NOTES ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 123 



scale, has broached a subject of peculiar physiological inte- 

 rest in the pages of the Ent. Mo. Mag. vol. v. p. 160. 



The conclusion arrived at is, that in the case of the female 

 convolvulij unlike Sphinx ligustr'i and the three Smerinthi, 

 the eggs are gradually developed in the ovaries of the 

 imago. He thoroughly disproves, too, that convolvuli ? is 

 invariably barren in the autumn, as was previously generally 

 considered to be the case. 



Re Dasycampa rubiginea. 

 Some time since, Herr von Hagens made a statement 

 that the larva of this species was in some way connected 

 with ants' nests {vide Berliner Ent. Zeit. 1865, p. 112). The 

 Reverend J. Hellins, in his description of the earlier stages 

 of D. ruhiyinea, which will be published in the Entom. 

 Monthly Mag. for January, 1869, shows very clearly that 

 there is no necessary connection between this larva and 

 Formica fuliginosa. Herr Weymer reared it from beech 

 leaves (Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1865, p. 113), and it was at the 

 foot of a beech tree that Herr von Hagens' ants' nest oc- 

 curred ; hence it is probable that the presence of the larvae 

 in that nest was accidental. 



Curious Food of Abraxas grossulariata. 

 Most people were aware that the larva of A. grossu- 

 lariata was partial to sloe, but few could have guessed that 

 it fed upon Cotyledon umhilicus, on Ailsa Craig, until Mr. 

 Chapman acquainted us with the fact (E. M. M. vol. iv. 

 p. 42). And further on (p. 182) Mr. Barrett informs us 

 that he noticed a number of these larvae on Sedum tele- 

 phiumj and that too although plenty of blackthorn was 

 handy. 



