214 THE entomologist's record. 



Orientation of Callophrys rubi. — Dr. Chapman (antea, p. 169) 

 has, to some extent, anticipated me in an observation which I intended 

 to put on record, but, although he speaks from a wide experience and 

 I only of a single specific instance, I do not think he has rendered my 

 note entirely superfluous. On June 5th, while staying at Westwell, 

 in Kent, I chanced to get a specimen of Callophrys rubi, which I had 

 netted, to "settle " (in exactly Dr. Chapman's sense), on my forefinger, 

 and to remain there a minute or two. Noticing the " twist and 

 twinkle," resulting in vertical exposure of the undersurface to the sun, 

 and remembering Dr. Longstaff's observations", it occurred to me to 

 move my finger gently in such a way as to reverse the conditions, 

 i.e., to expose the butterfly horizontally to the sun. Immediately, 

 though without undue haste, it turned round to regain the position it 

 had chosen. I repeated the experiment six or eight times (I neglected 

 to keep count) before it finally flew away, and each time with the 

 same result. This convinces one that the attitude is one of real 

 importance, and, though I do not pretend to decide between the rival 

 theories of maximum warmth and cryptic effect, my own leanings are 

 towards the latter view. It is at least interesting that C. rubi, resting 

 among leaves where it has little to fear from its own shadow, 

 settles in a position quite antithetical to that assumed by certain 

 ground-resting Satyrids and others which reduce their shadow to 

 "insignificant dimensions." — Loms B. Prout. Jiihj 1st, 1906. 



The Larva of Plebeius argus (^gon) attended by ants. — It may 

 interest your readers to know that the chief foodplant of Plebeius argus 

 {aeiion) in South France, appears to be Dorycniuvi suff'ruticosuni. I beat 

 some green Lj^ctenid larvfe from this plant, in the Ste. Maxime range of 

 mountains, in May last, which had a dull crimson dorsal line. They 

 pupated in due course, and now have emerged as this species. This 

 "blue" is common in the Alpes-Maritimes and places where the 

 Dorycnium grows, and the butterflies are always to be seen flying 

 around the plants. Ants attended the larvae, which had quite tall 

 processes on the 8th abdominal segments. They keep those two little 

 tubes out until an ant touches them with its antennae, when they 

 draw them in, shooting them out again as soon as the ant passes on. 

 The larvae, however, progress all right when deprived of the ants, and 

 they have another way, I fancy, of getting rid of the secretion from 

 these glands. I hope to make fuller observations another year. — H. 

 Powell, F.E.S., Poste-Restante, Entrevaux, Basses-Alpes. Ju7ie2Qth, 

 1906. 



OLEOPTERA. 



Donacia obscura, in the Norfolk Broads. —Mr. F. Balfour-Browne 

 having shown me speciments of Donacia obscura he took last year at Sutton 

 Broad, I went down this June to try for it. My friend, Mr. Chitty, 

 who was down there collecting water-beetles, joined me. The first day 

 we were unsuccessful, much sweeping and searching failed to produce 

 the insect ; the following other species of Donacia, however, were 

 found : D. crassicollis (common), D. versicolor, D. dentipes, D. vulgaris, 

 D. cinerea (common), D. clavipes (very common), D. thalassina, 

 D. nigra, D. impressa, andD. sericea. The next day, Mr. Chitty having 



* " Some Eest-attitudes of Butterflies : Heliotropism " {Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 

 1906, pp. 97-106). 



