NOTES ON THE SYNONYMY OF NOCTUID MOTHS. 279 



Bombyces ; common at Mussoorie, at an elevation of 5500 feet, 

 and in the Dehra Doon ; it is also found in the deep valleys of 

 the surrounding hills ; common also at Almorah, where the 

 worm lives on the Kilmorah or Berheris asiatica, whilst at 

 Mussoorie it never attacks that shrub, and lives exclusively on. 

 the foliage of Falconia insignis. The worm of this species is 

 probably easier to rear than all the other species of wild 

 Bombyces. It produces a very large cocoon, which is rich in 

 silk, and of a greyish colour. Attacus atlas is also common at 

 Cachar, in Sylhet, at Akyab, in Arrachan, and in China (note o 

 Capt. Hutton). It is spread all over India, the Island of Ceylon, 

 China, Burmah, and other parts as far as Singapore at the 

 extremity of the Malay Peninsula; it is also found at Java, 

 Borneo, and probably in all the other islands of the Indian 

 Ocean. The different races vary in size and colour; the cocoons 

 also vary in size and colour. The larva is polyphagous. In 

 Ceylon it is said to prefer cinnamon {Laurus cinnamomiim) and 

 Milnea roxhurghiana, but it is found also on many other trees. 

 In Europe it has been bred on barberry {Berheris vulgaris) ; it 

 can also be bred on apple, willow, hornbeam, and other trees 

 and shrubs. In 1881, I bred it in London on Ailanthus in the 

 open air till the third stage. It could not be reared in the open 

 air till the formation of the cocoon, except in southern parts. It 

 can be reared in captivity, but not so easily as the note of Captain 

 Hutton would lead one to suppose. The larva of Attacus atlas ^ 

 like that of A. cynthia, is entirely covered with a secretion 

 forming a kind of white flour, which can be easily rubbed off. 

 Attacus atlas and A. cynthia have some features of resemblance, 

 and the larvae have been found living together on barberry in the 

 province of Kumaon. 



Attacus edwardsii, Moore. A dark race of atlas discovered 

 at Darjeeling. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES ON THE SYNONYMY OF NOCTUID MOTHS. 

 By Arthur G. Butler, Ph.D., F.L.S., &c. 



(Continued from p. 257.) 



Zethes, Ramb. 

 Z. quatienSf Walk., is an Ephyrodes ; Z. xylochroma, Walk., 

 is a true Zethes, but identical with Marmorinia shivula, Guen. 



Zethes hesperioides. 

 Zethes hesperioides, Guenee, Noct. 3, p. 330, n. 1795 (1852). 

 Z, hcBsitans, Walker, Lep. Het. xv. p. 1524, n. 4 (1858). 



