1 64 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



liable, and consequently of no value. Possession, there- 

 fore, should be a sine qua non. It has been the fashion of 

 late to manufacture in rather a wholesale way synonyms for 

 the older names of insects, which generally would have been 

 much better left alone ; and the nomenclatures used by 

 entomologists of such eminence as the late Mr. H. T. Stainton, 

 I think, should be a good example. It would take up far too 

 much space to here give specific detail and notes of the 

 capture and rearing of the larvae, etc., of many interesting 

 species enumerated in the list. I may say, however, that some 

 species being very recurrent in appearance, when opportunity 

 offers by a good species turning up, a good old axiom 

 should be kept in view, and a series secured at the time, as 

 a like opportunity may not come again to the collector for 

 many years, if at all. I once found Ino statices flying 

 plentifully in the sunshine on the grassy bank of a burn-side, 

 Aspilates strigillaria in the glade of a moorland young 

 plantation, and Nemeophila plantaginis in numbers on a spot 

 of moorland ; but all these species I have not again seen, and 

 I fortunately secured some specimens of each. I used to 

 take Lyccena Alsus in the south-western district, and associ- 

 ated with it Artaxerxes, and later in the same locality Erebia 

 blandiiia. Alstis I have never seen in any other district 

 of the county, but have met with the two last named in 

 the eastern district. I need scarcely say that perfect 

 condition in specimens of Lepidoptera is of the utmost 

 importance, and one of the best ways of attaining this is by 

 rearing from the eggs or larvae ; and indeed many species 

 are not easily obtained in any other way. Besides being a 

 means of obtaining perfect specimens, there is much of 

 interest to note, such as the times, or periods of the day, of 

 emergence from the chrysalis of the different species a 

 subject which seems to have received very little attention 

 from entomologists. At one time I bred a number of well- 

 known species successively for several years, principally 

 from the families of the SpJiingidcv and of the Notodontida, 

 under as uniform conditions as possible, noting the time of 

 emergence of the different species, which was singularly 

 uniform as to time or periods of the day in which they 

 emerged. There are two periods of the day in which most 



