54 
THE entomologist’s RECORD. 
pleased if they will communicate at once with me. Further subscribers 
are also needed for what is the only published text-book on the subject. 
As will be Seen in the Report of the Ent. Soc. of London printed 
this month, parcels of insects may now be sent abroad by sample post. 
Strachia ornata^ Linn. ; Brachypelta aterrima^ Forst. ; Lygceus piinc- 
iato-guitatus, Fab.; Lygceosoma reticulatum^ hl.-S., species of Hemiptera 
not occurring in the British Isles, are recorded by Mr. Luff as occurring 
in Guernsey {E.M.M., p. 130). 
Mr. R. C. L. Perkins {E.M.M., p. 123) describes a monstrosity of 
the ant Stenamma westwoodi, taken last August between Dartmouth and 
Stoke-Fleming, the right half of the body “exhibiting characters strongly 
characteristic of the while the left half resembles the ? •” 
Retarded Development of the Wings of Lepidoptera. — I have 
been forcing my pupae this spring in a greenhouse, at an average 
temperature of about 65°, and have noticed that several insects have 
not expanded their wings for some hours after emergence, and then 
only by my using the means suggested by Mr. Anderson (vol. i., p. 
304). One specimen {Smerinthus tilice) emerged at 10 a.ni. on March 
13th, and had not begun to expand at i p.m. on the following day. I 
then put it into a large chip box, and gave it a good shaking, afterwards 
turning it back into the pupa box. On examining it a few hours after- 
wards, I found it perfectly expanded. Mr. Fenn’s theory (vol. i., p. 
327) that this retarded development may occur with deep-burying 
larvae, cannot apply here, as I always find the pupae of S. tilice. just 
below the surface, often only under the dead leaves, at the roots of lime 
and elm. I also have a distinct recollection of a female specimen of 
Odonestis potatoria emerging in the early morning, expansion taking 
place naturally the same evening. — A. U. Battley, 28, Amherst Park, 
N. March 2oth^ 1891. [This shaking up business is exceedingly 
strange, but it appears to me that this retarded wing expansion must in 
some way be connected with suspended active respiration. The wing 
nervures are extended tracheal passages, and it follows that, as they 
unroll, air passes through them, or conversely, as air is forced through 
them, they unroll. If active respiration be suspended, and the shaking 
up induces an active state, I can understand the subsequent develop- 
ment of the wing. Has any reader another suggestion to offer as to 
the probable cause? — E d.] 
I have a case to record of the pairing of lepidoptera before the 
wings were developed, but in this instance the sexes are the reverse of 
those mentioned by Mr. Mackonochie with regard to Plaiypteryx fal- 
cula {Record^ vol. i., p. 305). In February, 1889, on looking into my pupa- 
box I saw a pair of A^iisopteryx cescularia^ in cop.., but the wings of 
the male were entirely undeveloped. After a while, however, the wings 
unfolded themselves, hung down in the usual way, were finally 
folded round the body in the customary manner adopted by this species, 
and were in no ways malformed. All this occurred before pairing had 
ceased. — R. M. Prideaux, 9, Vyvyan Terrace, Clifton. 
I have observed a very similar development of the wings of moths to that 
