192 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



tata, Phibalapteryx lignata, Cidaria russata, C* pyraliala, and a great many 

 micros. The weather throughout was very dull, hardly a day passing without 

 a shower or two. 



Pollohshields, Glasgow. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Plusia Orichalcea bred. — About a week ago I had the pleasure of 

 breeding two beautiful specimens of Plusia orichalcea from Cambridgeshire 

 Fen larvae. A third specimen was, unfortunately, too crippled to be of any 

 use . — G. T. Porritt, Huddersfield, August 17th, 1886. 



Rearing Grossuiariata and Ltjbricepeda. — From my 4,000 larvae of 

 Grossulariata, I have set about 80 good varieties, several very good, and 

 drawn conclusions that I think will prove valuable, I have to-night picked 

 a lot of Lubricepeda larvse, fed upon Aconitum napellus (Monk's Hood), at 

 large in my garden. The larva are almost black ! I have before gathered 

 many larva in the garden full fed (at large) on Belladonna, they were not dark 

 and produced almost colourless imago ! — C. S. Gregson, Liverpool. 



Variety oe Zyg^na Filipendul^:. — On the chance of getting a yellow 

 variety (cerinus), I collected about 300 pupae of this insect this summer. I 

 was not successful in my quest, but I obtained another form that is even 

 rarer than the yellow one. The usual spots and the hind-wings are a dull 

 dark pink, unlike any I have seen before. A pink one is figured in Mosley's 

 Illustrations, but it is much paler in hue than mine. This was the only 

 variety worth naming ; perhaps half-a-dozen had the outer pair of spots con- 

 fluent, all the rest were quite normal, and were set at liberty. — J. E. Robson, 

 Hartlepool. 



A. Prunaria Two Years is the Larva State. — A curious and I think 

 rather unusual occurrence has lately come under my notice. In the autumn 

 of 1885*1 had a brood of A. prunaria, which, with one exception, had all 

 turned to pupse in the early part of June. Upon clearing out the cages I 

 found a solitary larva, about half-grown, which I placed under a shade upon 

 some fresh food, feeling rather interested to observe how much later it would 

 emerge than the remainder of the brood. To my surprise it settled down on 

 a twig, and has not moved since, and I have no doubt it will go through 

 another winter and emerge next spring. I have also part of a brood of Zon- 

 aria in pupse, lying over for another year, though quite healthy. — Ernest 

 Anderson, London. 



