288 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSEKVATIONS. 



LoPHOPTERYx cARMELiTA. — Wliilst Collecting about the middle of 

 August in West Kent, I found a larva of L. carmelita crawling up a large 

 beech tree. I thought it might have wandered from a neighbouring 

 birch, but on offering it that food and beech it selected the latter. I had 

 no opportunity of visiting the locality again, but my friends Messrs. Cope 

 and Blest went there and took ten more larvae between August 18th and 

 27th, all in similar positions, viz. crawling up the trunks of beech- 

 trees. Boisterous winds were prevalent at the time, and the larv^ had 

 undoubtedly been blown off the trees. The last one spun up on Sept. 

 11th. I was previously unaware that the larvte of L. carmelita fed on 

 beech, or that they were to be found so late as the end of August and 

 beginning of September ; and I have never known this insect to be 

 double-brooded. — Edwin Goodwin ; Canon Court, "Wateringbury. 



The Hybernation of Dasychira fascelina. — While on a visit to 

 Rannoch in the summer of 1901, I found on July 15th three larvas 

 of -D. fascelina about three-quarters of an inch in length. Two of the 

 larvfB were in slight silken cocoons between stones, one amongst some 

 which formed a small cairn. The other, also in a hybernaculum, was 

 concealed in a thick tuft of heather. The larvs, on removal, did not 

 cat any food. When disturbed they would curl up and remain with- 

 out moving for hours, and would then spin a fresh house. On Aug. 

 1st they had eaten large holes in the muslin covering of their box, 

 using the scraps to spin into their cocoons. Two larvae died in 

 November, the third survived till the following March, sleeved out in 

 the garden. This year, early in July, on the same hillside, I obtained 

 another larva of D. fascelina of the same size and spun up like the 

 three former ones, and which, in spite of being kept in a hot room and 

 supplied with fresh food, has hybernated without eating or moving up 

 to the present date — October 4th. Cases of larvae hybernating over 

 two winters in captivity are not uncommon, but I have not seen a 

 record in the case of wild larvse. The causes of hybernation are very 

 obscure, and for the invertebrates have been insufficiently studied. 

 But if we accept the usual explanation, i. e. unfavourable conditions, 

 especially cold and hunger, then some instances are easily explicable. 

 Larvae indoors are of necessity in an unnatural environment, and 

 something in the conditions in which they are being kept may easily 

 induce them to extend their period of hybernation. In 1901, however, 

 everything was apparently favourable ; the weather was particularly 

 hot, and food abundant. Thinking that some parasite might have 

 been the cause — though this usually acts as a stimulant — I carefully 

 examined the bodies of the dead larvae, but found no trace of any. 

 The explanation must be sought elsewhere. It is possible that a cold 

 week at the time when the larvae usually begin feeding may have in- 

 duced this curious lengthening of torpidity. It certainly may well 

 have been the cause this season, for a colder and more inhospitable 

 spring has not been experienced in the district for many years. — E. A. 

 Cockayne ; Sheffield. 



Some Aberrations of Butterflies. — Among various aberrations 

 of butterflies sent for examination by Mr. E. Sabine of Erith, the fol- 



