THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



X. Sublusteis. — Saw one captured at sugar, in Bishop's Wood, Hamp- 

 stead. June, 1870. 



X. Hepatica. — Not very common at sugar. Bishop's Wood, Hampstead, 

 Highgate Woods (rather common in 1875), and about Lyndhurst. June 

 and July. 



X. Scolopaclna. — At bramble bloom, also at sugar. Abundant, but 

 local, in certain " rides " in Bishop's Wood and Highgate Wood (the lower 

 or " Southwood." July and beginning of August. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Arctia mendica. — I would gladly learn if any entomologist, who has 

 bred or taken A. mendica in Ireland, has found the male differ in colour from 

 the smoky black form so familiar to English collectors ? In the summer of 

 1885, a kind correspondent sent me ova of the above species from Cork, they 

 soon hatched and the larvse fed up quickly on dock and nettle. They were 

 most voracious, requiring their cage replenished daily. This being neglected 

 one busy day, when the larvse were nearly full-fed, they ate their way through 

 the calico, and nearly all escaped. The sorrow was lessened by the feeling 

 " it was fortunate they were only mendica." The few larvse remaining in the 

 cage were taken good care of. 



Early in last April I received a letter from my kind correspondent telling 

 me the same batch of ova he shared with me were producing him creamy and 

 smoky -white males, and he wished to know if mine were coming out the same 

 unusual colour. Mine did not emerge till fully a month later, but when they 

 did so the. males were all creamy or smoky-white, and the females had very 

 few spots of black on them, and were very different to any English ones I 

 have ever seen. Eggs were obtained, and it is needless to say the larva? were 

 better taken care of this summer. The result is anxiously looked forward to. 

 Is it possible this is a new species, nearly allied to A, mendica ? — G. S. 

 Hutchinson. Grantsfield, Leominster. 



[This is undoubtedly the variety Rustica, of Hubner (1790), and which is 

 doubtfully reported as having occurred in the Eastern part of Hungary. I 

 have also heard a rumour of its being taken in Ireland before. Mrs. Hut- 

 chinson has kindly presented me with a pair, the male creamy- white, the female 

 nearly immaculate. My own opinion is that this is the original form of the 

 species, and that from cause or other the male has assumed the well-known 

 smoky hue. The variety Hethlandica, of Humuli, is another case in point, 

 though the cause of the change there is not far to seek. — J, E. Kobson, 



