320 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Peronea hastiana from Surrey and the Lancashire Coast. — 

 Towards the end of August last I collected some two dozea larvae of 

 P. hastiana in the Ockham district, and from these fifteen moths were 

 reared in October. The specimens are mostly reddish brown or blackish 

 brown in colour. One of them has a broad whitish streak on costal area 

 {divis/ina, Staph.) ; another is a modification of leiicopheana, Bent. ; a 

 third is referable to antumnana, Steph., but it has the black discal streak 

 of leacopheana ; whilst a fourth example is centrovittana, Steph., with 

 a black longitudinal discal streak as in leucopheana, thus combining the 

 characters of the two forms. The more variegated forms, such as 

 coronana, were not represented, except by two examples which perhaps 

 are more correctly to be referred to typical hastiana as figured by 

 Clerck. Possibly, if a larger number of larvae had been secured, a 

 more extended range of variation would have been obtained. From a 

 number of larvae of P. hastiana, estimated at about five hundred by 

 Mr. Baxter, who kindly collected them for me on the Lancashire 

 coast, I have reared two hundred and sixty moths. The bulk of these, 

 as regards the fore wings, are black or fuliginous ; some with obscure 

 markings, but mostly unicolorous. Of the named forms there are 

 twenty mayrana, about a dozen centrovittana, three divisana, two leuco- 

 pheana, and one combustana, A few specimens are modifications of the 

 typical form (hastiana), but there is no example of var. coronana, and 

 only one or two are referable to var. autumnmia. A few specimens are 

 leaden-grey, with darker but ill-defined markings, a form of the species 

 I had not met Avith before. — Kichard South ; 96, Drakefield Road, Upper 

 Tooting, S.W. 



On "Assembling" in Lasiocampa quercus. — I bred L. qitercus in 

 some numbers this season, from eggs deposited by a female in 1903,' 

 and made a number of experiments in assembling in the garden, the 

 results of which appear below. The females usually emerged be- 

 tween noon and 8 p.m., and in each case were exposed in a large 

 leno cage in the middle of the lawn, so that there was a clear space of 

 over fifty feet all round. It was a pretty sight to see a male pick up 

 the line of scent, which he did instantly if released dead to leeward, 

 otherwise he would fly across wind until he found the line. 



July 12th, exposed four females bred on 11th, and (in another cage) 

 three females bred on 12th ; released seven males, all of which returned 

 to the females bred on 11th, although the others were sometimes 

 placed just to leeward, and in their line of flight. 13th, exposed one 

 female bred on 11th, and two bred on 13th ; released four males, all of 

 which returned to females bred on 13th. 15th, exposed nine females 

 bred same day, and assembled three wild males ; three females were 

 left until they died, for the purpose of the following experiments. 

 16th, assembled six males. 17th, no wild males assembled, but some 

 bred ones, when released, all returned to above nine females, after 

 some delay, though they appeared to be not so strongly attracted, and 

 would often fly away again after a few minutes ; they declined to 

 assemble to two females bred on 17th. 18th, four males assembled. 



