NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 171 



breeding somewhere near. It was about one mile distant from the spot where I 

 saw short-eared owls in August, 1884, and two miles from where they bred in 1889 

 (see Zool. 1889, p. 453)." 



Captures of Lepidoptera in Essex. — At the meeting of the City of London 

 Entomolou;ital Society on May 2ist, Mr. Battley exhibited various Lepidoptera 

 from Southend, including Lyccena argioltts^ Biston liirtaria, Aleucis pictaria and 

 Psyche pulUlla ; and at a meeting of the same Society on June l8th, Mr. Huckett 

 showed a bo.\ of insects taken near Epping on May 23rd and June 6th, including 

 Platvpteryx hamula, P. laceriula, Noln cristualis, Corycia Umerata, Tephrosia 

 consonaria^ &c. On July 22nd, Mr. Hill exhibited a fine aberration of Argyutiis 

 eiiphrosyne, taken by a lad in Epping Forest some years ago. The upper surfaces 

 of the wings were much suffused with black, and the silver spots on the under 

 sides were reduced to mere streaks. On July i6th, Mr. Clark exhibited a series 

 of Heliodes arhuti from Epping Forest ; Mr. Gates, Psyche reticella from Southend, 

 and Dr. Buckell a series of Ephyra trilinearia from Epping Forest, which varied 

 considerably in (l) the basal line, which was well marked in some, but scarcely 

 to be traced in others ; (2) central line, usually narrower in the females, but in 

 one specimen (female) it was exaggerated into a band ; (3) discoidal spot on (a) 

 upper wings, not to be traced in one specimen, well marked in others, and out- 

 lined with black in one ; [b~) hind wings to be traced in all, and often well marked. 

 The position of this spot varied from being imbedded in the median line, to half- 

 way between median and basal lines. Mr. Bayne exhibited Demas coryli, Tephro- 

 sia consonaria, Emmelesia ajjinitata and Ephyra porata from Epping. Mr. Battley 

 reported that he had met with Hesperia lineola commonly on July 14th between 

 Benfleet and Leigh. He thought that it was more sluggish than H. linea, and it 

 was very easy to detect the difference between these two species when at rest. 

 [We have taken these records from the reports in Mr. Tutt's useful " Entomo- 

 logists' Record." — Ed.]. 



" Assembling " of Geometer Moths. — The mysterious phenomenon of the 

 attractive influence of a virgin female moth is well known to occur amongst various 

 groups of the Bombicidae, but the records of the " 'sembling " power are much 

 fewer in other families. It may therefore be worth while to print the following 

 observations: — In mid-June last, having a number of pupas of Amphidasis 

 betularia, the cage containing them was placed at the window of an upper room 

 overlooking my garden at Buckhurst Hill, a great extent of forest and thickly- 

 wooded park land lying beyond. As the female " pepper moths " emerged in the 

 cage an astonishing sight presented itself. For several successive nights numbers 

 of male moths congregated to the spot and flew around the cage and into the 

 room. Scores might have been easily taken, and most of them were in fine con- 

 dition. When the cage was taken into the garden, a few moths were attracted, 

 but nothing like the swarm around the upper window. My brother and I had 

 previously noticed this " 'sembling " in two other species of Geometrae. In New 

 Forest, many years ago, we observed numbers of the pretty " emerald moth," 

 Hemithea strigata, all males, flying aronnd a small bush, and a careful search 

 revealed a female ensconced therein. On another occasion, in May, 1875, a 

 similar phenomenon was observed in Epping Forest, near Woodford, the species 

 being the common " brimstone moth," Ritmia luteolata. It is worthy of note that 

 in the " Entomologist " for May, our member, the Rev. G. H. Raynor, records a 

 remarkable instance of " 'sembling " in the case of Brephos parthenias, a moth 



M 2 



