OURRENT NOTES. sila 
in October when he found a large larva of Cossus ligniperda going 
across the road at a great pace. He put it in a match-box, a rather 
tight fit, and took it with him, and on returning to Mansfield gave it 
to me. My nephew, when digging potatoes in his garden at Quorn, 
unearthed a fine larva of the same species, no doubt coming from an 
old willow tree at the bottom of the garden. This was also sent to 
me. I put them in separate zinc larva-boxes and supplied them with 
peat which they used at once in making their cocoons. I knew that 
if placed together they would not scruple to dine off one another 
without presenting their food card. Whether the Southwell larva 
was purified by going to service [ cannot say, but there is no dis- 
cernible odour from it. When I opened the box containing the larva 
from Quorn, it reminded me of Mark Twain, after he had indulged in 
a Turkish bath, telling the attendant to take him out and bury him, 
for he must have been dead a fortnight, he stunk so. Cossus, however, 
was not dead, he showed me his jaws through the end of his cocoon. 
Up to the present time (April 22nd) neither of them has yet pupated. 
In October and November Oporabia dilutata were in hundreds. 
They varied from white ground colour with distinct cross lines to dark 
quite unicolorous forms. Hibernia defoliaria occurred now in fair 
numbers ; they varied from specimens so much speckled all over with 
reddish as to give them an almost unicolorous appearance, to the 
beautiful banded forms with numerous types of ground colour. The 
two “ whites,” Pieris rapae and P. brassicae were a pest in the autumn, 
but their natural enemies made short work of thousands of the larve. 
It was quite a sight to see the abundant masses of little yellow co- 
coons studded over doors, walls, window frames, etc. 
On Oct. 24th, my grandson brought me a batch of ova of P. 
brassicae laid on a leaf of Nasturtium. I fed the larve on the leaves 
of garden swede until all pupated at the end of November. The larve 
were kept indoors and they cast their skins only three times. I took 
every chance of watching them. When about to cast their skins they 
all clustered together at the top of the breeding-cage. The pupe, | 
note, are rather small. 
I had forgotten to mention that an unusally small example of 
Mania maura was sent to me from Quorn in August, which measured 
only 50 mm. Other specimens I have in my series measure as much 
as 78 mm.—Wnm. Daws, Mansfield, Notts. April, 1918. 
GYURRENT NOTES AND SHORT NOTICES. 
Hearty congratulations are due, and are hereby tendered, to our 
esteemed colleague Mr. H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe, upon the promotion 
of his son to a captaincy in the Royal Engineers, notice of which 
appeared in a recent issue of the Gazette. 
This establishes what is probably a unique record in the fact that 
there now appears in the Army List no fewer than five members of 
the family holding the same rank at the present time, v7z., Capt. de 
Aula Donisthorpe.(son), Capt. Edmund Russell Donisthorpe (brother), 
Capt. Anderson de Auld Donisthorpe, Capt. Edmund Seal Donis- 
thorpe, and Capt. Henry Donisthorpe (cousins). Fortuna favet. 
fortibus. [H.E.P.] 
