240 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



By Edward Ransom. 



TTHE season of 1894 cannot be regarded by 

 lepidopterists as a very successful one, even 

 those butterflies that are usually common every- 

 where only put in an appearance in limited 

 numbers. This is hardly to be wondered at when 

 we remember the remarkable absence of sunshine 

 during the summer months. Some species, how- 

 ever, were abundant in the larval state. This was 

 notably the case with Vanessa urticce ; during the 

 whole summer the larvae swarmed on almost every 

 patch of nettles, and I successfully bred some 

 hundreds of them. On August 28th, I found a 

 brood of these larva?, some of which I took. They 

 were nearly full-grown, and they commenced to 

 change to pupae on September 4th. On October nth, 

 two imagines emerged, and the remainder emerged 

 a few days afterwards. Another brood which I found 

 on August 28th, only measured seven-sixteenths of 

 an inch in length. They grew very rapidly and 

 commenced changing to pupae on September 24th, 

 but unfortunately they never emerged. By the end 

 of November, the colours of the wings were plainly 

 visible through the pupa cases, and on opening 

 them in the spring I found that they were perfectly 

 formed but quite dead. I conclude that the 

 weather was too cold for them to emerge, and so 

 they became torpid and had insufficient strength to 

 become perfect. 



I do not recollect having seen during 1894 even 

 one specimen of Gonepteryx rhamni. For the last 

 two or three years this butterfly seems to have 

 got quite scarce here. I do not know whether it is 

 getting rarer in other parts of the country, and I 

 should like to know if other collectors have noticed 

 such to be the case. As to moths, it seems to have 

 been a very unsatisfactory season everywhere, both 

 light and treacle being at times a failure. I noticed, 

 however, that the larvae of some species were 

 unusually abundant. On a willow-tree in a garden 

 here Dicranura v inula literally swarmed, and the 

 owner feared that it would be quite denuded of its 

 foliage. I obtained a number of these larvae and 

 fed them on poplar, which they very readily took to, 

 and did not appear to mind the change of food in any 

 way, and I reared some very fine specimens of this 

 moth. The larvae of some of the hawk-moths were 

 more than usually plentiful, especially Sphinx 

 ligustri. I never remember these larvae to be so 

 abundant before. I also found a brood of nine 

 larvae of Charocampa elpenor, one of which was a 

 very fine specimen of the green variety. They 

 were feeding on the large willow herb Epilobium 

 hivsutum. I took one from off a plant of woody 

 nightshade (Solatium dulcamara), but I could not 



ascertain that it had been feeding on it : perhaps it 

 was merely resting there. I afterwards found two 

 more specimens, one of which I took off a species 

 of rush on which it had evidently been feeding, 

 although Epilobium hivsutum was growing profusely 

 quite close. These larvae are very seldom found 

 here, although there is a great abundance of their 

 food-plant growing on the river banks. I have 

 sometimes observed that when I placed the larvae 

 of hawk-moths on damp earth as soon as they 

 burrow, there is a species of rnite attaches itself to 

 them and irritates them to such an extent that they 

 come to the surface again. I have taken as many 

 as half a dozen of these mites off one larva. Can 

 any reader give me any information about them ? 



The larvae of Bombyx quercus was unusually 

 abundant ; so also was Bombyx neustria. I bred a 

 very small male specimen of this moth. It only 

 measures three-fourths of an inch in expanse. The 

 larvae of Spilosoma lubricipeda was also abundant. 

 Two or three seasons ago I caught a specimen of 

 Spilosoma menthastri of which the right hind- wing, 

 although perfectly formed, was only about two- 

 thirds of the normal size. 



About the end of July a friend gave me a large 

 number of the larvae of Arctia caja, which had not 

 been hatched very many days. Some of them grew 

 rapidly, and on October 7th some commenced to 

 spin cocoons. Until this time I had done nothing 

 to force them, but kept them in an open shed ; but 

 as I was anxious not to lose them, I now removed 

 them to a warmer place. Some of the larvae 

 remained very small and did not appear to grow 

 at all, and these passed the winter in the larval 

 state, but, unfortunately, died in the spring. 

 There were, however, only a few that passed the 

 winter this way, as all the others turned to pupae 

 during October and November. On November 10th 

 the first imago emerged. It was a fine specimen, 

 not crippled or dwarfed in any way. The remainder 

 continued to emerge, sometimes as many as half a 

 dozen in a day, until December 21st. Nearly all 

 those that emerged after November 25th were 

 crippled or dwarfed specimens. I paired some of 

 them and obtained some fertile eggs which were 

 hatched on December 23rd, but owing to my 

 inability to obtain food for them they all died. I, 

 of course, had to keep them in a place where I 

 could get artificial heat. I think the above is 

 somewhat unusual and worth recording. A few 

 seasons ago I bred an interesting variety of this 

 moth, in which the red of the hind-wings and of the 

 body was replaced by a bright yellow. 

 Sudbury, Sujjolk. 



