CURRENT NOTES. . 1G7 



ffreen, serves to conceal it as causing it to harmonise with the dark 

 interior and appear unlike a living larva. If this black pigment is an 

 inevitable result of the pupal coloration, why do not all larvjB that 

 have black pupte show it ? And if a definite development of pigment 

 never occurs for the prepupal period, how will Dr. Chapman explam 

 the coloration of PolyimDiinatr hrhrairnm to which I referred? (See, 

 Proc U.S. Natl. Mas'., xxxi., 9, for description of this larva.)— Harri- 

 son G. Dyar, Ph.D., United States Nat. Museum, Washington. 



Copulation of Dryas paphia and Polyoji.matus corydon.— I con- 

 firmed an observation, first made at Mendel Pass, when out collectmg 

 at Pre St Didier on August 10th, 1898, to the effect that the male Dn/as 

 mnhia although so much the smaller and apparently weaker of the 

 sexes carries the female if they be disturbed whilst pau-ed. The male 

 oi Polunrnwatiis cnn,dnu. also carries the female under similar condi- 

 tions. ■ On the other hand, I have a recollection (that wants contlrm- 

 in") that the female Mditaeadulnina carries the male.— J. W. Iutt. 



"The anal armature of the Solenobiid pupa.— I have recently 

 been examining the pupcT3 of certain Micro-Psychids and have also been 

 readin- up such information as I can find bearing on then- structure. 

 I see that Packard notes {Bmnhi/rinr Moths of America, p. GO, the two 

 small terminal anal spines of Talrpnna pscudobomhycclla and cmisiders 

 that they may be the homologuos of the anal-leg hooks o the pupffl 

 of P^ijclndae. In his note on the pupa of Sohmohta waWwUa he states 

 (v 68) that "in this genus the abdomen has no cremaster and no 

 tenninal hooked spines, the pupa in exuviation ^^ing fastened to the 

 sides of the cocoon by numerous hooked set.B ^ He also figures hese 

 well-known recurved seta3 in his fig. 26a (p. 69) which represents the 

 terminal segments of S. ivahhella. It is quite clear, even if the state- 

 ment is true of this species, that the generalisation is altogether in- 

 correct, and I have now before me two lots of living Solenobiid pup^ 

 fSolawbia incnnspicudlaj collected by Mr Hamm during the last few 

 days in which the dorso-lateral anal spikes or spines a e very O)"; 

 spicuous. as also are the characteristic long seta^, each w f^tion 



recurved hook. It would be well to examine the .^ol^^o^^^.^J ^ P'^^.:^',;^ 

 carefully to see whether the puprB of the American species aie leally 

 wanting in these structures.— Ibid, April 14th, i8Jy. 



CURRENT NOTES. 



Mr Bankes "ives (K. M. M.) a description of the larva and pupa 

 of ^^j^^ivllnaS^t^s. He notes that the larva lives in a oose 



silken (veb spun among the flowers ^^ ■^'-■'^'--^«"\ ,7^,^,^^^^^^^^^ 

 flowers themselves and also on the g^^en unripe seeds, and occasiom^^^^^ 

 in confinement nibbling the stalk. . . , ^he pupa3 we c enc^o ed 

 in slight, loose, white silken cocoons, spun m confinement among the 

 flowers and stems of the wild hyacinths. „•/,■„„ Thorns 



Mr. R. C. L. Perkins adds (/«:. ^[. M.) '■''^'^' /'^;^"'.'''' ' ' ^^ ^^^'l 

 to the British list, and compares it critically ^^^^^. ^ o^the dvpeus 

 appears to be larger than the latter, and the P^!°^ ^^ jf Ae '^^^^^^^^ 

 seems to be normally golden in the latter, silvery m the foimer, ^^hlCtI 

 also generally has the mesothorax less distinctly striose 



Mr. Bankes asserts (Kntom.), on j^e authority of the Ke^. a ^^^ 

 Cambridge, that the late Mr. F. Bond, who gave btainton the locality 



