284 t Ma y> 



alga, at £1. The Leucanice and Nonagrim fetched long prices. Eighteen specimens 

 of Noctua subrosea were sold for £20, as much as £3 5s. being paid for a pair ; 

 both this and LyccBna dispar are no doubt extinct, for although both occur on the 

 continent, so far as the species is concerned, the British form no longer exists. Good 

 prices were also obtained for the Micro-Lepidoptera ; but it was evident that, from 

 a collector's point of view, the value was regulated by size and rarity combined. 

 A few Tortrices and Tineina certainly fetched bigh prices, probably not because they 

 are actually rare, but because the "art" of collecting or breeding them has died 

 out with the "experts " who formerly used to obtain them in numbers. — Eds. 



Orrhodia rubiginea at Seaton. — On the 24th March last, I was fortunate enough 

 to obtain a fine specimen of Orrhodia rubiginea at sugar. I have also taken several 

 specimens of Xylina socia. — John H. Still, Seaton, Devon : April \0th, 1889. 



Notes on the probable origin of last year's Deilephila galii. — I have lately been 

 much interested in obtaining information as to the relative sizes of the caught 

 imagines and bred examples of D. galii, and venture to think they may throw con- 

 siderable light on their probable origin, and help to strengthen the so-called " blotvn 

 over theory." 



Any one looking at a series of continental galii cannot fail to see how much 

 larger and robust looking they are when compared with those bred from English fed 

 larvae, and they too will see, by what follows, that in nearly every case of a caught 

 specimen of the moth during the months of July and August of 1888, they also 

 measure considerably more than any specimen bred from the numerous larvae found 

 in September, 1888. 



Continental D. galii — the females measure from 3 to 3^ inches ; males, 3 to 3& inches. 



18 specimens caught by Mr. J. T. Williams and Mr. F. Oswald at St. Margaret 

 Bay in July and August, 1888 : females, 3g to 3f inches ; 

 males, 3 inches (one measured more than 3g inches). 



1 „ „ Mr. Sheldon at Kingsdown, female, 3 inches full. 



1 „ „ Mr. Youens at Dartford, male, 3 inches full. 



1 „ „ Mr. W. Thompson at Stoney Stratford, female, 3 inches full. 



1 „ „ Mr. A. Home at Aberdeen, female, 3\ inches. 



1 „ „ Mr. Hart at Dublin, male, 2 t 7 q inches. 



1 „ „ Mr. P. Kirk at Dundee, male, 2-| inches. 



Thus all, save the two males from Dublin and Dundee, are 3 inches up to 

 3f inches. But out of a large number of bred specimens from English larvae, very 

 few indeed reached 3 inches, and I can only find two females that exceed 3 inches. 



Bred by Mr. Capper and Liverpool collectors, one female, 3 inches 2 lines, the average 



9 , 2 1 inches ; the largest S , 2 inches 10 lines, average $ , 2 inches 6 lines. 

 96 specimens bred by W. H. T. from Deal, one 9 reached 3 inches 1 line, average ? , 



2£ inches. 

 18 „ „ Mr. John A. Cooper from Essex, ? , 2| inches, $ , 2f inches. 



These figures give an average of at least three-eighths of an inch larger in the 



