270 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



few in the Isle of Wight " (Douglas) ; " a few each evening, from 

 September 8th-14th, at Freshwater" (Newman) ; 52, and a nice batch 

 of larvae, in Somersetshire" (Eawlings); "one at Romford" (Claxton); 

 " two at Brankstone " (Thorne). 



We hope later to have a word or two to say on the immigration of 

 Phryxus livornica this year. Mr. Druitt, in connection with a notice 

 of its occurrence in Ireland, makes some general remarks on the 

 subject of immigration, and asks " Why should this insect— assuming 

 it not to be an indigenous British species — pay the British Isles the 

 co)nplime7it of /lying across the sea, merely as if on a ■pleasiiretrijj:^ . . . . 

 Persons who have seen livornica flying at dusk, have observed that 

 the period of fiight does not last more tJian half-an-hour. Of course, no 

 one can tell how this insect spends the rest of its time, etc. With great 

 deference, I submit that more conclusive evidence is required than has yet 

 been published before livornica and peltigera can be described as aliens,'" 

 etc. We do not wish to appear hypercritical, but one would like to 

 know what Mr. Druitt means by much of this. Does he really think 

 that T. B, Fletcher, Daube, Knaggs, Green, Blackmore, Swinton, 

 Oberthiir, Caradja, G. F. Mathew, F. W. Frohawk, T. A. Chapman, 

 and some hundred other well-known lepidopterists, concocted ' the 

 conclusive evidence' published under the head" of "Habits of Phryxus 

 livornica," in a Natural History of the British Lepidoptera, iii., 

 pp. 158-161, and to a less extent that on pp. 161-165, which 

 relates (a) to the " pleasure trips " of this species, (b) the powers 

 of flight of this species, (c) the more than " half-hour " flights 

 of this species, and sundry other points bearing on this subject? 

 A matter like this is not to be dismissed at this time of day, 

 with the facts and evidence of three-quarters of a century in 

 front of one, in this airy fashion. If Mr. Druitt will peruse "the 

 evidence" already collected, even if he add no more " fresh evidence" 

 on the subject, and discuss the known facts, probably those ento- 

 mologists who have studied the subject for some years may be 

 inclined to reopen the matter. It is marvellous that, in this scientific 

 age, opinions, based on a want of knowlege of already recorded facts, 

 are still much more abundant than facts themselves. 



Mr. Comber records Cucullia gnaphaUi at light on June 27th, 1906, 

 at Jarvis Brook, Sussex, whilst Mr. Finzi notes Leucania unipnncta at 

 Tenby on August 29th. 



If any of our readers have good duplicates of Oxyptilus [Capperia) 

 teucrii (heterodactyla) to spare, we should be glad of a pair, " with 

 ■data," from as many localities as possible to work up our paragraph 

 on the " variation " of the species for British Lepidoptera, vol. v. We 

 do not seem to have noted the German forms in this country yet. 

 Still, one would expect they existed even if only as rare aberrations. 



We should also be glad if any of our readers who have series of 

 British Chrysophanus dispar would send us notes on the variation of their 

 specimens — (1) Exact measurements of largest and smallest $ s. 

 (2) Ditto, ? s. (3) Variation of colour and markings, upperside. 

 (4) Ditto, underside. From our continental readers we should be 

 most thankful for any notes (or reference to published notes) on the 

 var. rutilus, localities, habits, etc. These notes, to be of service, 

 should be sent on at once, as our account of the insect will be 

 published as soon as possible in the Nat. Hist, of British Butterflies. 



