NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 277 



there I know not, the larva feeding only on lime. The majority 

 of the twenty -nine taken were found within two feet of the 

 ground on the ash trunks, but some (and I noticed especially on 

 windy days) on the grass within eighteen inches of the trunks. 

 The variety unicolor was not among them. If xerampelina is 

 looked for in the way indicated by Mr. Carrington, it will become, 

 I venture to think, as common as Xanthia fulvago or X. flavago. 

 — J. Seymour St. John; Chalfont St. Peter, Slough, Sept. 12. 



CiRRHffiDIA XERAMPELINA IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE — As an old 



collector in Gloucestershire of Cirrhoedia xerampelina, I read 

 with interest your note on collecting that species (Entom. 202). 

 I have taken here forty-three this year, and I have no doubt I 

 might have taken any quantity if I had devoted time to it. I once, 

 in Gloucestershire, dug twenty-four pupae at one tree, and then 

 found several imagines on the same tree. I have often wondered 

 if Dasycampa rubiginea could be found in the same way. There 

 are many oaks here, and I mean to look this year. I was some 

 jesiYS, ago in Devonshire, and dug seventeen pupse of D. rubiginea 

 at one tree. Hadena protea may be found in quantity in the 

 same way as C. xerampelina, and also Polia clii. I find the 

 C. xerampelina earlier in the day than you mention, from 11 to 

 3 p.m. — E. Hallett Todd; Stretton-en-le-Field, Ashby-de-la- 

 Zouch, September 10, 1887. 



On Xanthia fulvago var. flavescens. — I have somewhere 

 seen written, and often heard stated, that the var. flavescens of 

 Xanthia fulvago is much more frequently bred from larvae found 

 feeding in the catkins of osier (Salix viminalis) than in those 

 from the common species of that genus (S. caprea and S. cinerea), 

 and to account for this the theory is advanced that this form 

 being uniform yellow in colour approaches much nearer in tint 

 the autumnal leaves of S. viminalis than typical specimens, and 

 thus being better concealed from its enemies by the process of 

 natural selection is gradually becoming itself the type of the 

 local races, the larvae of which feed upon this plant. Now this is 

 all very beautiful in theory, and if a fact is a most interesting and 

 instructive one ; but it seems doubtful (as far as the experience I 

 have been able to gather shows) whether it will bear examination. 

 It may be remarked that Xanthia fulvago is a very widely distri- 

 buted and also a strong flying species, and as several varieties of 



