NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 297 



Spilosoma mendica and its var. rustica. — At the present time, 

 when the local forms of the various species of the genus Sjnlosoma are 

 attracting some amount of attention, it may be interesting to mention the 

 pairing of individuals of these two very distinct forms. In the year 1886 

 I received ova of the Irish form (var. rustica, Hub.), at that time thought by 

 some to be a distinct species, and, wishing to note any possible differences 

 in the larvae of the two forms, I also obtained ova of the typical English 

 form, — veritable cockneys from the north of London, — and fed the larvge 

 resulting from the two under as nearly as possible similar circumstances. 

 So far as I could detect there was no material difference between them. In 

 May, 1887, the moths from the English ova began to appear, and I was at 

 once desirous of obtaining a pairing between them and the Irish form ; but 

 in this I was not successful, owing to the former being all out before the 

 latter began to emerge. la 1888 I was equally unsuccessful, for the same 

 reason, and unfortunately my broods were becoming sickly, and the moths 

 that came out in the following year were few in number and small in size. 

 In point of time and emergence they were, however, nearer than they had 

 previously been, which admitted of a freshly-emerged English female being 

 paired with an almost white, but miserably undersized, Irish male. The 

 pairing took place readily, but only four eggs were deposited ; these 

 all hatched. One larva either died or was lost, and three went to pupa; 

 and on the 18th of May, 1890, I had the satisfaction of rearing two fine 

 males : in size they are fully up to average, and iu colour are intermediate 

 between the two forms. — Robert Adkin ; Lewisham, Sept., 1893. 



Nyssia zoNARiA IN LANCASHIRE. — Your Correspondent's note (Entom. 

 200) on this species is, as regards the distribution of the insect, rather 

 misleading. Even so far back as the year 1867 its known geographical 

 range extended from the estuary of the River Conway, Rhyl, Prestatyn, 

 Hoylake, Wallasey, to the Crosby sand-hills in Lancashire ! Since then 

 it has been taken freely at Ainsdale and Crossens, in the Southport dis- 

 trict, and at Lytham. There are also records of its capture in Epping 

 Forest; on the Antrim coast, and on Achill Island in the West of Ireland. 

 I can refer Mr. Renshaw to notices iu the ' Entomologist ' volumes : — 

 iii. 365, X. 216, xxi. 156, xii. 108, xvii. 60, and xxv. 145.— C. E. Stott; 

 Bolton-le-Moors. 



Gnophria rubricollts. — In reference to the note of your corre- 

 spondent, Mr. Carr, concerning G. rubricollis (Entom. 276), I may state 

 that I also took four of the above-named insect, one being a cripple, on 

 the 24th of May in the present year, between Dolgelly and Arthog, in 

 North Wales ; and that I have never taken it in August, though I have 

 often been there during that month. — S. Renshaw ; Ash House, Stretford, 

 Manchester, Sept. 9, 1893, 



Cerastis erythrocephala. — This species, which was first taken in 

 England I believe by Mr. Henry Cooke, who resided at Brighton some 

 thirty or thirty-five years ago, and exhibited at the Entomological Society 

 of London at the time, I think is not so rare if collectors would only search 

 for it at the proper time and iu its localities. I have a fine series, which I 

 have obtained from time to time, taken under the South Downs between 

 Brighton and Eastbourne, and again inland between Dover and Canterbury. 

 Mr. Hammond, who used to reside midway between the latter places, in- 

 formed me that he had taken several in his own garden, on ivy, towards the 



ENTOM. OCT., 1893. 2 D 



