NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 141 



as elsewhere, Vanessa cardui appeared in thousands, and another 

 butterfly which was in evidence in every garden was F. atalanta, which 

 he found very partial to the overnight sugars. Some interesting 

 reports from observers in various parts of Hertfordshire brought the 

 paper to a close. 



Mr. Gibbs subsequently read a second paper dealing with the 

 species of Coleoptera which had been added to the county list during 

 the year by Mr. E. Geo. Eliiman, of Chesham. The number of species 

 recorded by Mr. EUiman in the 'Victoria History' was 1542, and that 

 gentleman now announced the discovery of thirteen other beetles, 

 making a respectable total of 1555. — A. E. Gibbs. 



Variation of T^niocampa gracilis. — Prom about forty larvfe of 

 Tceniocampa gracilis found in the Rannoch district on sweet-gale 

 (Myrica gale), most of which were destroyed by ichneumons, I have 

 bred six specimens, all of the soft bright red form. In four of these 

 the stigmata are obscure, and the subterminal line is darker red. 

 Two, however, are of a form I have not seen described. The sub- 

 terminal line is bright pale green with no dark shading. The stigmata, 

 including the claviform, are outlined with pale green clouding, a band 

 of which joins the orbicular and the reniform. From the latter, rays 

 of the same colour extend for a short distance along the nervures 

 towards the subterminal line. — E. A. Cockayne; 6, Tapton House 

 Eoad, Sheffield. 



Note on the Hybernation of Gonepteryx ehamni. — January 17th, 

 1904, dawned extremely cold, no less than thirteen degrees of frost 

 being registered. But the sun was shining brilliantly between ten and 

 eleven, when I happened to notice a female (J. rhamni sitting on a 

 stem of Jasminum nudiflorwn about a foot from the ground. Had she 

 been in this position for any considerable time previously, I think I 

 must have noticed her, as I pass the spot several times every day, 

 seeing that it is between my front door and front gate. The jasmine 

 clambers over an eastern wall, which is also partly covered with ivy, 

 and my theory is that the butterfly had been previously sitting con- 

 cealed in the ivy, but had been tempted by the bright sun to crawl out 

 on to the jasmine, where her colour was in harmony with the multi- 

 tudinous yellow flowers. The wall faces the east, and is built on 

 Loddard's Hill, 161 ft. above sea-level. Thinking that under these 

 bleak conditions she was not likely to remain in her seemingly ill- 

 chosen position for very long, I observed her carefully, and took notes 

 of the temperature for the next few days. But in spite of my antici- 

 pations to the contrary, there she remained until March 9th — a period 

 of fifty-two days ! During this time, through every possible vicissitude 

 of weather (except deep snow), the insect never left the same stem, 

 although she moved some two or three inches higher up it. One day 

 I noticed that her antennas were thickly covered with hoar-frost. 

 The day when she took her departure, flying towards Maldon, was 

 bright and warm, and a friend of mine residing some five miles off (in 

 that direction) tells me he noticed a rhamni flying in his grounds on 

 that day. " The same, or not the same, that is the question." — (Rev.) 

 Gilbert H. Raynor ; Hazeleigh Rectory, Maldon, April 5th, 1904. 



ENTOM. — MAY. 1904. N 



