NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 281 



He does not seem to " select a type," but merely bases his assumption 

 on a mechanical rule of "first species = type," which has no force; 

 Grote's citation of temerata as type (Allg. Zeit. Ent. vii. p. 471, 1902) 

 is of course ultra vires, and Meyrick's usage has seven years' priority 

 over Warren's and ten over Grote's. The correct synonomy is : — (1) 

 Bapta, Steph. (1831) = Corycia, Dup. (1829, nom. praBocc.) = Lomo- 

 grapha, Warr., Grote (nee Hiib., Meyr. restr.), type himaculata, Fab. 

 (2) Lomographa, Hiib. (1826 '?, Meyr. restr.) = Stegania, Guen. = 

 Terpnomicta, Led., type trimaculata, NiW. — Louis B. Prout; 246, 

 Eichmond Eoad, N.E., October 13th, 1909. 



The Food-Plant op Lyc^ena pheretes. — I have been reading in 

 the ' Entomologist ' {antea, p. 221) of Dr. Chapman's interesting dis- 

 covery that Soldayiella alpina is the food-plant of Lyccsna orhitulus. 

 I feel that I should put on record that on July 15th of last year 

 (1908), in the Roseg Thai, Ober-Engadin, I found L. plieretes in 

 considerable numbers on a very limited area of ground, and always 

 associated with Astragalus alpinus, L. {Phaca astragalina, DC). It 

 was a damp dull day, and late in the afternoon, and I did not see the 

 females laying on the plant while at large ; but several females, which 

 I easily boxed, when in captivity afterwards laid very freely on sprays 

 of the plant, while only one ovum was placed upon a piece of Lotus 

 corniculatus which I offered them in addition. The larvae fed freely 

 on some Astragalus which I brought home, but I was unwisely 

 tempted to try to rear too many for the plants, and when the latter were 

 eaten I could find no allied plant, either in my own rock-garden nor 

 in several of our English nurseries, that would satisfy them, and one by 

 one the larvae disappeared — hybernated, as I hoped . But none showed 

 when spring came round, and I think they perished before they were 

 ready to go into winter quarters. When I saw them last some of the 

 larvae were in their third stage ; they closely resembled the pale green 

 hairy pinnas of the Astragalus foliage. This fact, coupled with their un- 

 willingness to take to any of the several other dwarf plants of the family 

 which I offered them, justifies me, I think, in assuming that this is the 

 food-plant of L. pheretes. — W. H. St. Quintin ; Scampston, York. 



Cucullia umbratica, a Fertilizer of Orchis maculata. — At 

 Onich, Inverness-shire, in August, I found at rest on a post a speci- 

 men of the above moth with one of the pollen masses of the orchid 

 named attached to the head just above the eye. The observation is 

 of interest, since the chief authority on this subject, Hermann Miiller, 

 gives no lepidopterous visitors for the orchid in his ' Fertilization of 

 Flowers' (1883). C. Darwin records as insect visitors Cerambycidae 

 and humble-bees, and Empidae (George Darwin). Miiller says the 

 flower is chiefly visited by Diptera. The only orchid in flower at the 

 time of the observation was 0. maculata, which was quite common in 

 the district. A comparison of the pollen mass on the moth with some 

 extracted from the flowers proved their identity. My earliest recol- 

 lection of G. umbratica as a flower-frequenting species was during the 

 summer of 1868, when I first commenced collecting. The moth was 

 seen every evening in abundance over the honeysuckle growing in 

 our garden at Leyton, in Essex. — E. Meldola ; 6, Brunswick Square, 

 W.C, October 16th, 1909. 



KNTOM. — NOVEMBER, 1909. 2 A 



