54 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Insects and the Fertilisation of Medicago. — In a paper entitled 

 " On the Fertilisation of some species of Medicago, L., in England " 

 (' Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society,' vol. viii. pt. 

 iii.) Mr. I. H. Burkill discusses the action of certain insects on the 

 explosive mechanism of the Medicago flower and their influence in the 

 work of fertilisation. Lists are given of the various species of insects 

 observed to visit the flowers, and a comparison is made between these 

 and the lists given by Miiller, the conclusion drawn therefrom being 

 that " it appears 7iot imlikely, as might be expected, that flies take in 

 England the place which other more specialised insects occupy in 

 Germany." 



The Cold Autumn of 1894 and its Effects on certain Species 

 OF THE Genus Vanessa. — Of V. urticcB I picked about fifty larvaa, 

 nearly full-grown, off nettles, on Aug. 29th, near Chester, a second 

 brood, no doubt. From Oct. 2nd to 19th twenty-five imagines 

 emerged from the chrysalids ; the remainder, with the exception of 

 one, died from the effects of the cold weather. The sombre but 

 interesting pattern on the under side of the wings was a little brighter 

 in some specimens, but all were rather small and dark on the whole ; 

 otherwise there was no variation of importance. The survivor 

 emerged on Nov. 4th. The species was fairly common throughout 

 the summer. Of V. io I saw about two dozen larvse, more than half- 

 grown, on Sept. 1st, on nettles, near Chester. On my next visit they 

 had disappeared, except a few shrivelled and dead examples. I saw 

 no imagines throughout the season. V. atalanta larvae and pupas 

 were abundant on nettles near Chester on Sept. 1st. The pupae had 

 two, sometimes three, leaves drawn together in the form of a hollow 

 ball, a pupa in each, suspended from the top. None observed in any 

 other position upon the nettles, and one only on the wooden railings 

 close to the nettles. Many of the caterpillars were black, with pale 

 yellowish crescentic marks on each side. I took about a hundred 

 larvffi and pupae. Some of the larvae had hung themselves up in 

 preparation for the chrysalis state. First emergence on Sept. 30th ; 

 the rest began to die off on Oct. 19th ; like V. urtica they were 

 only able to partially escape from the chrysalis, or get clear as 

 cripples. On Oct. 19th I bred forty perfect specimens, all told, chiefly 

 by bringing the survivors indoors. My object in breeding V. atalanta 

 was to try and get examples of a form which has been seen in this 

 district, in which the bands are orange-red or pale dull red, instead of 

 the usual scarlet. I only partially succeeded in three specimens, 

 which have pale marginal bands on the lower wings. In one of these 

 the upper outer poitions of each right wing are dusted with metallic 

 blue scales. Another has a small black spot in the lower portion of 

 the scarlet band of upper left wing. Only one of the forty specimens 

 had the small white spot which sometimes occurs, irrespective of sex, 

 in a similar position on the scarlet band of each upper wing. Another 

 varietal form I bred has a pale blotch extending across the band in the 

 region of the white spot. It was, however, the under sides that chiefly 

 showed variation. Some are very pale, while others verge on black- 

 ness. There is, in some cases, a white blotch or spot on the angular 

 part of the red band. Parenthetically, I wonder how many entomo- 



