SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



and have no spike. They are about the size of a 

 pea, and are attached to ihe underside of floating 

 (not detached) blades of grass. As in Jlydrophilua. 

 the young, on hatching, do not immediately 

 emerge ( 7 ). The cocoons of this beetle have 

 also been described by W. F. Baker, who states 

 that they are found in abuudance at or near 

 the surface of the water in shallow gra~sy 

 ponds, attached to leaves of water-plants, blades 

 of grass, etc. Being partly filled -with air. 

 they float when detached. They are formed of 

 silken threads woven together in various degrees 

 of closeness. One end, that first formed, is firm 

 and smooth ; but the other end (that at which 

 Hydrophifus makes its spike) is loose, irregular, 

 and furnished with a flap, by which the cocoon is 

 fastened to the objects upon which it rests. The 

 beetles begin to spin a cocoon within three weeks 

 after emerging from pupae : and. at intervals of about 

 a fortnight, each female makes three or four ( s ). 



( 7 ) Laker, 7. c. 



( 8) Baker, li >~a nralist/' 1894, pp. 327-333 ; and in Miall, 

 op. tit., pp. 88-90. 



Baker mentions further that the Hydrobii/s 

 fiisdpes may sometimes be found with an un- 

 finished cocoon attached to her body : and it is 

 interesting in this connection to' note that in 

 Sperelieus enwrgvnatut, and some other Hydro- 

 philids, it is the rule that the female thus carrier 

 her cocoon until the larvae hatch. The Sperckeus 

 was supposed to be extinct in this country until 

 Billups rediscovered it in 1878-9. Many of the 

 females taken at that time were carrying egg- 

 cocoons. These were of a silky material, pale 

 brown in colour, very closely spun, and slightly 

 inflated like the egg-cocoon of a spider ( 6 ). 

 Fowler, placing specimens of this beetle in a 

 globe of water, found after a day or two that 

 one had developed a cocoon. It was formed of a 

 tough whitish membrane, and covered the whole of 

 the under-side of the abdomen : after some days it 

 disappeared, about 100 larvae having hatched ( iu ). 



(9) Perkins,/ c. 



(10) Fowler, '-Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," xix. (1882- 

 1883) ; and "British Coleoptera,"' i. (1887), p. 233. 



(Tio he continued.') 



BUTTEEFLIES OF THE PALAEARCTIC KEGIOX 

 By Hexrt Charles Lang, M.TX, M.K.C.S., L.R.C.P. Loxd.. F.E.S. 



(.Continued from page 144.) 



Genus 12. ZEGRIS Eanibur. 

 Small butterflies having somewhat the aspect of 

 the orange-tipped species of Anthoeharis. An- 

 tennae shorter and with thicker and more rounded 

 clubs. Head more hairy and with shorter palpi. 

 The f.w. are tipped with orange in both sexes, but 

 the orange patch is completely surrounded by 

 dark shading and is proportionally much smaller 

 than in Anthocluvris. Larva as in Pieris. Pupa 

 enclosed in a thin cocoon and attached at both 

 ends with threads. 



1. Z. pyrothos Ev. Xouv. Mem. Mosc. 1832, 

 352, T. 20, 3. 1. Lg. B. E. p. 12. pi. xi. fig. 1 

 ( En clt foe py rotlioe). 



29—36 mm. 



Wings white. Apices of f.w. rather pointed 

 and with a more or less oval orange patch bordered 

 with black ; at the costal edge of the patch is a 

 white spot. Black discoidal spot crescent-shaped. 

 H.w. white, showing the markings of u.s. U.S. f.w. 

 as above, but the tips are greenish and the orange 

 patch very indistinct. H.w. bright green with 

 well-defined pearly white spots, few in number, 

 some sub-marginal and of an oblong form, some 

 central of a circular or ovoid outline. $ slightly 

 larger than g , with the orange apical patch less 

 extensive and more strongly marked with white. 



Hab. S. Russia. Orenburg. Kirghis Steppes, 

 Kouldja district, Margellan, Turkestan. Those 



from Kouldja are larger than specimens from the 

 other localities. IY.-Y. 



Z pyrotlioe has long been placed in the genus 

 Anthoohwris or EucJdoe. But I have for a con- 

 siderable time considered that, given the propriety 

 of separating this group from the foregoing genus, 

 this species ought to go with it, and as I now find 

 that in the Brit. Mus. collection it is reckoned as a 

 Zffjriz. I have no hesitation in placing it in that 

 genus. 



2. Z. euphsme Esp. 113, 2, 3. Lg. B. E. 43. 

 pi. x. fig. 2. 



40 — 46 mm. 



Wings white, sometimes with a very slight 

 yellowish tinge. F.w. with a black crescentic disc, 

 spot. At the apex is a black patch dusted with 

 yellow on its outer side, and enclosing a bright 

 orange oval-shaped blotch, above this a white spot. 

 H.w. white, blackish at base, showing the pattern 

 of the u.s. faintly through. U.s. f.w. white, disc, 

 spot more V-shaped than above, apices greenish 

 yellow, slightly orange about the centre of the 

 patch. H.w. green mixed with yellow, with five 

 or six rather large white spots arranged somewhat 

 as inAnthocliaris euphenoides. Thorax and abdomen 

 black above and covered with white down. An T 

 tennae white above, black beneath, clubs white. 

 ? has the apices of f.w. lighter, the orauge blotch 

 smaller, and the white spot above it larger. 



