LEPIDOPTER6r40GICAL NOTES FOR 1914. 5 



brightly coloftred insects and flowers. Tlie j^ellow horned-poppies and 

 the masses of bii,Q;loss in the Warren are magnificent. 



At the beginning of July I revisited for a few days another old 

 haxint (this time alone) — the " ariou " ground near Bude. 



It is a long time since I have been there, and my main objective 

 was a '■ bred " series of To.mcaDipa craccae. I have seen them there 

 in immense numbers on the wing and at heather blossom, but the best 

 of the captured specimens lack the rich bloom of those freshly 

 emerged. 



I was nearl}^ too late, and most of the larvte were full fed. There 

 are few things more fascinating to me than searching for larvae by 

 night, especially in such a situation as Toxocanipa craccae haunts — 

 right down by a rocl^y beach at the foot of immense cliffs. I planned 

 my evenings to work at dusk on another beach for Diantlioecia Inteago 

 var. harrettii, and there being no way round the foot, I had to descend 

 the cliff path in the dark. Having prospected the ground in the day- 

 time, and located the foodplant, I arrived about 11 p.m., and suc- 

 ceeded in getting enough on the first evening to breed a good series. 



Subsequent visits only added a few, and had I been a week later I 

 doubt if any would have been left feeding. Judging by the appear- 

 ance of the foodplants, however, they had evidently been in great 

 numbers, as in some places the plants were reduced to mere skeletons. 

 Passing from one beach to the other, the way leads along a sunken 

 lane across the top of the headland, with high gorse and heather-clad 

 banks. Both these plants were covered with moths, the most plentiful 

 being Eupithecia pmiiilata and Ajirotis strii/iila, both in great numbers. 



There were also quite a fair lot of Aphomia sociella, Boannia 

 geDiiiiaria, and Gnoplioa ohsciiran'a about the gorse, and many common 

 Noctuids about the heather, bat the queerest experience of the night 

 was with a butterfly — Pi/ranieift cardiii. 



Each night I saw P. cardiii vevy conspicuously at rest on the gorse 

 along this lane, and was interested to note that certain bushes were 

 favoured night after night, probably by the same individuals. On the 

 last night as I passed along to the cntceae ground at 10.30 p.m. there 

 were three P. cardui at intervals of about twenty yards. Upon my 

 return two hours later I looked for them and found the first one gone. 

 The second was where I had left it, but what was my astonishment at 

 finding the third one paired, doubtless with the missing first specimen. 



There is no possibility of error in this fact, as in each case the 

 particular position of the specimen was known to me exactly from 

 observation of previous nights. Cardiifs habit of flying late into the 

 dusk is familiar to me, but even assuming that my strong light had 

 unsettled them at 10.30, such a proceeding as this is, as far as I know, 

 quite without parallel. It would be interesting to hear if others have 

 had a similar experience. 



The weather was very unpropitious for butterflies, as whenever the 

 sun shone it blew hard, and when it ceased to blow it rained. The ex- 

 ception, however, that proved the rule, came on the last morning, when, 

 although the sun only got half through, it was so warm and still that 

 butterflies flew freely. I had heard bad reports of Lycaena avion, and 

 it was therefore gratifying to find it on this last day at least as 

 plentiful, if not more so, than on the only other occasion I had 

 previously seen it — in early July, 1901. After a lapse of thirteen 



