; H.M.S. 'Centurion,' China Station, 

 September 6th, 1899. 



Forficula lesnei. — With Mr. W. J. Ashdown, the discoverer of 

 F. lesnei in the neighbourhood of Leatherhead, I visited two of its 

 haunts about a week ago. Beating bushes in the hedgerows produced 

 it in considerable numbers ; in fact, it was obtained much more 

 commonly than its congener F. auricularia, as many as three or 

 four being more than once found in the umbrella at the same time. 

 It is easily distinguished at sight from the commoner species by its 

 much smaller size, its rich sienna-red colouring, and in the male by 

 the shape and colour of the forceps, which look conspicuously pale. 

 Of course, closer examination reveals the fact that there are no wings 

 in either sex. Males occurred rather more commonly than the females, 

 which latter appear to hybernate, for Mr. Ashdown says that he takes 

 this sex only in the spring. Notices was taken of the trees of which 

 the hedges consisted, from which F. lesnei were beaten. The following 

 at least were amongst them : — Bramble, hazel, wayfaring-tree, dog- 

 wood, blackthorn, whitethorn, elder, ivy, rose, oak, maple, and spindle- 

 tree. The list is long enough, but probably no significance is to be 

 attached to it, as no doubt the earwigs used the bushes simply for shelter 

 or were searching on them for food. F. lesnei will eat fruit, and Mr. 



