yed by Staudinger in his Catalogue-i. e., local races or forms, which m some 
Its (more or less eztensive) displace the type. Now there must be some 
or places where these originated, and where, in all probability, both forma 
,o.exist ; and there only could we with any certainty expect to obtain the one 
the eggs of the other. 
believe the form Med.on is never seen in Scotland, nor that of Artaxer:ces on 
ontinent ; but there are certain districts in England where both (as also 
nediate) forms are said to be taken. Could not entomologists in these localities 
bhe eggs of both forms, and see whether both can be obtained from the same 
,t ? This will involve a little more trouble than coolly assuming their identity 
rhe fact of ArU^erxes never having been met with in any locality in either 
hern or Alpine Continental Europe, goes far, I think, to prove its being distinct. 
ds respect it is unique among our Wiovolocera, all our others, whether species 
irieties, being met with on the Continent. I intend, if possible, to send eggs 
rto^erxes to Professor Zeller, but I do not expect they will produce any other 
,, even with the change of food-plant.-A. Wilson, Young Street, Edinburgh, 
7ulV, 1869. 
On Lyc<,na Artaxerxes.-l received on 8th May of this year, by my friend, 
'Ifessor Hering, of Stettin, four larvae of Lye. Artaxerxes, sent from Edinburgh 
Jressly for me. Three were full grown, so that one was a pupa already on the 
(1. The fourth was mnch smaller, more yellowish, and with a sickly aspect. 
Uhe Helianth. vulgare does not grow in the vicinity of Stettin, in order to do 
„cthing towards saving it from perishing by starvation, I offered it some young 
, ots of the Erodium cicutarium, and lo, it bored directly into a flower bud, which on 
, following day, I found eaten out. In the sequel I saw it really consuming, 
«h -cod appetite, the unopened blossoms of that plant. While it was thus 
, 1.12- and growing, its colour gradually changed to a healthy green one. As late 
jtli • •22ud May, it changed to a good pupa, though it had before fallen down from 
bi place where it had attached itself. On the 9th June, a small Artaxerxes, ? , 
Lde its appearance. 
Now I had expected that the different food which it had eaten for more than 
ht days would have exercised some influence and a little altered its markings, 
as to become more like Medon (Agestis). But no, it is the completest possible 
■taxerxes, having a considerable pure white spot in the middle of the fore-wings, 
.d the white spots of the under-side, with no trace of a black centre ; even on 
e upper-side of the hind-wings a faint white dot is to be seen. 
As the larva o? Artaxerxes, in the case of necessity, feeds on Erodium, I suppose 
lat that of Medon {Agestis) will do so with the leaves of Helianthemum, and I 
link it worth while to try ; but to obtain a more satisfactory result than I obtained 
1 account of so short a time of feeding one Artaxerxes larva, one should give 
lem that unusual food from the earliest time possible. On such grounds as Medon 
ihabits, the plants of Erodium, at the end of June, or rather in the beginning of 
[pring, must be cautiously cut next to the root, and shaken on a white sheet, by 
/hich means the larvse wHl easily be obtained ; and the younger they are, the 
itter they will be for the experiment. The reward, perhaps, may be that the 
