66 



of cultivation. More recently the rough track itself has been con- 

 verted into a good road with asphalt path, and forms the chief con- 

 nection between the lower parade and the road which runs at the 

 top of the cliff. The chalk pit also has been planted with cypress 

 and other trees, and converted into a minature park as a finish to 

 the parades. As a consequence this particular point has been 

 brought well within the confines of the town, and there is a very 

 considerable traffic on the road into which the old rough track has 

 been converted. Yet, on any sunny morning during its season you 

 may find A. thetis disporting itself on the few square yards of the 

 original grassy bank that are still left, showing how pertinaciously 

 a species will cling to its original haunts even under adverse condi- 

 tions. So much for the butterflies. 



Riiprnctis (Porthesia) chrysorrluea. — One fine morning in the latter 

 part of September, while on my way along the edge of the cliffs in 

 the direction of Cow Gap, my attention was attracted by what 

 appeared to be great numbers of pieces of sheep's wool attached to 

 the twigs of the blackthorn bushes, but which on investigation 

 proved to be the winter nests of E. clinjmrrlum. On some of them 

 the young larvae were sunning themselves. On October 3rd, another 

 very fine mild day, some of the larvae were again outside the nests, 

 but on my next visit, a fortnight later, no larvas were visible, the 

 nests, however, had the appearance of having been thickened up 

 and strengthened in the interval, no doubt having been prepared to 

 withstand the winter storms. The species has occurred in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood, to my own knowledge, since 1902, generally 

 being confined to one or another of the small clumps of bushes that 

 grow thereabout, and on occasion, sufficiently commonly to com- 

 pletely devastate the particular clump attacked before the larvae 

 were full-fed, but I have never before seen the nests so abundant as 

 they are this winter, and although the bushes attacked form by far 

 the largest clump in the neighbourhood, it is doubtful whether even 

 they Avill be sufficient to provide food for the growing larvae in the 

 spring. (See " Proc," 1907, p. 12.) 



Ants. — On the afternoon of September 18th, while walking 

 through Cow Gap, we could not help noticing the enormous numbers 

 of winged ants that were on the move ; hardly a foot of ground was 

 free from the crawling hosts and the air appeared to be full of 

 them. The species concerned, Mr. Donisthorpe, who was present 

 informs me, were Donisthorpea ni(/ra, D. ffava, and Myninca scabri- 

 nodis, and we had evidently hit upon them in the midst of their 

 marriage flight. One knows that ants' nests are fairly numerous 

 in this locality, but it is only on such occasions that one appreciates 

 the vast numbers of the individuals, and wonders whether their 

 presence has anything to do with the abundance of A. coridon and 

 A. thetis in this locality. 



Birds. — During the early autumn the Martins (chiefly Chelidon 

 urbica, I believe) are wont to congregate in great numbers on the 



