NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 67 



all went there the same day, but that each one arrived there finally 

 to pupate." In a postscript written January 14th, Mr. Morris adds : 

 " Awful day, perishingly cold ; hail, wind, rain, thunder and light- 

 ning. ... I was never more surprised in my life than when 

 I looked at my L. bceticus and found three emerged, one a cripple, 

 all males." Such weather as has been the rule at Cannes this 

 winter must play havoc with exposed larvae feeding throughout the 

 bad season. Mr. Morris mentions six Charaxes jasms larvae nibbling 

 in captivity, but, in addition to adverse conditions of climate, he 

 notifies that much of the forest timber is being felled in the Alpes- 

 Maritimes for trench purposes, while the woodcutters, finding that 

 the arbutus, which is the food-plant of jasius, burns well, are 

 destroying it in quantities, and whole acres are being denuded of 

 this splendid shrub-like tree. — H. E.-B. 



Food-plants of Acherontia ateopos and Hibernation of 

 Lampides BffiTicus. — Writing from 7, Eue Mereille, Hydros, 

 January 15th, Mr. Harold Powell reminds me {cp., p. 17, antea) 

 that he has already recorded olive as a food-plant for A. atropos in 

 Tutt's ' British Lepidoptera, vol. iv, p. 433, where a similar observa- 

 tion is recorded in northern Italy by Calberla. He adds : " The 

 favourite food-plant at Hydros appears to be the creeper Solcmum 

 jasminoides. With regard to L. bceticus, there seems to be no 

 doubt that this Blue is a continuous-brooded species in its warmer 

 habitats, but I fancy that very few of the larvae or pupae resulting 

 from the latest broods survive the winter on the Eiviera. I have 

 always found bceticus very rare in the spring at Hydros, where it 

 does not become abundant until well on in the summer. The few 

 specimens I have taken here in the spring were in fresh condition, 

 and had probably hatched out from pupae that had been formed 

 early in the winter, or else the larvae had passed the winter. In my 

 opinion, our supply depends mainly upon immigrants from a warmer 

 climate. Bceticus is common enough in late summer and autumn ; 

 I saw a specimen on the wing as recently as December 24th last, 

 flying round a rosemary bush in a sheltered spot. I have partially 

 reared larvae on lucerne in October, but did not get them to pupate. 

 At the beginning of October, 1902, I saw a female laying her eggs on 

 flower-buds of Ipomcea scandens; I secured one of the eggs, which 

 hatched in due course, but I lost sight of the larvaB. This seems 

 a queer food-plant for bceticus." M. Oberthiir says that in certain 

 Algerian localities, especially in the south, the generations of bceticus 

 should succeed one another almost without interruption. — H. E.-B. 



Cheimatobia brumata AND Frost. — It may be interesting to 

 note that C. brumata was flying freely here last night (February 7th), 

 although it was freezing hard at the time, and although we have now 

 had about four week's hard and unbroken frost. Altogether I noticed 

 over a dozen individuals on the wing, and I took out my net and 

 caught one for verification. Of course it is not unusual to see 

 C. brumata out occasionally when the temperature is a little below 

 freezing, but I think that it is a fact worth noting that he was on the 

 wing after a month's hard frost, and before that frost had broken. At 

 any rate, it is the first time that I have used a butterfly net amidst 



