NOTES, CAPTUBES, ETC. 133 



there is no such species in Britain, and that specimens of both C. verbasci Bjai 

 C. lychnitis are doing duty in our cabinets as C. scrophularicB. If we turn 

 to the ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' we see that Haworth's opinion is this : — 

 " As the great lepidopterist Hiibner gives the water-betony moth as a dis- 

 tinct species from that of the mullein, and figures both, it is also here 

 enumerated, as I possess English specimens of both and have seen others. 

 But, unless they differ more in the larva state than they do in the winged, 

 which is almost a constant characteristic in this section, I must still 

 conceive they are not distinct, but very slight variations only. The chief 

 difference is the paler colour of scrophularm, whose upper wings, especially 

 in the broad plaga, are of an ochreous colour, as figured by Hiibner, while 

 those of verbasci are nearly white in the same part." Now, may I ask, will 

 not this description do for C. lychnitis, Ramb., which species was apparently 

 unknown to Haworth? A mistake which has often been made is that 

 larvae of a CucuUia, feeding on figwort, are those of scrophularias ; for it 

 must be borne in mind that the larvae of verbasci wiU also feed on figwort 

 as well as on mullein. Stainton, in his ' Manual,' gives a description of the 

 larva of scrophularia, copied from Rambur. May I ask. Has any such larva 

 been found in Britain ?— C. W. Dale ; Glanville"s Wootton, March 20, 1891. 



Assembling of Beephos parthenias. — In answer to Mr, Perry 

 Coste's enquiry with regard to assembling, it may be interesting to record 

 my experiences of to-day. At 2 p.m., the afternoon being warm and 

 sunny, I armed myself with the three bottom joints of a good stout fishing- 

 rod, and wended my way to some woods at Warley where I take B. 

 parthenias regularly every year. On arriving at the scene of operations, I 

 affixed my net to the fishing-rod, which was some ten feet high, and 

 wandered about in search of the orange underwing. For a long time I was 

 unsuccessful, as the wind was rather high, my net unwieldy, and there 

 were very few parthenias about. At last I succeeded in catching a male 

 flying low, and shortly afterwards a large, dark, freshly emerged female, 

 flying about five feet from the ground round a birch bush. No sooner was 

 she in my net than all at once she was surrounded by five males, which 

 seemed to rise as if by magic from two neighbouring birch trees. Three 

 of these were promptly in my net and soon transferred to boxes. The 

 female I left in my net, hoisted on high, and for a considerable time after- 

 wards males kept coming up, both with the wind and against it. The would- 

 be captor of parthenias should select a clearing in a birch-wood, where he 

 will have plenty of room to make the somewhat wild strokes necessary to 

 catch this high-flying species. Fresh specimens rarely fly at a lower 

 altitude than ten or twelve feet. — (Rev.) Gilbekt H. Raxnor ; Victoria 

 House, Brentwood, April 6, 1891. 



Attacus atlas (Giant race). — I wish to record my success in rearing 

 one of these somewhat delicate insects through all its stages — a success 

 which culminated in the emergence, a few days ago, of a fine female imago, 

 measuring within a shade of ten inches across. Of the three larvae which 

 hatched from the half-dozen ova that I obtained last summer, one died on 

 arrival, having hatched in the post ; another died after attaining about half 

 its growth ; but the third resulted in the above-mentioned success. The 

 larvae selected oak for their food during their first and a considerable 

 portion of their second stage, but subsequently, until the death of one and 

 and pupation of the other, plum alone was eaten. They were kept under 



