LtePIDOPTERA. 
S81 
Hutton tlirnks that the Japanese Silkworm producing green cocoons is a 
hybrid between B. mori and B. sinensis, and suggests that entomologists should, 
be sent to China to discover, if possible, B. mori in its natural state* Proc, 
Ent. Soc. 1866, p. xlix. 
Gut5iiiN-Ml5NEViLLE notices some Silkworms’ eggs received from the 
neighbourhood of Quito, belonging to a race which has been hitherto free 
from disease. He remarks that these eggs, when transported from Pent 
to Europe, do not hatch until the second spring. Bull. Soc. Ent. Er. 1867, 
p. xviii. 
Guerin-M:6neville notices a Silkworm {B. mori) having one side dark 
and the other white. Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1867, p. li. 
Giebel records the production of two males of Boinbyx mori from a single 
cocoon. Zeitschr. ges. Naturw. xxx. p. 127. 
Bomhyx cynthia. A. Wallace records (Trans. Ent. Soc. Srdser. v. pp. 485- 
492) some observations made by him in 1866 on the variations of this spe- 
cies. In that year he bred over 4000 specimens of B. cynthia. These emerged 
between May 30 and August 8. The darkest moths were produced from the 
cocoons least exposed to the light, and especially from those which still re- 
tained their covering of leaves. The earlier specimens were of an olive-green 
tint, the later ones yellowish, corresponding with the change of colour of 
the Ailanthus-leaves. Tlic late specimens were small and weak, as also two 
the larv 00 of which were fed on plum and laburnum. The cocoons of a second 
brood, fed on celery leaves, were dwarfs and deficient in colour. Although 
several months later in spinning up than the first brood, they emerged ear- 
lier. Wallace has some interesting and important remarks on the variation 
in the time of emergence, induced in many cases by difference of climate and 
treatment ; and he is inclined to think that, from his observations, some light 
may be thrown on the question of the prior appearance of males or females in 
Lepidoptera. He says that, in proportion as the individual is finer, the time 
required for its metamorphosis is longer ; thus the females being larger and 
heavier will be preceded by the males, which are smaller, and have a smaller 
amount of reproductive material to mature. The variation of B. cynthia in 
size and colour is very great, and dependent on the food-plant, temperature, 
exposure to light, and the season of the year at which the insects are produced. 
Wallace discusses the question of the specific distinctness of B. cynthia, ri- 
cini, and guerinii. The last-mentioned, he thinks, will prove to be a variety 
of B. cynthia ; and from a comparison of the latter with B. ricini, he is in- 
clined to consider this also a form of B. cynthia. In concluding, Wallace 
mentions his finding about 20 living pupse amongst his empty cocoons at the 
end of the autumn, notices the production of a clicking sound by the eggs 
during the development of the larvoe, and records the occurrence of free spe- 
cimens of B. cynthia in his neighbourhood. 
A. II. Wai.lace accepts his namesake’s theory as to the early development 
of males, and indicates how, on Barwininn principles, this would explain 
the predominance of small males. Proc. Ent. Soc. 1867, p. Ixxi. 
Bomhyx cynthia. Notes on the cultivation of this species by Wallace, in 
Proc. Ent. Soc. 1865, pp. 11 0-121. — Guedeeii notices (Corr.-Blatt zool.- 
min. Ver. llegensb. xx. pp. 50-56) some experiments made in rearing Bomhyx 
cynthia in the vicinity of Bozen. — Hutton (Proc. Ent. Soc. 1867, pp. Ixxxii- 
Ixxxiv) discusses the question raised by Bree of the identity of Aitacus 
