OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1906. 9 



By the removal of Mr. Arthur Cottam from Watford we lose 

 one of oui* most careful observers. Before leaving the coimty he 

 sent to me a short note recording the capture on June 3rd at 

 Aldbury of a specimen of the small elephant hawk -moth 

 {Ghcerocampa porcellus) , and on the 13th his friend Mr. Ernest 

 Perrott took another in the same locality. Two more specimens 

 of this pretty inseqt were taken by Mr. Cottam flying over 

 honeysuckle in his garden at Elderci'oft, Watford, C. elpenor and 

 Plusia moneta V)eing captured in the same way. 



Mr. V. P. Kitchi'n, of The Priory, Watford, has sent to me the 

 following short list of insects he has captured. Although some 

 of them are uncommon, not one is new to the Watford district : — 

 Tliecla iv-alhum, Sesia tijmliformis, Dre2Kina binaria,D. cultraria, 

 Nudaria senex, Axylia putris, Ej^unda viminalis, Noctua 

 triangulum, Cosmia ■pyralina, Pericallia syringaria, Numeria 

 pulveraria (Bricket Wood), Bapta bimaculata (Bricket Wood), 

 Macraria liturata, Erastia fasciata, Melanthia bicolorata, 

 LohopJiora viretata, Phibalapteryx ligiiata, P. viretata, Larentia 

 viridaria (Chipperfield) , Cidaria populata, and Schoenobius 

 mucronellus. 



Mr. Gr. B. Digby writes to me from 9a The Parade, Winton, 

 Bournemouth, informing me that he took Phigalia pedaria and 

 Prepana lacertinaria at Bushey Heath. In the previous summer 

 he captured a larva of Acronycta alni in a garden at Watford. 

 It, however, turned out to be infested by a dipterous parasite. 



Mr. W. C. Boyd, of The G-range, Waltham Cross, announces 

 the capture of one of the plume-moths {(Edematoplwrus litho- 

 dacfylus), which has only been recorded previously from 

 Sandridge, and the recurrence at light of Myelophila cribrella, 

 which now seems to be a regular visitor. 



I fear that my own local observations during 1905 are hardly 

 worth putting on record. Sallow in March yielded the usual 

 insects. The larvae of Plusia moneta. were again fairly plentiful, 

 and occurred both on aconite and delphinium. I noticed this 

 insect, of which I exhibited a rather long series last year, in the 

 larva, pupa, and imago stages. Sugar, both in my own garden 

 and at Bricket Wood, yielded the usual species, nothing very 

 remarkable having been obtained. A few insects, mostly 

 common ones, came to light. Very few moths visited ivy- 

 blossom in the autumn, a cold October doubtless being the 

 cause. The insects taken at the field meeting held at St. Albans 

 do not call for any special remarks ; a few of the commoner 

 l)utterflies were on the wing, and Bapta bimaculata was beaten 

 out of the hedo-e at Beech Bottom. 



Trans. Hertfordshire Xitt. Hist. Sue, Vol. XIIJ, Fart 1, Fthruary, 1907. 



