^^ AND »*' 



JOURNAL OF VARIATION 



Vol. XXVII. No. 1. Januaey 15th, 1915. 



Lepidopterological Notes for 1914. 



By RUSSELL JAMES. 



At our editor's request, I have with some amount of trouble put 

 together the following collecting notes on the past season. I have 

 difficulty amidst the great happenings of the present in casting my 

 thoughts from war news, back to the peaceful days of early summer, 

 when the capture of Dianthoecia lutewjo var. barrettii, on the beach near 

 Bude, or Leptosia [Leiicophasia) sinapis in the home counties seemed 

 matters of more importance than at the present moment. Still 

 perhaps those of us, who by reason of age or responsibilities (or as in 

 my case both) are prevented from taking active part in the war, are 

 the better fitted for doing our share in things at home, if we obtain 

 what measure of relaxation we can in continuing our innocent hobby. 



I had intended taking my proper holiday on the West Coast of 

 Wales — country quite new to me — but this fell through on the outbreak of 

 war. I found it iiiipossible to leave my business, which for a time 

 was thoroughly disorganised, and when things partially settled into 

 more normal ways, the holiday time had passed. So my collecting 

 notes are limited to odd days and home work, but yet may be of interest 

 to beginners. 



The year has certainly been a marvellous one from the weather 

 point of view, and although treacle has failed, and no rarities have 

 come my way, the abundance that I augured from the day spent in 

 Surrey on May 15th, when L. sinapis was so plentiful {Ent. Fwc, 

 Vol. XXVI., p. 144), has been realised in my subsequent experiences. 



With a small son coming along and showing extraordinary 

 enthusiasm, I have had the pleasure of running over some old haunts, 

 and one of the first of these was Hampstead Heath, where, after a 

 lapse of many years, we spent two evenings. Considering its limited 

 space, its proximity to London, and the trampling the heath gets by 

 holiday crowds every week-end, it is quite remarkable the number of 

 species that maintain their ground. 



The dwarf sallow there, partly protected by the shelter of large 

 birch trees, still carries on a precarious existence, and on these shrubs, 

 and on the brambles and birches, most of the larva3 were obtained. 

 The numbers were very considerable, and the commonest were certainly 

 those of Xoctua awjur, closely followed by X. trianinditm. X. baja, 

 N. brunnea, N. festiva, and V. ditrapezinm all occurred in small 



