405 



heterogeneous group generally known under the name of Bolitophagus, 

 more particularly to that division of the group with velvety vestiture 

 and uneven surface, which are so well known as coming from North 

 America. The antennas are rather longer than the pro thorax, 11 -jointed, 

 moniliform, and slightly incrassated exteriorly ; they are black, with 

 the terminal joint brown : the head is nearly received into the pro- 

 thorax, and, together with that part, is uneven, velvety and black ; 

 the sides of the prothorax are dilated, turned up, and furnished with 

 an acute tooth near the middle of each lateral edge : the elytra are 

 wider than the prothorax, velvety, impressed with large and deep 

 punctures, which appear partially arranged in striie, but the striae are 

 much interrupted, and very difficult to trace ; they are very uneven ; 

 each has seven tubercular elevations, elongated longitudinally, besides 

 minor inequalities ; they are of a rich velvety orange-red colour, 

 with the suture, a central fascia, and the margins, black : the legs and 

 under surface of the abdomen are thickly sprinkled with red hairs. 



Edward Newman. 



Art. C VII. — Varieties. 



219. Vanessa Urticm. (Short duration in the pupa state). May 30th, 

 I brought home several caterpillars of the above when they were upon 

 the point of assuming the pupa state, ( one of them formed its tuft, 

 and appended itself horizontally whilst in the small box in my pocket), 

 I put them into a breeding cage as soon as I amved at home ; the 

 second caterjDillar spun its tuft next day, and became a pupa on Wed- 

 nesday afternoon, June 1st : on Thursday morning, June 9th, about 9 

 o'clock, I was surprised at beholding a butterfly in the cage, with its 

 wings fully expanded, which I found, upon opening the box, to be 

 the one that effected its metamorphosis on the Wednesday week pre- 

 vious : the exact time it became an imago I cannot state, further than 

 it had not left its puparium at noon the previous day ; but, even ad- 

 mitting that it had just effected its final change a couple of hours 

 before I saw it, (which could not have been later from the full expan- 

 sion of the wings), the duration of its life, in the quiescent state, was 

 only 7'^ days, or, reckoning from the time it attached itself to the tuft, 

 Sg^ days ; a much shorter time than I have ever yet seen an account 

 of, observed by any person. — James Bladon ; Pont-y-pool. 



