254 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
important part played by the electric fluid in the creation of 
varieties. Here is still a vast field for exploration.” 
With reference to the above notes I can scarcely deem it 
probable that electricity can be a “chief agent in the 
variation of Lepidoptera;” it is quite possible, however, that 
so delicate a blue as that of Lycena Adonis might be 
affected by the moisture of the atmosphere during a storm. 
I once took some specimens of Procris globulariz but just 
emerged, and then of a beautiful green colour; I placed 
them in a damp box, and was surprised, when proceeding to 
set them, that they were all of a dark bronze colour, but when 
they became dry they resumed the bright green colour. Still 
as the colour of Lepidoptera often does not arise from a 
pigment, but varies, apparently, according to the direction in 
which the light falls upon the scales, the same effect might 
be produced during a storm in the mode in which the scales 
overlapped each other. I once took, and still possess, a 
specimen of Lycena Icarus, in which one of the wings, as 
compared with the other three, is decidedly of a more lilac 
colour. I have also seen specimens of Procris statices, which 
were of a bronze colour; but whether they emerged green I 
am not able to say. I believe that most of the cases, if not 
all, in which an attempt has been made to produce varieties 
of Lepidoptera, by feeding the larve on different kinds of 
food, have yielded but a negative result. 
J. JENNER WEIR. 
6, Haddo Villas, Blackheath, 
October 13, 1876. 
Description of the Larva of Eurymene dolabraria.— 
Length an inch anda half; head notched and rounded on 
the crown, rather smaller than the 2nd segment. When at 
rest, with the mouth tightly pressed to the legs, the first three 
segments much resemble a miniature dog’s head, the head of 
the larva representing the dog’s nose, and the protuberances 
of the 3rd segment the ears and crown of the animal’s head. 
Head reddish brown, assuming a mottled appearance on the 
cheeks; 2nd and 8rd segments blackish brown, each increasing 
in size, the 3rd considerably so, especially at the sides, giving 
the larva when at rest the singular appearance mentioned 
above. Body, beyond the 3rd segment, with the exception 
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