obseuveh tx TrERTFOKnsniRE. 197 



at sugar in his orchard. Mr. Cutts, in the course of a most 

 intorostinc; k'ttcr, says : " My orchard-trees being young, and 

 not hirge enough to sugar on, I tie pieces of cork bark on the 

 stakes, and sugar on the bark. I use treacle with a little rum 

 in it. 1 bred a nice series of the buff-tip m.otl\{F/ialera bncep/iala), 

 and also of the peacock buttei'iiy. The year before last 1 found 

 the larvjiD of the dot-moth (Jldtnrsfra persicaria) very abundant, 

 and bred a nice series, and in London I found the brindled beauty 

 moth (Bi'sfo?) hi rf aria) extremely abundant, and turned a few out 

 in my garden last autumn, and, as I found a female in the garden 

 this spring, they, of course, bred." Mr. Cutts also numbers 

 among the moths he has taken in Hertfordshire : Luperina ceftpitis, 

 Tmiiocampa popideti, T. miniosa, Orthosia macilenta, Cosmia pi/ra- 

 lina, Aplecta advena, Plusia pulchrina, Selenia lunaria, and Velurga 

 comitata. Some of these have also been taken by other collectors. 



Sugaring. — Sugaring during the last two seasons has yielded 

 very good results, and the autumn of 1891 was a specially prolific 

 time. With the exception of one evening at Radlett, and a few 

 nights' work in the garden at home, the whole of my sugai'ing 

 has been done at Bricket Wood, in company with Mr. Arthur 

 Lewis, and we have nearly always kept to the same trees. 



In 1891 the genus Xanthia was remarkably abundant at Bricket 

 Wood, and I took every species of it there. Fulvago and flavago 

 were, of course, the commonest ; fulvago appears to come out 

 a few days sooner than flavago, and to have more variety in 

 its markings. Of aurago I only took one specimen during two 

 years' work ; of citrago one at sugar at Bricket Wood, and one 

 at light at St. Albans ; of gilvago one dark specimen at Bricket 

 Wood, and two lighter ones on the street lamps in St. Albans ; 

 while ferruginea was fairly common. Among other autumn moths 

 which came freely to sugar at Bricket Wood may be mentioned : 

 Phlogophora meticulosa, Anchocelis rufina, A. litura, A. pistacina, 

 Asjfkalia dihifa, Amphipi/ra pyramidea, Uadena protea, Agriopis 

 ajrrilina, Scop>elosoma satellitia, Orthosia lota, 0. macilenta, Miselia 

 oxyacanthce, and Noctua C-nigrum. 



In 1892 we began sugaring on April 11th, but it was a bright 

 moonlight night with a cold wind, and our venture proved a 

 failure, only a few hybernated specimens being seen, and though 

 we visited Bricket Wood several times, we did not do much good 

 work until towards the end of the following month. On May 30th 

 the first Thyatira hatis appeared. This is a common insect at 

 Bricket Wood, where I have seen nearly a score of specimens on 

 one patch of sugar. Other moths taken on this date included Cyma- 

 tophora or, Rmina tenehrosa, Grammesia trigrammica, Odontopera bi- 

 dentata, Boarmia consortaria, Xylophasia rurea, Numeria pulveraria, 

 Noctua plecta, and Zanclognaiha grisealis. A very fresh specimen 

 of Notodonta camelina was found at rest on an oak tree, and had 

 evidently just emerged. During the course of the summer we 

 took specimens of Acronycta ligustri, Aplecta herhida, Lexicania 

 turca, Lithosia mesomella, Cleoceris viminalis, Dianthoecia cucubali, 



