136 THE entomologist's record, 



Aglais nrticae and a doubtful Polygonia c-alhnm at Paignton, on the 

 morning of the 14th. The bitterly cold winds, however, from the 

 16th-17th, prevented anything getting on the move.— J, W. Tutt. 



Hemaris tityus or H. fuciformis in April. — A cousin of mine, 

 whilst working in her garden, at Effingham, a few miles from Guild- 

 ford, on April 16th, saw two specimens of either Hemaris tityus or H. 

 fuciformis feeding on the wing quite close to her. Is not this very 

 early for either of these species to be on the wing here in England? 

 — Cecil Flcersheim, Pennyhill Park, Bagshot, Surrey. April 28«/i, 

 1906. 



PuPARiUM OF Phlogophora empyrea. — In Practical Hints, part iii, 

 p. 45, it is stated that larv^ of Phlogophora empyrea " form a cocoon of 

 a rather open network of silk under the upper leaves of this plant " 

 [i.e., Ranunculus repens). I have had 60 larvffi of this species, from 

 ova obtained last November, feeding on i?. repens, and, of these, about 

 half have gone down into the cocoa-nut fibre and spun a cocoon, a 

 brittle one, like that made by most Noctuid larvse. The other larvae 

 are still feeding. They refused to touch Pi. ficaria at any stage. I 

 am only sending this note to show that the larval habits appear to 

 vary somewhat under different conditions, in confinement, when they set 

 about making their cocoons for the purpose of pupation. — Ernest A. 

 Rogers, Kabul House, Teignmouth. May 1st, 1906. 



Urgent appeal foe zephyeid eggs. — It seems very strange that, 

 with the large number of accurate observers scattered through the 

 British Isles, it should be so difficult to obtain material for describing 

 the initial stages of several of our more ordinary Diurni. Our 

 enthusiastic and enterprising editor is making rapid progress with the 

 publication of his new exhaustive work on "British Butterflies," which 

 will, I doubt not, form the chief work of reference for many years to 

 come. It seems very extraordinary, therefore, that no one, so far, has 

 been able to supply him with eggs of so common an insect as the 

 "purple hairstreak" [Zephyrus querciis), and that only empty eggshells 

 of its close ally, Z. betulae, have, so far, been forthcoming. A few 

 years ago I induced females of Thecla ic-albwn to lay freely when 

 sleeved out in the sun on a growing wych-elm, and last year a friend 

 of mine in Northants obtained ova of Thecla pruni by confining 

 females on a living bush of blackthorn. Now I freely confess that 

 I have failed year after year with Z. quercus, the egg of which is quite 

 unknown to me, and has, I think, never been described. Still, I live 

 among this species, and hope every year to solve the riddle. Z. betulae, 

 on the contrary, is very scarce in this neighbourhood, and it is only 

 by making a journey of five miles that I occasionally succeed in 

 beating a few larvffi. They are at all times so scarce that one larva 

 an hour is the average result of this strenuous exercise. I have only 

 once come across an imago in a state of nature, and that was many 

 years ago. But, as the "brown hairstreak" is not uncommon in the 

 west, especially in Devonshire, and sometimes abounds in our larger 

 midland woods, I hereby make a sincere appeal to some leisured 

 entomologist who lives in such a neighbourhood to make a special 

 effort to obtain eggs of betulae this season. Pairing bred specimens in 

 confinement is, I imagine, almost hopeless, but he has three other 

 courses open to him : he may either catch a female and sleeve her in 

 the sun on blackthorn, or he may watch her in a state of nature till 



