CAPTURKS AND FIELD REPORTS. 39 



1895 I found pairs on March 1st, but I believe that was following a 

 prolonged frost.) A very unfortunate statement appeared in a scientific 

 agricultural paper about twenty-five years ago to the effect that the 

 females were transported by the males when pairing. This statement 

 has been copied over and over again in various agricultural papers, 

 &c., and has deterred many fruit-growers from banding tlieir trees. It 

 is entirely unfounded, the male hrumata being quite incapable of 

 flying with the female.. Grease-banding, when properly carried out, 

 is an effective remedy, the few ova laid below the bands being in- 

 sufficient to cause harm. T notice that in this district bnimata 

 flourishes more on the hills than in the valleys ; last year and the 

 year before this was very noticeable. — Edward Goodwin, F.E.S. ; 

 Canon Court, Wateringbury, Kent, January Idth, 1909. 



On the Effect of Bearing Larv^ of Vanessa urtic^ in 

 Darkness. — The above experiment was carried out in the summer of 

 1908 on larvae collected in Huntingdonshire. My object was to 

 ascertain the effect, if any, of breeding a large number of these larvae 

 from the ovum or very early youth to the commencement of the 

 pupal stage entirely, or almost entirely, in total darkness. The 

 temperature of the breeding-cage was frequently taken, and was that 

 of the outside air. The larvae were abundantly supplied with food, 

 and they fed up in the same time as others kept under ordinary con- 

 ditions. They were much darker than ordinary, being almost as 

 black as those of V. io, with almost total obliteration of the yellow 

 spiracular line : the pupae were also extremely dark as was antici- 

 pated. Fifty-five butterflies emerged, and twenty-one were note- 

 worthy as having an extension of the black spot on the inner margin 

 towards the second costal spot. In a few cases these two spots were 

 joined by a black line, as in var. polaris, but more often by black 

 scales between the two ; the ground colour of the wings underwent 

 no change. Tlie proportion of butterflies with this black scaling was 

 far higher than in a large number which as larvae were given as much 

 sunshine as possible, and others which had their food-plants saturated 

 with water many times a day ; the proportion among these was not 

 more tlian five per cent. I have had no leisure to examine each 

 specimen critically, and this note must be looked on as a pre- 

 liminary announcement only. — (Lieut. -Col. E.A.M.C.) N. Manders ; 

 Colombo, Ceylon. 



GAPTUKES AND FIELD EEPOETS. 



Stenocephalus agilis and Corixa affinis (atomaria) in Lan- 

 cashire. — I took a single specimen of the former in Liverpool (July) 

 and of the latter at Birkdale in May last. These are, I believe, the 

 first specimens recorded for this county. — Oscar Whittaker ; 13, 

 Lancaster Road, Birkdale, December 22nd, 1908. 



Thyphlocyba debilis. Dough, IN Lancashire. — I took a speci- 

 men of this rare species on dwarf sallow here in July last year. — 

 Oscar Whittaker. 



