192 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Note on Porthesia chrysorrhcea. — Ten years ago this species 

 used to occur sparingly in this neighbourhood, but I have not seen any 

 since. In the spring of 1894 I found a few larvae near Sittingbourne, 

 but did not see any last year. This year, however, I obtained a small 

 brood. Is this species dying out in this country ? Twenty years ago 

 it used to be abundant in most of the eastern counties, but I have not 

 noticed it mentioned among lists of captures or duplicates for a very 

 long time. — Gervase F. Mathew ; Dovercourt, May 11th, 1896. 



Argynnis niobe. — TheEev. 0. Pickard-Cambridge, writing (Entom. 

 xxix. 148) of the specimen of A. 7iiohe captured by Mr. Gerrard in the 

 New Forest, says, " Was not the so-called niohe afterwards ascertained 

 to be only a variety of adippe?'' I cannot imagine how such a mis- 

 take has got about ; but even Mr. Barrett falls into it in his ' Lepi- 

 doptera of the British Islands,' vol. i. p. 166. The specimen in 

 question, which I obtained from the Eev. Windsor Hambrough, and is 

 now in my collection, is an unmistakable niohe var. eris, a variety 

 which seems to be commoner than the type in some places. No one 

 acquainted with both species could possibly mistake it. — C. A. Briggs ; 

 65, Lincoln's Inn Fields, May 14th, 1896. 



A Census of British Insects. — The first column is taken from 

 Stephens's * Catalogue of British Insects,' published sixty years ago. 

 The second refers to those of the present time. Had not Stephens 

 reckoned such a large proportion of varieties as species his numbers 

 would not be near so high as they are, especially in the Neuroptera 

 and Orthoptera : — 





Stephens. 



Dale. 



Coleoptera 



.. 3300 . 



.. 3280 



Hymenoptera 



.. 2054 . 



.. 4700 



Lepidoptera 



.. 1838 . 



.. 2090 



Diptera ... . 



.. 1671 



.. 3000 



Hemiptera 



.. 704 . 



.. 1046 



Neuroptera 



.. 370 . 



.. 246 



Orthoptera 



65 . 



42 



Total ... 10,002 14,404 



— C. W. Dale ; Glanvilles Wootton. 



Note on Vanessa antiopa. — Years ago it was considered to be a 

 stroke of fortune when a collector caught an English " Camberwell 

 Beauty." Judge then of my astonishment, in a country-side home in 

 Australia, to see a store-box full of this butterfly. The owner shocked 

 my youthful dreams by making me his confidante. He informed me 

 that in the old country he had done well by them. He first of all 

 imported ova from America in hollow pieces of cane. These were 

 duly hatched and reared. Part were turned loose in the imago, others 

 kept for trade. Thus the specimens were bred on English soil ! I 

 remember one year four hundred being the recorded number seen or 

 captured in England. And I further remember a noted difference 

 between British and continental specimens, the one being of a yellow 

 tiuge, the other whiter cream. Deiopeia pulchella and many rare 

 British moths swarm in Australia. How easy to send ova, and turn 



