204 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



away. 82 specimens of Heteropenea asellus, H. testudo, Drepana 

 hamula, and others 5/-. 67 of Notodonta carmelita. N. dodonea, N. 

 chaonia, &c., 6/-. 77 of Ftilophora plumigera, Pygara anachoreta (Dr. 

 Knaggs), and others, 4/-. 91 of Hydrcecia 7iictitans, iuckiding var. 

 paludis, &c., 3/-. 89 of Xylomiyes conspicillaris (2, Mrs. Hutchinson), 

 and other good things, 7/-. 173 specimens of Apamea ophioyramma, 

 and others, 3/-. A fine series of Noctua /estiva from some thirteen or 

 fourteen different localities, and including most known forms, 6/-. In 

 most cases two, in many three, and in not a few four, lots had to be 

 offered together, ere a purchaser could be found. The reasons are not, 

 I think, far to seek. The lotting, done, I am given to understand, by 

 or on behalf of Mr. Robson, locally, was badly done. The specimens 

 were all huddled together so close that their merits were not properly 

 appreciable ; the sale was badly advertised ; and last, but by no means 

 least, it was held at a wrong time of the year. A few other lots, 

 originally belonging to the Duchess of Mantua, were sold on the same 

 day. My worthy critic acquired, amongst a lot of rubbish, a beautiful 

 hermaphrodite Gonopteryx rhmnni for a very low figure. The writer, 

 like, I believe, every one else but our sharp-eyed friend, overlooked this 

 until too late, but he did manage to get hold of a pair of Chrysophamis 

 dispar for 35/-, the female being fine and perfect. — Thos. Wm. Hall. 



Tenacity of Life in the Dragonfly. — On June 2nd last I captured, 

 near Brockenhurst, a specimen of Platetnnn depressum, which was 

 decapitated upon coming into contact with the net. Four or five 

 hours afterwards I found the body, which Avas pinned in my collecting- 

 box, alive and moving about. The following day an example of 

 Lihellnla quadnmacidata, which I obtained near Ljaidhurst, was served 

 in a similar manner, and this I found quite alive two or three hours 

 afterwards. A specimen of Mschna cyanea, which I caught near 

 Bromsgrove the year before last, although miuus its head, clung with 

 tenacity to anything it was put upon for at least half an hour after the 

 accident happened. — W. Harcourt Bath. 



Note on Hepialus humuli in Orkney. — Tliis species is out here 

 now. There is no sign of any marking on the wings of the male as in 

 Shetland specimens, but in some examples the head is very dark. I 

 have noticed that the male on emerging from pupa crawls up a stem 

 just high enough to expand and dry its wings. At the proper time it 

 commences its pendulous flight over the spot where the empty pupa- 

 case is lying, and rarely moves more than a few inches from that spot. 

 When the female comes along it knocks against the male, and the pair 

 drop together. Should a male not be visited by a female he drops 

 down on a stem of grass, and does not renew his flight until the 

 following night. I marked the wings of one male for observation, 

 and found that he did not attract a partner until the third night. — 

 H. McAethur; Hoy, Orkney, N.B., June 16th, 1895. 



Colour-changes in Plusia chrysitis. — With regard to the remarks 

 of Mr. W. D. Thornhill, ante, p. 159, and of Mr. W. J. Kaye, ante, 

 p. 181, concerning the above, I beg to state that in the last week I 

 have taken with the 7iet nine specimens of P. chrysitis, all in good 

 condition, though some are slightly rubbed by the net. Five show th^ 



