NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 183 



Borneo is particularly rich in species of Cicadidae, no fewer than 

 seventy^dd species having been recorded. Among these is the 

 g\ga,nticPomponia iviperatoria, Westwood, which sometimes measures 

 as much as eight and a half inclies ! The males are much attracted 

 by hght, and many good species have been captured at lighthouses in 

 Sarawak, including two species new to science. — J. C. Moulton ; 

 Sarawak Museum, February, 1911. 



Hybernation of Pyrameis atalanta. — I have read with interest 

 the article by Mr. L. W. Newman in your issue of March, 1911 {antea, 

 p. 99). While admiring his experiments, I would like to point out that 

 they do not bear out his conclusion : that P. atalanta is not a true 

 hybernator, as it requires food all the year. Mr. Newman is in effect 

 arguing that, because atalanta kept through the winter in a warm 

 room required food, they would therefore require food if hybernated 

 out of doors in the cold, where they would not be artificially stimulated 

 into activity. This, of course, does not follow. That England should 

 have to depend on alien immigration for its yearly supply of atalanta, 

 a fairly common butterfly here, is hardly conceivable. This theory also 

 breaks down on Mr. Newman's own reasoning. "Where are the sup- 

 posed parents of the English atalanta to come from '? France ? If so, 

 it must be the South of France, for the North of France conditions 

 are similar to the English, and, were not atalanta a true hybernator, 

 it would be unable to get its winter food in North France any better 

 than in England. South France is a long way to come from. On the 

 Eiviera atalanta, in shabby condition, are to be met with practically 

 throughout the winter. There, of course, they can find sufficient 

 flowers all the year round to supply their modest needs. V. antiopa, 

 on the other hand, I do not remember ever to have seen during the 

 winter, although the finer weather of spring lures out hybernating 

 specimens with the white borders, commonly supposed over here to 

 prove British origin. — J. C. Warburg; 21, Pembridge Gardens, W. 



Trochilium apiforme. — With reference to Mr. J. S. Carter's 

 note on this species in the April issue of the ' Entomologist,' I would 

 enquire whether the larvae found in April, but as I understand with- 

 out cocoons, in the pupating tunnels duly spun up ? If so, this 

 would prove that they were full fed, and would show that the time 

 over which they form their cocoons extends from September or 

 October till, at any rate, the spring. I have found that all the un- 

 injured larvae that I obtained in the autumn duly spun up, and 

 several times where the top has been accidentally cut off a puparium 

 in removing it the larva completed the cocoon. But two or three 

 larvae that I found in June, and which looked to be full fed, failed to 

 spin up, and eventually died. I concluded that these were not really 

 full fed, but would in the ordinary course have spun up in September 

 or October. As regards treatment, I cannot help Mr. Carter, my 

 luck having been no better than his. I believe I kept mine too moist, 

 but it is difficult to hit off the via media between over-moistening, 

 and thus producing mould, and keeping too dry, in which case the 

 cocoon contracts and crushes the larva or pupa inside. I can breed 

 to the imago ninety per cent, of full fed larvae and pupae of Sesia 

 vespiformis, but T. aiyiforme defeats me, as I get only a small per- 



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