157 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The Leech Collection of Lepidoptera. — This exceedingly fine 

 collection has been deposited in the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington. We hope to have something further to say 

 touching this matter in our next issue. 



Note on a Third Brood of Selenia illunaria. — On July 25th 

 last year a typical female specimen of the var. jidiaria was captured 

 near here, and deposited ova. The larvae fed up well on plum, and 

 twelve pupated on September 8th and following days. The breeding- 

 cage was kept in a greenhouse, and the weather at the time was not 

 unusually hot ; but to my surprise, nine days later four moths had 

 appeared, two of each sex. On comparing the specimens with normal 

 juliario, I was unable to distinguish them. The remaining pups, 

 following the ordinary course of things, began to emerge March 16th 

 last, and five imagines have been obtained from them up to the present 

 time. These are all well-marked examples of the large and dark spring 

 form. The imagines of the third brood, which appeared in September, 

 readily paired, and a few ova hatched in about fourteen days. Un- 

 fortunately the larvfe fed up very slowly, and did not thrive on the 

 honeysuckle, which was all I had to give them, and only one spun up 

 in a leaf about the beginning of December. This, emerging indoors 

 on March 10th, is a small specimen, not larger than the average 

 juliaria, but has the richer coloration which we expect from the winter 

 pupae of the species. It is sufficient to show that a complete third 

 brood had been interpolated. The occurrence of treble broods of 

 seasonallv dimorphous species under conditions approaching those in 

 nature seems of interest, since it may possibly add something to our 

 knowledge of that very interesting subject. The evidence produced 

 above is meagre enough, but so far as it goes shows that Selenia illu- 

 naria = juliaria behaves in a similar way to Vanessa levana = prorsa, 

 as observed by Weismann in his later experiments {vide Ent. xxix. 

 p. 105, et seq.). That is to say, the third brood assumes the summer 

 form juliaria when it takes the unusual course of developing rapidly 

 the same year. It is also noteworthy that there was no approach to 

 illunaria in my specimens, such as might be expected if there were 

 any tendency to alternation of form, apart from the influences of 

 temperature and hybernation. — W. S. Gilles ; Bocking, Braintree, 

 April 12th, 1901. 



Xylomiges conspicillaris. — In your last issue {ante, p. 130), Mr. 

 Doidge mentions breeding this insect from " dug " pupae. As Barrett, 

 in his ' British Lepidoptera,' says the pup^e are generally found at the 

 roots of trees, it would be interesting to know whether Mr. Doidge 

 obtained his pupae from such situations, and, still more so, if he could 

 tell us the particular species of tree. As the larvae feed on bird's-foot 

 trefoil, the base of tree trunks seems an unlikely situation. But I 

 suppose there is no possibility of its being at times a " tree-feeder." — 

 Percy C. Reid ; Fearing Bury, Kelvedon, April 5th. 



Vitality of Alpine Rhopalocera. — Mr. Howe's note on the vitality 

 of H. rupicapraria [ante, p. 131) is interesting, and it must be taken 



ENTOM. — MAY, 1901. N 



