12 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Variety of Pyrarga Megcera. — 1 send you a sketch 

 (enlarged) of the upper wing of P. Megaera. I do not 

 recollect having seen this variety before. The principal 

 feature is the well-developed small eye, just below the large 

 apical spot. Is this an uncommon variety ? The hind 

 wings have five perfect spots, each with a white dot in the 

 centre ; the colour of the wings is the same as any other 

 good specimen. Perhaps you will kindly remark on this. 

 — Chas. George Wehsdale ; 78, High Street, Barnstaple, 

 December 26,\87 1. 



During the summer of 1870 I received an insect, exactly 

 similar to Mr. Websdale's figure, from Mr. Alfred Owen, and 

 believed it to be the Pyrarga Msera of the continent. Being, 

 however, unable to determine this, and feeling an invincible 

 repugnance to the announcement of novelties unless fully 

 convinced of their intrinsic value, I sent it to my friend 

 Mr. Doubleday, who did not think it distinct from 

 P. Megaera. The matter, therefore, remained in abeyance 

 until further evidence was obtained. The receipt of Mr. 

 Websdale's drawing again brings the subject before me, and 

 I have a second time submitted the subject to my friend, 

 who has examined Mr. Websdale's drawing, and thus replies 

 in a letter for my own information : — "1 return Mr. Websdale's 

 note, with the sketch of the butterfly's wing. It appears to 

 be the same as the one which Mr. Owen has ; and I believe 

 Mr. Dale possesses similar specimens. It appears to me to 

 be identical with Lyssa of Boisduval, which is found in 

 Dalmatia and other parts of Eastern Europe, and which 

 Boisduval thought might be a hybrid between Megaera and 

 Maera; but Dr. Staudinger gives it as a simple variety of 

 Megaera. 1 think the subject is worth investigating, as this 

 form appears to occur along the southern coast of England. 

 1 have never seen a male. — Henry Doubleday.'''' 



The Genus Plaiypieryx. — In reply to your queries in 

 the 'Entomologist' about P. unguicula, 1 have bred a 

 second brood from eggs of the first, and have taken 

 specimens of (probably) a second brood at sugar. This 

 would be the end of July or beginning of August; in one 

 case on July 22nd, 1870, — a forward year. We also beat the 

 larvae of Unguicula regularly in September and October, 

 which always remain in pupa till spring, or early summer; 



