NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 17 



larvffi ; but the cocoons from which the pale females emerged 

 were light brown, those from which the dark ones emerged were 

 nearly black. I never had any of these larvse feeding on ling, 

 and never had, as far as I recollect, any stay over in the pupa 

 state till the second year, so I concluded that I had only varieties 

 of B. quercus. I formed my collection under the disadvantage of 

 working almost alone, and without opportunity, except on very 

 rare occasions, of seeing any other collection.. After reading 

 lately Newman's differentiation of these species, I should be 

 much inclined to think that I have both B. quercus and B. 

 calluncs in my series were it not that I am quite certain I never 

 had any larvae feeding on ling. But then some of the specimens 

 I caught flying might have fed on ling. — T.E. Crallan; Emsworth. 



The Genus Scoparia. — Since the appearance of my note on 

 this genus (Entom. xviii. 129) much progress has been made in 

 working it out. Mr. Banks has, with Mr. Stainton's assistance, 

 satisfactorily disposed of ijhceolucalis by striking it out of our 

 lists altogether, and relegating our English specimens to the 

 sub-rank of a variety of mercurella, under its original name, 

 portlandica. Mr. Mason recently has telescoped conspicualis into 

 the long lost ulmella, thereby sending another of our northern 

 names after so many of its predecessors, while zelleri and gracilalis, 

 except with a few who still cling convulsively to our printed lists, 

 have respectively sunk quietly into cemhrce and alpinalis. Much, 

 however, still remains to be done. Inspection of a large number 

 of hasistrigalis has shown that there is a form as nearly as 

 possible intermediate between that species and amhigiialis, but to 

 what this fact will eventually lead us I am at present unable to 

 say. Possibly hasistrigalis, distinct as it appears, ma}^ in time 

 have to sink as a variety of ambigualis. Similarly the specimens 

 forming the intermediate links between ambigualis and atomalis, 

 render the position of the latter very unsatisfactory ; while we 

 still want some definite boundary line between mercurella and 

 cratcegella. If, during the ensuing season, entomologists would 

 turn their attention to these species, carefully labelling each 

 specimen with its locality and date, we might, by the end of 

 1887, have the genus once more in a clear and intelligible state. 

 C. A. Briggs ; 55, Lincoln's Inn Fields, December 18, 1886. 



Trigonophora flammea bred. — This autumn I have suc- 

 ceeded in rearing eight specimens of Trigonophora flammea 



ENTOM. — JAN., 1887. D 



