287 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



A FEW Notes on rearing Cossus ligniperda. — Having been re- 

 peatedly told that it was difficult to rear this species, I determined to 

 try for myself, and in September, 1900, collected a dozen larvfe from 

 tree-trunks in this district. I placed them in a glass jar with some 

 pieces of an oak-branch, covering the top with a piece of glass, and a 

 weight to keep the larvse from forcing their way out. They fed 

 readily, and, spinning together the particles of gnawed wood and 

 grass, converted the whole into a nearly solid elastic mass, in which 

 they seemed very contented. Thus they remained until the beginning 

 of February, 1901, when the jar was accidentally broken, and I trans- 

 ferred the larvae to a tin biscuit- box in company with some pieces of 

 poplar-bark. A few holes punched in the lid gave ventilation, and I 

 did not open the tin again until June 20th. On that date, having 

 occasion to visit the outhouse in which I had placed them, I took off 

 the lid to see how the larv^ had fared, and found that, of my twelve 

 larvae, one (probably injured when the glass jar was broken) was dead, 

 one was still feeding, and there were ten pupae. These I removed to a 

 breeding-cage, placing them on the bare wooden floor, and it was most 

 amusing to watch them travel over this by means of their segmental 

 hooks ; with a curious sideway twist of the tail they got up quite a 

 respectable pace. The first insect (a male) emerged on July 14tli, and 

 the remaining nine (six males, three females) during the following 

 week, the last two making their appearance on the 23rd. They are all 

 tine specimens, the three females being quite as large as any I have 

 seen. During the hot days of September I have often seen the larvae 

 of C. ligniperda apparently sunning themselves on the trunks of in- 

 fested trees ; they keep the anal claspers just within the mouth of the 

 burrow, and at the least alarm slip in backwards, and it needs some 

 practice to catch them ; if you do not seize them firmly at the first 

 attempt, they slip through your fingers and are gone. — T. B. Andrews; 

 276, Broadway, Bexley Heath, Kent, August 24th, 1901. 



Second Brood of Epinephele ianira and E. tithonus. — At Paignton, 

 in South Devon, Mr. H. Main found, on August 20th, E. ianira in 

 numbers in the freshest of condition, constituting without doubt a 

 second brood ; and on August 22nd, near Teignmouth, I met with 

 E. titJiomis under the same circumstances. E. tithonus was flying 

 with poor worn specimens of the earlier brood. The fresh insects 

 were particularly rich in colour, and in both cases the fringe on the 

 wings was very perfect. — W. J. Lucas. 



Davus var. rothliebi at Delamere. — I have read with considerable 

 interest Mr. Arkle's remarks on the Delamere form of the above insect 

 [ante, p. 257). I have collected some hundreds of specimens from this 

 locality, and agree with Mr. Arkle in this, that the ocelli are on the 

 average much larger than those of specimens from other districts ; but 

 I must confess that I have never been so fortunate as to take one with 

 the ground-colour of the under wings " white," or, more extraordinary 

 still, with " spots about a quarter of an inch across " (an enormous 

 proportion to the size of the wing), nor have I seen a single specimen 



