312 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



here, this is an " atropos year." As the rearing of the moth from the 

 pupa is very uncertain, I beg to refer your younger subscribers to a 

 paper in which I described a plan for "forcing," which I have since 

 found successful, and which I intend to follow with those pupae I have 

 obtained this year. The paper referred to appeared in the * Entomo- 

 logist ' for May, 1886, vol. xix. p. 125.— (Dr.) H. W. Livett ; Wells, 

 Somerset, Sept. 7th, 1896. 



Note on Chesias rufata (obliquaria). — I have bred a number of 

 this insect each year for some years past, and have been much sur- 

 prised at its very eccentric range of emergence. Newman says it 

 "continues on the wing from the middle of May to the middle of 

 July"; its period is, however, sometimes much more protracted than 

 this, as the following dates, for the last three years, will show : — 



1894. First one bred on March 24th, the last on Sept. 28th. 



1895. ,, „ May 31st, „ ,, June 28th. 



1896. ,, „ April 12th, „ ,, Aug. 20th. 



Of course all were kept under precisely the same conditions. The 

 pupa also not infrequently lays over a second winter in that state ; the 

 insect bred on Aug. 20th of the present year was one of a number 

 which pupated in October, 1894. — E. H. Taylor ; 52, Mimosa Street, 

 Fulham, Sept. 15th, 1896. 



Vanessa c-album. — In the last number of the 'Entomologist,' 

 p. 274, are some remarks from the pen of Mr. Harcourt-Bath upon the 

 above butterfly. As an entomologist who has studied this species for 

 over sixty years, I venture to differ from some of his conclusions. I 

 believe I was the first British entomologist to draw attention to the 

 light-coloured early brood, produced by hybernated parents ; Mr. 

 Doubleday assured me I was so. He doubted there being two broods 

 until I convinced him such was the case, and then he begged per- 

 mission to name the pale early variety ^'hutchinsonii,'" and thus it was 

 known for some years. Now Mr. Harcourt-Bath renames it " lutescens.'' 

 Is this right ? I have during many years reared this species, and never 

 till this year have I found the ova from hybernated parents produce 

 many of the dark form in captivity ; their doing so this spring, I feel 

 sure, proceeded from my feeding on currant and hop leaves. About 

 one-fourth of those fed on currant were of the dark autumn form, and 

 every one on hop were so. In former years, when fed on the common 

 stinging-nettle, Urtica dioica, there scarcely ever was a dark form. I 

 find the perfect insects bred this year are of smaller size than usual, 

 from the very quick manner in which the larvas fed up. The finest 

 specimens I have ever bred have been when very early warm springs 

 have tempted the butterflies out, and ova being obtained and hatched, 

 the larvae have been subjected to a return of cold unseasonable 

 weather, and have fed up slowly. If cold came before the ova hatched 

 they perished, if not placed m a warm room. — E. S. Hutchinson; 

 Grautsfield. 



TRiPHiENA subsequa AND oRBONA. — My thanks are due to Mr. Kobert 

 Adkin for the valuable suggestions he has thrown out with regard to 

 the above mentioned species as to their being distinct or one. To men- 



