32 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



rarely two similar, some light, others very dark and reddish ; a 

 pretty form has all the marginal spots yellow. 



A. papilla. A male with the hind wings bronze-green; a 

 female quite blue, with usual silvery streaks. 



Var. valesina. Varies in itself; one suffused with blue scales ; 

 another with nearly all the ground yellow. I bred a form which 

 I have sought for in vain upon the wing ; it is shaded all over, 

 and is an extreme specimen : altogether I have above twenty, but 

 this one attracts attention at once ; several have the wings 

 brownish, and are intermediate between the type and valesina. 



Polyommatus phloeas, one of the var. schniidtii (Grerh.). 

 Several approaching it ; two fine males, finel}^ irrorated with 

 black all over, the copper scarcely visible. (Meadows.) 



Lyccena cegon. Males often have the margins broadly black, 

 and with the nervules finely pencilled for some distance towards 

 the base ; others reduced to marginal lines ; ground, three 

 shades, very light blue ; dark and purplish ; a rarer form light 

 and suffused with grey. The females are more constant; the 

 blue-marked ones do not occur here, and it is difficult to find 

 specimens with the " silver studs " upon the hind wings, the 

 spots being quite black. I have a female with a broad zigzag 

 orange line upon all the margins. 



Pamphila thaumas. I take a most interesting form every 

 year ; the superior wings, from the base to the anal angle, right 

 round to some distance into the costa, broadly suffused with dark 

 greenish ground ; all the hind wings quite as dark as actceon. 

 This form occurs in both sexes ; the small proportion of tawny 

 shows up vividly ; under wings greenish ; the type is very light 

 in comparison. (New Forest, amongst rushes.) 



Hesp>eria malvcB. Several rich brown, one var. taras (Bergstr.). 

 Several other species vary considerably, but the above are in 

 many instances constant. 



I have noticed, for some years past, that the butterflies of 

 this district are much darker than from any other that I have 

 ever collected in. 



Eingwood, January, 1893. 



REMOVAL OF GKEASE FEOM THE BODIES OF MOTHS. 



By W. M. Christy, F.E.S. 



For several years past I have adopted Mr. Greene's method 

 of treating greasy insects, and have operated on some hundreds 

 of moths, large and small, from Cossus ligniperda down to Loho- 

 phora sexalisata. The plan I mean is described in the ' Insect 

 Hunter's Companion,' p. 76, and it seems to me the only way of 

 keeping a collection in good order with respect to " grease." My 



