166 THE entomologist'h becord. 



shall be interested to see whether the eggs from a red female will pro- 

 diice the other aberrations of colour. The ab, hitei^ccns gives both red 

 and yellow forms, never yellow only. — C. Oberthub, F.E.S., Rennes, 

 May 12th, 1889. 



Deilepiiila livobnica in the Isle of Man. — -A magnificent speci- 

 men of the varc ]>eilriiJiila lironu'ra was captured last night on Doi;glas 

 Head by Mr. William Garrett, of No. 17, South Quay, Douglas, who 

 brought the insect to me alive to-day. The specimen measures 3^in. 

 across the Avings from tip to tip, and was netted by Mr. Garrett whilst 

 hovering over flowers of Sileiic maritima. Mr. Garrett also cap- 

 tured specimens of Dicoitlioccia capsopJiila and Kupiiht'cia rcnosata on 

 the 7th and I), cacsia on the 8th inst. This is exceptionally early, as 

 the cold winds experienced here for some time past have kept back 

 vegetation very much. — H. SnoBTBrnGE Clarke, F.E.S., Sulby Parson- 

 age, Isle of Man, May 13th, 1899. 



.@;^CIENTIFIC NOTES. 



Critical note on Holenobia teiquetbella. — In the Juit. Mo. Mag., 

 xxxi., p. 1G4, Mr. C. G. Barrett writes : " It may be desirable to point 

 out that the species named N. triqiictrdla by Fischer von Rosslerstamm 

 cannot well be that referred to above, nor indeed a member of the 

 present genus ('.SV;Z(';ir//*/rt; since it is described as having pectinated 

 antennae. Probably it represents one of the species of Epichnopteri/x 

 among the Pnncliida'.'' This is not quite inaccurate, but at the same 

 time essentially misleading. What Fischer von Rosslerstamm does say 

 is this : " The antennaj are grey-brown with very fine and light 

 pectinations." This is absolutely correct, and so depicted by Fischer 

 von Rosslerstamm. There can be no doubt, and we state this emphati- 

 cally, that Fischer von Rosslerstamm was an entomological artist of the 

 first rank, his life-histories are perfect, as also are his figures, except 

 where, as in this, the paint has with age played him (and most other 

 entomological artists) false, but even now his figure under a lens is 

 good enough to see the characteristic Solenobiid specklings and the 

 details of the larva and pupa and imaginal antenn;e leave no doubt 

 whatever that Fischer von Rosslerstamm's S. triquctrclla is exactly 

 what he calls it. We suspect that Mr. Barrett took his information 

 about Fischer at second-hand, and that he has not examined the 

 antennae of the male Solenobiids with any higher poAver than a hand- 

 lens, a mode hardly likely to have been adopted by Fischer, who saw 

 the Solenobiid pectinations, the non-existence of which Mr. Barrett 

 implies. Mr. Barrett does Fischer less than justice in supposing that 

 he figured an Kpichnoptcnjx for a Snlowhia. We would suggest that 

 some of Fischer's plates are worth examination by those interested in 

 the artistic side of our study. — J. W. Tutt. 



CoLouB CHANGE IN ScoLioPTERYx LARVA. — Dr. Chapman's remarks 

 (Ent. Bee, xi., 76) somewhat obscure the point that I wished to make 

 about the function of the black coloration assumed before pupation. 

 The facts simply are that the cocoon, though closely woven and 

 covered with leaves, is open at the end and the larva is visible from 

 that point ; the black colour is also visible, though it does not obtain 

 over the whole of the exposed portion of the larva. Finally, as the 

 larva is in what is virtually a tube of leaves, the black, rather than 



