SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 215 



me, showed traces of their attacks, antennae and legs being sadly 



deficient. — A. J. Chitty, M.A., F.E.S., Huntingfield, Favershara, 

 Kent. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



The generic name Siona, Dup. — The necessity of a thorough 

 historical revision of the generic names used for the Heterocera, after 

 the method followed by Scudder for the butterflies, is patent to every- 

 one who commences to look into the question, and if I have only 

 within the last twelvemonth become awakened to that necessity, this 

 is simply because I had not earlier examined our literature from this 

 point of view. To illustrate the nature of the slip-shod work which 

 has been allowed to find acceptance in our nomenclature (though 

 indefensible under any conceivable code of rules) I may take the case 

 of the generic name Siona, proposed by Duponchel in 1829-30, for a 

 mixed genus, but with specitied type dealhata [liiwata, Scop., Stgr., 

 Cat.] . Stephens, in 1831 (ill. haunt., iii., 244) very properly accepts 

 the name for dealhata, in place of the preoccupied Idaea, Tr. (Stph, 

 restr.), which he used in 1829, but by an unfortunate typographical 

 error he gives it as Scoria, and, although he corrects this to Siona in 

 the same volume (p. 328) and in his List Anim. Brit. Mks., p. 210 

 (1850), and Curtis, in 1838, repeats the type citation of dealhata for 

 Siona, yet later authors manage to ignore this, perpetuate the 

 erroneous Scoria for dealhata, and make quite a new restriction for 

 Siona, Dup., namely to nnhilata and deciismta ! Needless to say, the 

 name Scoria must be dropped, as indeed it was dropped by its inad- 

 vertent author nearly 70 years ago, and we must write Siona lineata 

 { = dealhata) ; while for Siona, Stgr., Cat. {nee Dup.) we must 

 substitute Schifitoster/e, Hb. — L. B. Prout, 249, Richmond Eoad, N.E. 



Copulation of Hepialus hectus. — On the evening of June 27th 

 I saw a female Hepialus hectus seated on the underside of a hornbeam 

 leaf. Two males were observed flying around "her for some time, 

 when at last one of them copulated with her, immediately hanging- 

 head downwards Avithout any of its legs attached to the leaf. — F. M. 

 B. Carr, Terminus Hotel, Hailsham, Sussex. June 28th, 1900. 



Cross-pairing of Sjierinthid species. — The following are a few 

 notes on an experiment I have been trying with the hawk-moths, 

 the following of which I have paired : 



(1) Male Smennthus occllatus with female S. popidi. 



(2) Female S. ocellatus with male S. poindi. 



(3) Male S. ocellatus with female S. tiliac. 



(1) On May 28tli I bred one male and one female Smerinthus ocellatus. 

 They were about to pair, when I took the female away and placed a 

 female .S'. populi in its place, the male S. ocellatus flew round the cage 

 and paired immediately. ' They were together 48 hours, after which 

 S. populi commenced laying, and in six days had deposited about 90 

 eggs. On June 10th I noticed several eggs had become depressed and 

 sunk in on the surface so that they were evidently infertile, the other 

 ova of this batch remain as they were laid. The ova are bright apple- 

 green and oval in outline. (2) On June 3rd I bred a female and a 

 male Suierinthus ocellatus. When about to pair, I removed the male S. 

 ocellatus, and placed a male *S'. populi (recently bred) in the cage with 

 the ? S. ocellatus ; they paired almost immediately, but were only 



