THE SEASON 1905 IN GERMANY. 69 



on the Millstone Grit — E.R.B.] . In his experience the two forms 

 never occur together, but he adds that, in some seasons, the whole of 

 the specimens are much darker than is the case in other years. 



Further notes on the lifehistory of Brenthis thore. 



By W. H. St. QUINTIN, F.E.S. 



Although I am afraid I am very late in following up Dr. Chapman's 

 note upon this species in the March number of The Entom. Record^ 

 xvii., p. 78, I should like to place on record that I reared to the 

 imago stage all the larvae M'^hich survived the winter, 17 in all. When 

 I went abroad in February, I left the larvae hybernating upon some 

 healthy plants of Viola biftora. I could not, however, help feeling some 

 anxiety lest the plants, which die down in the winter completely, might 

 not be ready when the young caterpillars emerged from their hiding- 

 places, which were beech leaves, pieces of plane bark, and dry moss. 

 However, soon after my return, I found all going on well, and by May 4th, 

 the violets had put out plenty of leaves, and these were nicely eaten. 

 The larvse had clearly moulted at least once since I had seen them. An 

 orange-red patch showed on each alternate segment. Otherwise the 

 larva was entirely black — head, feet, and hair-tufts. On May 9th, 

 several had cast their skins, the general colour now being greyish- black, 

 with black spines, the orange patches being much less conspicuous. 

 The larv^ were feeding up very rapidly now. I kept the cage all this 

 time in a sunny corner, out of doors, sheltered from cold wind. The 

 violet being rather pot-bound, required plenty of water, and, as this soon 

 dried off, all was kept in a healthy condition. On May 12th, the most 

 forward of the larvte had again moulted, and this brought them into 

 what proved to be the last stage. Skin black, reticulated by greyish 

 spines the lines flesh-colour, or flesh-buff. Head, legs, and claspers, 

 black. The larva in its last stadium approached Hoffmann's plate of 

 Brenthis daphne, which, I suppose, might be expected. 



By May 25th they had all pupated, suspending themselves from the 

 muslin and wires which formed the cage. The pupa closely resembles 

 Hoffmann's figure of Brenthis selene. The first imago (a male) made 

 its appearance on June 3rd, and the remainder quickly followed. 



I may add, that I obtained the ova in the Engadine during the 

 middle of July, 1903, and the first larvae began to hatch on the 28th. I 

 brought them home in glass tubes. I found that Brenthis thore larvae 

 will feed on T'. canina, but it happened that all the larvae caged upon 

 that plant perished during the winter, through my having, I believe, 

 kept them too dry. 



The season 1905 in Germany. Lepidoptera. 



By E. M. DADD, F.E.S. 

 {Concluded from vol. xviii., p. 35.) 

 On July 22nd I left Berlin for London, and was kept there during 

 the whole of the month of August, so that it was not until September 

 2nd that I again took the field. During the month of September I 

 sugared on seven occasions. On the 2nd and 23rd, at Fiukenkrug, 

 beyond Spandau, which is specially noticeable on account of its 



