NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



233 



The larvii! of V. to have not been as common as usual, and I 

 liave only seen ei^lit broods. 1 toolc a few from each — about a 

 hundred altogether — and (K) per cent, of them were ichneumoned. 



Ijarvu! of .1. iirtic(e have been quite rare, and I only came 

 across three small nests, taking a dozen from each, and they 

 were all stung. 



Dovercouit, Essex ; 



Au'-ust lOtli, 1!)20. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Aberrant Butterflies. — Tlie following aberrations, taken by 

 my brother and myself during this year, may be of interest: 

 Meldiianjia galatea, male, taken July 18tb, 1920, at Broadway, 

 Gloucestersliire. The black markings on the under side of the 

 hind wings and the tip of the fore wings are replaced by a golden 

 brown. The specimen is perfectly fresh. Parargc megcera, female, 

 taken August 6th, 1920, near Penzance. The whole space between 

 the central transverse lines on the fore wings is black with the excep- 

 tion of a few fulvous scales at the end of the discal cell. The same 

 area on the under side is shaded with black. The specimen is unfor- 

 tunately badly damaged. Epineplielc jiLrtina {Utnira), female, taken 

 August i5tii, 1920, near Penzance. The whole of the brown colour and 

 the black eye-spot are replaced by silver-grey on the upper side, while 

 the under side approaches tliis colour. The fulvous portions retain 

 their normal colour on both sides. E. jitrtina, female, taken x\ugust 

 8th, 1920, near Penzance. Tlie usual fulvous patch on the wings is 

 entirely replaced by white, while the brown portions retain their 

 usual colour. Tlie under side is sliglitly pale. (A number of speci- 

 mens approaching this form were taken.) E. tithonus, male, taken 

 August 12th, 1920, near Penzance. A very dark specimen in which 

 the black encroaches upon the fulvous on all the wings, reducing that 

 on the hind wings to a few scales only. On the under si'de of the 

 fore wings the basal area is covered with black scales. — E. Bolton 

 King ; x\rden Lodge, Warwick. 



Note on the Blue-Spotted Form of Chrysophanus phl.eas. 

 — During the summer of this year I have examined 537 specimens 

 of Ckrijsuphaiim pltUsas, and tliough no striking aberration resulted, 

 I was interested to note that, while out of 1-45 specimens taken on a 

 small piece of marshy ground, so large a number as 117 showed at 

 least traces of a row of blue spots inside the coppery bar on the hind 

 wings, only 54 out of the remaining 392 which were taken on the 

 dryer meadows showed any traces of blue. I noticed that the blue- 

 spotted specimens were greatly in evidence about the water meadows 

 on tlie soutli-eastern side of Thetford, Norfolk, while they were not 

 to be found on the heatliy ground on the south side ; and bearing in 

 mind these observations made in June, 1917, I decided to test my 

 conclusion that in all probability the blue-spotted specimens were of 

 a marsldand vai'iety this year, with the above results. I sliould be 

 interested to know if any (jthor rcad(!rs of the ' Eutoinologist ' have 



ENTOM. OOTOBEIl, 1920. X 



