40 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



A great deal of work may be done by the ornithologist in February, in the 

 way of observing the birds which flock together in the fields and come round 

 our gardens, but I touched upon this subject last month, and need not say 

 more about it now. At the end of the month we may hear, in their haunts, 

 the cry of the stone-curlews, and if we go through a wood at that time we 

 shall, if the season be mild, hear the turtle doves cooing. 



In the evening we shall hear the brown wood owls hooting, and see the 

 dotted border moths {Eybernia progemmaria) fluttering along. The spring 

 usher moth [H. leucophearia) may be seen in its company, and the females 

 of both may be found by diligent search. Those of leucophearia being per- 

 fectly apterous are more difficult to discover than those of progemmaria. The 

 existence of these wingless females is a problem, and I was much interested 

 in the papers on the subject which appeared in the " Young Naturalist " 

 some time ago, but the subject is still an obscure one with me. The diffi- 

 culty is to suggest an explanation which will account not only for the exist- 

 ence of apterous female winter moths, but also apply to the Yapourer moths 

 which appear in summer and autumn, and likewise have, as every entomo- 

 logist knows, females devoid of wings. 



Among the February moths is the small eggar [Eriogaster lanestris), a choco- 

 late coloured moth we find on hedges in mild winters. It has the peculiarity 

 of sometimes remaining in pupa more than one winter. Thus, if February be 

 cold and unfavourable for its emergence, it will not come out a few weeks 

 later on as other moths would, but will remain in pupa until the following 

 February, and if this be unfavourable till the next. It has been said to 

 remain in the pupa state in one instance as long as five years, when a succes- 

 sion of severe winters prevented it emerging earlier. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Early Movements oe Molluscs. — During the mild spring-like weather 

 which we had here on the second week in January, the mollusc Planorbis 

 cornea in my aquarium has twice spawned, and P. vivipara, which had lain 

 dormant since the beginning of November, started to its work, but went back 

 to its winter quarters again when the frost came on January 17th. Will 

 some brother aquariumist tell me whether this is a common occurrence, or 

 whether it is owing to the mild weather. — E. Pettigrew, Airdrie, Glasgow. 



Ntjmeria Pulveraria. — I have reared broods of this insect for twenty or 

 more years, but never except in the year 1883, did one emerge the same year 

 as they were fed. In that year a few came out, of wonderful beauty and 

 depth of colour. The next season the remainder of the brood appeared at 

 their usual time, but they were exactly like the common type. — (Mrs.) 

 E. S. Hutchinson, Grantsfield. 



