132 LEPIDOPTERA. 



accuracy, the appearance of larvae of V, cardui, found feed- 

 ing, at large, on iMalva sylvestris; and surprisingly different 

 indeed are such larvae from those which feed on the ordinary 

 food from which the insect takes its specific name, for the 

 mallow-feedeis are ** densely covered with pale grey hairs, 

 nearly as long as the spines and almost hiding them," while 

 the thistle-feeders are " clothed with spines alone.'' Mr. 

 Buckler suggests another solution of the mystery,—" Were 

 they a second brood, thus clothed for protection against 

 possible cold in late autumn ? " 



LYC5iNA Artaxerxes, Fabr., versus L. Medon, Hufn. 



Here, too, Professor Zeller evidently suspects that some 

 phytophagic influence is at work to modify the imago. He 

 has gone a step further in his investigations, and discovers 

 that Artaxerxes will eat Erodiiivi cicutarium, the orthodox 

 food of 3fedon ; from that circumstance it was not unnatural 

 to surmise that an influence upon the markings of the future 

 butterfly might result. But, no! a veritable Artaxerxes 

 was the result !! Still, as has been said elsewhere, it must 

 not be expected that, in one or even ten generations, food 

 has the power to produce a race. The Professor desires that 

 a series of experiments should be conducted by feeding, from 

 as eai'ly an age as possible, the respective larvae of either on 

 the food of the other— a nice little bit of work cut out for the 

 young blood of North and South ! 



The finding the Eggs of LvciENA Arion. 

 British Lepidopterists have much reason to be grateful to 

 Prof. Zeller. His latest suggestions have resulted in the 

 discovery of the larva of Se?'icoris euphorhiana in abundance, 

 and the eggs of Lyccena Arion, — the latter to be duly fol- 

 lowed, let us hope, by the natural history of a larva at present 



