278 f^P"'' 
arranged after one plan in all the species ; other black species are known on the 
Continent. I have seen five examples taken at the end of the summer of 1868, in 
Monsall Dale, Derbyshire, by Mr. Edwin Brown, who liberally presented me with 
a pair. It affects mountainous districts, and is common in central Europe. I have 
a fine series from Carinthia, taken by Professor Zeller, and types from Herr Braner, 
— E. McLachlan, Lewisham, 1st March, 1869. 
Note on Xylina confonnis. — Mr. E. Newman seems to think that very little 
is known about this rarity ; so I will inform your readers that I had an old 
example which was taken near Halifax, in spring, many years since. I did 
not know what it was, but felt sure it was new to our list. It was seen soon after- 
wards by several London lepidopterists, but was considered by them as only a 
variety of X. rhizolitha (lamMaJ ; this I never agreed with, but put it aside for 
further information ; it shows the reniform stigma distinctly red, as do the more 
recent ones. Some years since my old friend Mr. John Scott was in Wales, and obtained 
a fine pair of conformis from the original captor : one of these Mr. Scott most 
kindly gave to me ; and as soon as I saw it, my attention was called to my old 
hybernated specimen. On comparison, I found the latter much paler, but still 
preserving the character of the Welsh insect ; there is a marked difference between 
that and the continental examples that I have seen, which latter are broader in 
the fore-wing, and more silvery ; the Welsh specimens are darh rich chocolate. 
When I received Mr. Scott's example, I gave my original one to my friend Mi'. 
Thomas Wilkinson, of Scarborough, who still has it. I should like to know whether 
the specimens of the allied species, Zinckenii, taken in England, vai-y in the same 
manner ? 
I have seen four or five British individuals of X. conformis. The late Rev. G. 
E. Eead had a specimen from the original captor ; at his death it was still among 
his duplicates, and when I packed up his insects to send to Mr. Stevens for sale, I 
put it in its right place in. the cabinet, it was sold with the others, but I know not 
who bought it. — T. H. Allis, Osbaldwick, York, March 3rd, 1869. 
Leucania alhivuncta at Yaxley. — In 1862 or 1864, which, I am not quite sure, 
it was one of my last visits to Yaxley, I happened to want a few fresh specimens of 
L. lithargyria, and on picking them out, took, what I thought, a small variety, which 
I have had in my cabinet ever since. Early this year my friend H. Doubleday was 
kind enough to send me a foreig-n type of alhipnncta, (a ? darkly coloured), as soon 
as I saw this, it called to mind this example, which I sent to Mr. Doubleday to ex- 
amine. I have his reply to day, that it is a male of alhijouncta. This is curious, as it 
is the oldest recorded capture of this rare insect in this countiy.— Id. 
Curious variety of the larva of Vanessa ca/tdwi. — The following note contains 
the solution of one enigma, but presents another for investigation and solution in 
its turn. 
On July 17th, 1865, Dr. Knaggs sent me (from Folkestone) a larva he had 
found feeding on Mallow {Malva sylvestris). It was then half-an-inch long, with 
seven rows of spines, all black in coloui-, except those in the dorsal and sub-dorsal 
rows on the 6th, 8th, and 10th segments, which were pale primrose-yellow ; the 
