312 THE entomologist's record. 



not found when looked for. AijrotU af/athina was an exception, 

 it was very common, but turned out a great disappointment. I 

 had about 200 tubbed out as last year, but bred very few, and 

 these were small and dull in colour. My last year's specimens were 

 very large and bright. I treated them exactly the same, and think it 

 must have been owing to the long spell of dry weather prior to 

 emergence. I also bred Epunda nigra from larvte collected at the same 

 time, and placed in the same tubs with A. a;ialhina, but these emerged 

 all right. In June, I bred a nice series of Enpithecia tenuiata fi'om 

 sallow catkins, collected here in spring. .4sft'ro.sro;)».s.s7i/(m.f is appearing 

 well now, although I could not beat a larva at its usual time. Autumnal 

 sugaring has been quite a failure, only one Tiliacea {Xantlda) 

 aiirat/o, and very few I'eridroma saucia were observed, and even usual 

 common species like Orrlwdia racdnii were very scarce. 



Turning for a moment to the E,hopalocera, it certainly has not been 

 a good year here for them. Cijanins an/lohis and Callophrys rubi were 

 very scarce. Of Pijrameis cardui and Culias edusa, only one of each was 

 seen. On the other hand, Guneptenjx, rhanmi, Enchlo'e cardamines and 

 Enndia hi/perantlius were more abundant than usual. — E. F. C. Studd, 

 M.A., B.C.L., F.E.S., Oxton, nr. Exeter. 



Lepidoptera in Essex. — Thymelicus lineola occurred quite freely 

 this season in a held some three miles from the river marshes. Tiliacea 

 [Xantlda) anra;/o, a scarce moth here (two were taken by Howard 

 Vaughan, between 18G0-1868), visited the sugar on September 17th, 

 and a beautiful specimen of the same species emerged in one of my 

 bell glasses on the following day. Between August 30th and September 

 4th, five fine Cirrhoedia .veraiiipelina occurred at roots of ash, and a 

 worn specimen came to my sugar on the 8th, whilst, at the end of 

 September, numbers of common insects visited the sweets. — F. G. 

 Whittle, 3, Marine Avenue, Southend. 



Lepidoptera at Clevedon. — Insects have been very scarce at 

 ivy this autumn, even more so than in 1897, when they were far below 

 the average. A few specimens of Sphinx convolvuli have been taken at 

 the flowers of Nicotiana ajiins, and on one occasion I saw a specimen 

 at the flowers of (Enotlwra niissoginemis. Insects, too, have been scarce 

 at light, yet the weather for the last few weeks has been very favour- 

 able — neither east wind nor frost. — J. Mason, Clevedon Court Lodge, 

 Somerset. November 10th, 1898, 



Food-plants op Trichiura crat^gi. — I notice that the larva of 

 T. cratae(/i is spoken of as being taken from hawthorn and sloe. It is 

 remarkable that, although both plants are in plenty in the New Forest, 

 I have never taken it on either, but invariably on sallow. — J. C. 

 MoBERLY, M.A., F.E.S., 9, Rockstone Place, Southampton. 



Abundance op Ephestia kuiiniella. — In the stores in which 

 Mr. Clarke has recorded the abundance of Caradrina quad ri punctata 

 [ante, p. 157), the larva? and pup^ of Epheatia kuhniella have been 

 recently very abundant. Last year was the first that I had seen the 

 species, and its small size did not lead me to pay any great attention 

 to it, as it was at the time in the larval stage and very small. They 

 fed up in the dust collected on the outside of the sacks on which they 

 first made their appearance. They seemed to be most careful to hide 

 in the creases, both when feeding and pupating. The cocoon is very tough, 

 and somewhat loose, and in this the larva changes to an amber-brown 



