PLUSIA NI AT PENZANCE. 



277 



three mutilated cocoons and pupa-cases from which some of the 

 P. ni were bred, I believe the reason it was said that P. ni had 

 been planted was due to the fact that either Dr. Knaggs or Mr. 

 Baily sent for a foreign example of P. ni for comparison ; but 

 how was it possible to plant colonies of P. ni in several places 

 from a dead example ? Perhaps Dr. Knaggs could tell us who 

 sent for that foreign example of P. ni. I think it came from 

 Edmonds, of Windsor. I have this specimen also in my collection. 

 [Dr. Knaggs informs us that he wrote to Edmonds for a con- 

 tinental specimen of P. ni for comparison with the Penzance 

 examples. 



It may be interesting in this connection to quote Mr. Bar- 

 rett's remarks on the history of British P. ni. He writes 

 (' British Lepidoptera,' vi. 130) :— " It is very little known here, 

 and is apparently one of our rarest species, but there are 

 rumours that it is not so scarce in the far west of England. The 

 first specimen recorded in this country was captured flying about 

 blossoms of red valerian by Mr. D'Orville in his garden at Exeter 

 in August, 1868. The next was taken by Miss Carne, of Pen- 

 zance, hovering at flowers in her garden in May, 1869, and 

 was recognized by Mr. W. R. Jeffrey, in whose collection it still 

 is. Of further captures in the same district, in both imago and 

 larva state, definite information has been refused. The third 

 recorded specimen was taken in Dorsetshire by Mr. Nevinson in 

 1885, and the fourth at the Isle of Portland, in the same county, 

 in September, 1888, by Colonel Partridge, to whose lamp it was 

 attracted while he was sugaring. In 1894 Mrs. Richardson 

 found two larvae in the same locality, from which the moths were 

 reared early in September ; and in the same year Mr. C. A. 

 Briggs was allowed to exhibit two of the mysterious Cornish 

 examples. The last of which I have any reliable information is 

 a specimen taken sitting upon a fence at Norbiton, Surrey, in 

 May, 1896, by Mr. Percy Richards ; but there is a specimen in 

 Dr. Mason's collection which may safely be held to be British, 

 since it was found, overlooked, among a lot of the allied P. gamma 

 in a British cabinet." 



The American Plusia hrassica, considered by Dr. Knaggs to 

 be specifically identical with P. ni, and in this opinion we concur, 

 is regarded as a pest in many parts of the United States. It 

 was known to be seriously destructive to cabbages and other 

 cruciferous plants in the Southern States some time before it was 

 named and described by Riley in 1870. Since that time it seems 

 to have extended its range north as far as Illinois and New Jersey. 

 American entomologists state that the species is probably of 

 somewhat remote southern origin. Brassica is rather larger in 

 size and browner in colour than ni, and it would be interesting 

 to know which form the Penzance specimens are referable to, 

 as this might afford some clue to their origin. — Ed.] 



