174 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSEEYATIONS. 



Some of these arc in the neighbourhood of "Watford. Such are : — 

 Vlex nanus, Rowley Green ; Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Chorley 

 "Wood Common ; Filago minima, Eickmansworth ; Jasione montana, 

 Rickmansworth ; Gentiana germanica, Sarratt ; Scutellaria minor, 

 Rowley Green ; and Rumex palustris, near High Canons. This 

 last has been gathered but once before in the county, at Totteridge, 

 where it has probably been extinct for the last thirty years. — R. 

 A. Pry or, Hatfield. 



Recent Blossoming of Spring Flowers. — I do not know whether 

 any of the members of our Society have noticed the unusual 

 number of spring flowers that have been in blossom for the last 

 few weeks (during the month of October and the first week in 

 November) ; and that, not in the way of a solitary instance, but 

 repeatedly and in widely separated localities. Such are: — Caltha 

 palustris, Stellaria Holostea, Fragaria vesca, Potentilla Fragarias- 

 trum, Chceropliyllum silvestre, and other of our commoner species. 

 Spircea JJimaria, Choerophyllum temulum, and many others, which 

 belong strictly to the summer season, have also bloomed for a 

 second time, and such cases are deserving of some attention, as the 

 growths, which are thus produced out of due time, are apt not 

 unfrequently to vary conspicuously from those of the noi-mal 

 period. — R. A. Pry or. 



Entomology. 



Capture of Chcerocampa Nerii at Hemel Hempstead. — I have 

 great pleasure in formally recording the capture of a grand addition 

 to our Hertfordshire fauna. A fine specimen of the oleander hawk- 

 moth, CJmrocampa Ncrii, was taken at Hemel Hempstead, on the 

 1 3th of October, by a working man who brought it to Dr. Pitts, of 

 the "West Herts Infirmary, Hemel Hempstead, in whose possession 

 it now is. Most of us saw the insect at the recent conversazione 

 at the Public Library. It was exhibited by Dr. Pitts, who saw it 

 alive and set it out. The specimen is a male, and with the excep- 

 tion of a bit which has been nipped out of one of its wings, is 

 in fair condition. 



Chcerocampa Nerii is tolerably common in Southern Italy, and 

 probably wherever the oleander, upon which plant the larvae of C. 

 Nerii feed, is indigenous. There are, however, only two instances 

 of its capture in this country on record. One specimen was taken 

 " at light " at Brighton, on August 16th, 1857. It flew in at an 

 open window near the old church. This was confirmed by a Mr. 

 Tidy whom I know, and also by a Mr. Thorncroft, Avho recorded 

 the "Illustrious Stranger" in tlie * Entomologists' Weekly Intelli- 

 gencer' of Aug. 29th, 1857. The other also was taken at Bxighton, 

 by a school-boy, and its capture was recorded in a local paper. — 

 Clarence E. Fry, The Little Elms, Watford. 



