NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 171 



from home the greater part of the time when the second brood is 

 in the larval state, and as this brood can always be obtained 

 abundantly in the autumn, I have never reared it. My experience 

 of the imagines of P. gonodactyla may be summarised as follows : — 

 1. There are two broods; one occurring in June, the other in the 

 latter part of August, September, and October. 3. The second 

 brood is generall}^ smaller, and not so decidedly marked, the 

 earlier specimens of this brood especially having a bleached 

 appearance. 3. The imagines vary widely in size, colour, and 

 intensity of markings, from the same locality. I have taken some 

 hundreds of the species, and bred many ; and there is no doubt 

 that the extreme forms might, by those ignorant of the species, 

 be taken as allied species. But if we are to take every shade of 

 colour and difference of size as determining a species, we shall soon 

 get our plumes into the same condition as we seem to have got 

 the genera Agrotis and Scojiaria. — J. W. Tutt ; Eayleigh Villa, 

 Westcombe Park, Blackheath, S.E., May 10, 1884. 



The Genus Platyptilia. — In the note appended to my 

 description of P. gonodactyla (trigonodactylus), (Entom. xv. 39), I 

 solicited further assistance to enable me to elucidate some 

 difficulties which presented themselves in the satisfactory identi- 

 fication of certain forms of this species (?) seen by me in 

 collections. To this end I asked for larvae of the coltsfoot-feeding 

 " plume " from any locality, but none were sent me. Although I 

 have not myself met with specimens later than the first week in 

 July, I have been informed by Mr. Machin and other entomolo- 

 gists that there are two broods of gonodactyla in the year. 

 Granted that there are two broods, and that the individuals of 

 the second brood are generally smaller and less decidedly marked 

 than those of the first brood, we still lack an important item of 

 knowledge. What is the larva of the second brood like ? Is it 

 identical with the larva which feeds and pupates in the seed- 

 heads of the coltsfoot ? Recent experience with certain species 

 of Lepidoptera has induced me to conclude that colour and 

 ornamentation are not in all cases thoroughly trustworthy 

 characteristics whereby we can differentiate species. The genus 

 Platyptilia is a most perplexing one ; and until we know the 

 larvse of not only all the species, but in the case of a horeomorphic 

 species, such as gonodactyla would appear to be, of each form of 

 the species, we shall be unable satisfactorily to determine the 



