OBSEBVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE. 191 



silvery blue insect is a butterfly which loves the chalk downs, and 

 is, as Mr. Xewman remarks, " generally absent wliere tliere is no 

 chalk." Broxbourne Common is rather an unlikely locality for 

 the species, being, as Mr. Warner informs me, three miles away 

 from the nearest chalk, and certainly a considerable distance from 

 any downs. This is, so far as I can ascertain, the first record for 

 the county, though the species must, I think, occur on the hills in 

 the north and west of Hertfordshire. 



Hawk-Moths. — Turning now from the butterflies to the moths, 

 and dealing first with the Sphingid*, or hawk-moths, a group 

 which includes some of our largest British insects, I have to record 

 a note from Mr. P. Latchmore, in which he reports an unusual 

 abundance of the larvae of the eyed hawk-moth {Smerinthus 

 ocellatus) and the poplar hawk-moth [S. populi) at Hitchin. He 

 says that he several times found as many as twenty caterpillars 

 feeding on a small weeping-willow. The sallow stems were in 

 many places along the hedges stripped of their leaves by them. 

 Mr. Henry Lewis, of St. Albans, had a female eyed hawk-moth 

 brought to him, and it laid a number of eggs which passed into 

 the possession of Mr. Arthur Lewis, and from which many pupae 

 resulted. Mr. Arthur Lewis also reports S. poindi to have been 

 abundant on some willow plants in his garden at Sparrowswick. 



Mr. F. Latchmore informs me that no convolvulus hawk- 

 moths (^Sphinx convolvuli) Avere taken at Hitchiu in 1892, though 

 this insect is frequently captured in the town in September and 

 October. It is not a common moth at St. Albans, but in September, 

 1887, two specimens were taken, one on a gate at the end of Cum- 

 berland Road, and the other in a nursery-garden close by. One is 

 in my collection, the other in that of Mr. Henry Lewis. I have 

 never seen the catei'pillar of this moth, and its habits do not appear 

 to be very well known. Mr. Buckler tells us that the larva when 

 full-fed measures four inches in length and has a diameter of five- 

 eighths of an inch. Like Colias edusa, this insect seems to be 

 particularly abundant in certain years, but no reason for this has, 

 so far as I am aware, been assigned. In 1846 it abounded in 

 England and was very generally distributed. But even in years 

 of unusual abundance the larva is seldom found. It appears to be 

 sluggish in its habits, and feeds principally on the wild convolvulus. 

 The unusually long proboscis of this insect is worthy of note. 



Towards the end of 1891 Mr. George Buller gave me a number 

 of pupae of the elephant hawk -moth {Choerocampa elpenor), the 

 larvae of which he had taken at Welwyn. These duly emerged in 

 the following June. In 1888 there was brought to me a nearly 

 full-fed caterpillar which was found at St. Albans feeding on 

 fuchsia. I had no difiiculty with it, as it fed freely on fuchsia, 

 and in due course pupated. This is a very lovely moth, and well 

 repays the trouble of rearing. In Ireland the larva is called the 

 " murrain worm," as it is supposed to be the cause of disease in 

 cattle. Needless to say it is quite harmless. 



Mr. J. E. K. Cutts, of Watford, informs me that a friend of his 



