110 THE entomologist's BEOORD. 



especially offer examples of J ? which are still emerging, when all the' 

 $ $ are already old ; in EpinepJiele jurtina, and in Pyronia tithomis,. 

 the difference of time from the beginning of the (? ^ to that of the 

 2 ? reaches twenty days, and as long a time elapses between the 

 emergence of the last (^ ^ and that of the last J ? ; in very few 

 species the two sexes emerge always contemporaneously, as Agriades 

 escheri, and in one only {Gegenes lefebcrei) has the mass of the females 

 been observed to emerge before that of the males in some localities. 

 Frequently the singular fact is seen in many species of some 

 precocious sporadic examples of the female sex emerging at the 

 beginning of the brood of <? <? , or even before these last, and then on 

 more $ $ appear until they begin to emerge in mass. 



Ocher general rules well-known are that the S S' are in numerical 

 proportion superior to the 5 $ , and sometimes in enormously greater 

 numbers, as happens in many Lycaeninae (L. orbitulus, H. dolus), and 

 in many Grypocera (^7. laratherae, H. carthaini, H. arinoricanus, etc.) ; 

 it is true that the $ J , being -often less active and more sedentary, 

 are much less visible, but, notwithstanding this cause of error in 

 estimating them, the true disproportion in the emergence of the two 

 sexes is always very notable, and the proportion in the different species 

 is sufficiently constant to form a good differential characteristic ; in 

 two species of Af/riades, related and so similar to each other, as to have 

 been confused together until last year, coridon, Poda, and aragonensis,. 

 Vrty., Querci has observed that in all localities, both in those where 

 they fly together, as well as in those where only one species flies, the 

 first presents a proportion of 10 : 1* and the second of 1 : 1 between 

 (J (^ and ? ? ; in very few species again the proportion is reversed, 

 there being more 5 2 than <? 3' {Melanargia arye, Satynis neoinyrin) ;. 

 it is to be noted that the increase in the relative number of the ? ? 

 is often proportioned to the localisation and to the scarcity of the 

 species, and one iiiight suppose that this was on the way to extinction;, 

 instead, an excess oi $ $ would constitute a waste in the economy of 

 of the species, which would seem to denote a high degree of vitality 

 and of generative power ; on the other hand it is to be noted that in 

 the case of aragnnenda and of iieoiuyiis the individuals of the two sexes 

 are very abundant in the localities where they are found, therefore the 

 ability to multiply is certainly not deficient, and the increase in the 

 number of the $ 2 does not seem to be accompanied by less prolific 

 power in this sex. 



(To be continued.) 



jri)OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



C. POLYODON. — Quite bychancelfound a nice male of Cloavtha polyo- 

 don {2)erii/iicilaris) at rest on a garden paling in Worthing. This may be 

 worth recording, as South only mentions five British records for the 

 species. — A. E. TctjJOE, Aincroft, Reigate. May I5th, 1919. 



[The references to the five previous records are as follow : — 1841, 

 Ent. I., 128, Yarmouth; 1855, E^it. Ann. I.. 47, Ash ford ; 1892, Knt. 

 Bee, III., 159, Folkestone; 1894, Ent., XXVII., 170, Clonbrook ;, 

 1894, Ent. Mo. Mag., XXX., 88, Norwich. - H.J.T.] 



* This however is not everywhere the case. At Royston, for example, the $ 9 

 vastly outnumber the <? d , and I observed the same thing, in a somewhat lesS- 

 marked degree, in 1918, at Prince's Eisborough, in the Chilterns. — G.W. 



