16 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES ON VANESSID^ IN 1892. 



The great abundance of Pyrameis atalanta and P. cardui. — 

 This year has not only been an eclusa year, but also a great atalanta year. 

 Early in the season I could not help noting the fact that hybernated speci- 

 mens of P. atalanta were much commoner than usual, and, judging by 

 their numbers, I should say that most of the specimens had migrated from 

 the Continent. They continued on the wing until the beginning of July. 

 From June to September the larvae were found in abundance almost 

 wherever nettles grew, and their variation was remarkable for concealed 

 feeders. The principal forms were grey, dull green, black with white 

 lateral stripe, and black with yellow lateral stripe. The larva was very 

 common in Hants in July, and in Gloucestershire large numbers were still 

 feeding during the first week in September; many quite small (possibly a 

 second brood). The larvae of P. cardui were found in some numbers in the 

 western suburbs ; but on the Hants coast almost every thistle bore indica- 

 tions that larvae of P. cardui had been feeding. On the other hand, I did 

 not find any larvae of Vanessa to, nor do the imagines of this species and 

 those of F. polychloros appear to have been commoner than usual. — A. T, 

 Mitchell ; 5, Clayton Terrace, Gunnersbury, W., Nov. 5, 1892. 



Pyrameis atalanta was not common at Ramsgate during September, 

 but P. cardui and Vanessa io were in abundance. — A. T. Mitchell ; 

 5, Clayton Terrace, Gunnersbury, Nov. 5, 1892. 



During the month of July the larvae of Vanessa atalanta were very 

 numerous, and we cleared out all we could find in some lanes near here. 

 The imagines duly emerged throughout August, and I did not expect there 

 would be another brood of them ; but in September, in the same locality, 

 we again saw signs of the larvae, and in the course of that month we found 

 a large number (more, even, than in July) in all stages of growth, from a 

 few days old to full-fed, and often on the same plant. These pupated in 

 due course, and the perfect insects emerged during October and the early 

 part of the present month. On the 3rd inst. I discovered in the same lanes 

 a half-fed larva of this species, and took two more yesterday and another 

 to-day ; the three latter were nearly full-fed, and I hope to get all four 

 through this year. This surely points to two, if not three, broods this year. 

 As to the white spot question, I do not think it has anything to do with 

 sex. I have bred several in which the spot on one side was much fainter 

 than that on the other, and one had only one spot, on the left wing ; but, 

 unfortunately, I was examining a great number at the time, and must have 

 put it among those to be released, as I have not been able to find it since. 

 I think the spot is nearly always present (more or less distinctly) on the 

 under side, even when there is no trace of it above. Out of the hundreds 

 reared I did not get any vars. save shades of colour. — E. Sabine ; The 

 Villas, Erith, Nov. 10, 1892. 



Vanessa c-album in North Staffordshire. — Although a North 

 Staffordshire edusa has not favoured me with a visit, notwithstanding that 

 I have kept a good look out for it, I have had the luck to see and take 

 what, in this North Staffordshire district, is a scarcer butterfly. On Sep- 

 tember 26th, in our own garden at Madeley Vicarage, on a white aster, I 

 observed a V. c-album settled, and sending into the house for a net, one of 

 my sons soon came and captured the insect. It proved to be a male speci- 



