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XVII. 



NOTES ON LEPIDOPTERA OBSERVED IN HEETFORDSHIRE 

 IN THE YEAR 1906. 



By A. E. GiBBs, F.L.S., F.E.S., F.R.H.S. 



Read at Watford, 25rd Jpril, 1907. 



I AM glad to be able to add two species of Lepidoptera to ovxr 

 county list, botli reported by Mr. P. J. Barravid, F.E.S., of 

 Busliey Heath. They are : — 



1. Oxyptilia pilosellse, a plume-moth of which five specimens 

 wei'e taken by Mr. T. F. Furnival on the Canal banks near Tring 

 Station, on 13tli August, 1905. Mr. Fm-nival is now abroad, 

 biit before leaving the country he presented his collection of 

 Lepidoptera to Mr. Barraud, and it is only recently that the 

 identification of this little moth has been confirmed by Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman. Mr. Barraud informs me that Mr. T. A. Court, of 

 Market Easen, Lincolnshire, was with Mr. Furnival at the 

 time the capture was made, and he also took some specimens. 

 Although this is not a record for the past year, it is satisfactory 

 to be able to make the addition to the local list. 



2. Gelechia diffi.nis, one of the Tineina, taken at light by 

 Mr. Barraud at Bushey Heath. 



The season of 1906, although it commenced late like the 

 present season, may be described as an average one, and the 

 appearance of a fair number of species rare in the British area 

 is recorded in the Entomological Press. One of the features 

 of 1906 was undoubtedly the appearance of a small Noctua, 

 LapJiygma exigtia, usually a very scarce insect in these Islands, 

 which occurred in remarkable profusion on the South Coast. 

 Hundreds of specimens must have been taken, and it was found 

 not only as an imago but also in the larval stage. L. exigua is 

 a sub-tropical species and a terrible pest in districts where the 

 indigo plant is cultivated. I have not heard of its capture in 

 Hertfordshire, though there is a record of its having been taken 

 in the neighboui'ing county of Essex. Another insect secured 

 in some numbers in 1906, chiefly in the Southern Counties, is 

 BeileiMla livornica, the striped hawk-moth, the presence of 

 which in Hertfordshire I have alluded to in previous reports. 



I commenced sallow-beating in my garden on April 15th, 

 when two common Txniocampse,, T. stabilis and T. gotliica, 

 appeared, and later on the other usual sallow-haunting moths 

 were present in average numbers. Another early insect which 

 was rather abundant was Amphidasys strataria (prodromariaj, 

 a number of the males being seen on the lamps near my house. 



Miss Alice Dickinson, of New Farm, St. Albans, reports that 

 butterflies were scarcer and also later than usual, but that 

 Vanessa urticas was very plentiful all the summer. The first 



