262 THE entomologist's record. 



hind-wings the bands are almost exact counterparts of those on the 

 upper side ; the red is reduced to a flush, which is strongest near the hind 

 angle, and gradually pales off to pearly-grey near the upper margin. 

 The antennte are long and slender, the legs black, with numerous white 

 rings. The moth does not occur, as far as is known, in Great Britain, 

 but it is so like C. nupta in general appearance, that it may possibly be 

 sometimes overlooked. It is common on the Continent. 



Stray Entomological Notes from East Devon. 



By W. S. HIDING, B.A.. M.D., F.E.S. 



Early in the present year, as in 1896, Aphides settled on trees, 

 shrubs and plants, especially the least vigorous, and multiplied after their 

 kind, working destruction on the young shoots. Before long, it was 

 difficult to find a leaf on the vegetation affected that was not glossy 

 and sticky with honey-dew, and the summer being a rainless one, it 

 did not get washed off, but lasted well into autumn. The total area thus 

 supplying a perpetual attraction for sweet-loving insects must have 

 been enormous, and our small patches of sugar were infinitesimal in 

 comparison, so no wonder that the latter was a general failure, as I 

 understand it to have been. Flowers generally, even red valerian, did 

 not attract, and both light and dusking were tried with little success, 

 most of the insects taken being rarely worth boxing. It is probable, 

 too, that the unfavourable winter had produced a general scarcity. 

 Strangely enough, though, I found in my garden three insects I had 

 never taken there before, during seven years — Aventia Jlexula, Khulea 

 sambiicalis, and an Acidalia Avhich I cannot satisfactorily identify. 

 The (? s of A. Jlexula came to light, and I netted a J , which laid ova. 

 Apropos of lichen feeders, I used to have much difiiculty when breed- 

 ing them in pots, owing to the contents becoming mouldy, so for the 

 last two years I have tried the following arrangement, with success : 

 In a damp and somewhat shaded part of the garden I suspend by 

 means of wire, between two branches of a tree, a glass cylinder (such 

 as those used on candlesticks) or a small garden-pot, and cover it with 

 a large muslin sleeve tied to the wire towards both ends. In this way 

 the food is kept healthy by exposure to air and moisture, and the 

 larvfB can always get shelter. I bred, ab ovo, some fine Cleora liche- 

 naria this year ; they, as usual, were dark with a more or less yel- 

 lowish tinge, and contrasted with some I received from Mr. Hewett, 

 bred from larvse taken at Hawick, in Eoxburghshire, the green of 

 which had a slightly bluish tinge, and which were considerably paler, 

 an unusual difference between northern and southern insects. I 

 brought back from Cornwall, last week, some of the yellow lichen 

 ( Parmelia j^arietariaj, that grows so abundantly on rock faces near 

 the coast, to try and find out if any alteration is produced in colour 

 by feeding the larvae on it. Elmer's statements about the influence 

 of the food of the larva on the imago, seem to want investigation. 

 With a similar object I have been feeding larvae of Arctia villica on 

 lettuce only, keeping the cage fully exposed to the sun. These are 

 now (Sept. 28th) in their last larval instar, and I expect most will 

 pupate without hybernating. Will these several causes have a ten- 

 dency to produce more than ordinary variation ? 



