42 THE entomologist's record. 



side of the river. K. alc/teinillata is less uncommon here than on the 

 Monmouthshire side. E. albulata, E. decolorata. E. hlandiata. — Already 

 recorded [Ent. Rec, xxi., p. 216). I obtained one or two of the larvse 

 at the end of September by bending the foodplant with my right hand 

 and shaking it over the palm of my left. Cidaria uiiata, C. conjlata. 

 C. picata was not uncommon at rest on the trunks of trees. It has a 

 protective habit of sitting sideways so that the narrow patch of Avhitish 

 ground colour between the dark basal area and the outer marginal 

 border resembles a streak of the chalky excrement of a bird on the tree- 

 trunk. C. russaia, C. siijfitniata, C. ulaceata, C. fulvata, C. testata, 

 Scotosia dubitata, Camptof/ramvia bilineata, Tliera varinta, Hypsipetes 

 inqditviata, H. sordidata, Oporabia dilittata, Cheimatobia bruniata, C. 

 boreata, LobopJiora lobnlata, Cliesias spartiata, C. obliqitaria. Anaitis 

 plagiata is common at rest on rocks and stone walls and also at dusk ; 

 the first brood is the most abundant. At Tintern and Llandogo, 

 where it is less common, we have, until last season, only observed 

 specimens of the second brood. Eubolia paluiiibaria, E. liinitata, 

 Enpithecia pulchellata, E. sub fulvata, E. lariciata, E. albi punctata, E. 

 mtyrata, E. plumbeolata, E, vidf/ata. E. expallidata. — These vary 

 greatly in expanse ; the largest I captured measures 1-lG in. from tip 

 to tip, while the smallest is only -95 in. E. abaynthiata, E. tenuiata, 

 E. abbreviata, E. e.rif/tiata, E. debiliata, E. coroyiata, E. rectangidata, and. 

 K. piimilata. On the last day of the year, which was warm and sunny, 

 I had the pleasure of watching a specimen of Vanessa io flying about in 

 my garden. 



Egg=Iaying of Vanessa urticae, L, and result of teniperature= 

 experiment on a freshly=laid batch of eggs. 



By T. EEUSS. 

 August 10th, 1909, was fine and sunny, the temperature in the 

 shade rising in Hertfordshire as high as 77°F., after falling as low as 

 49°F. at night. Towards noon, I was cutting down nettles in a 

 meadow, intending to satisfy the wants of a few thousand Vanessid 

 larvae which I was rearing, when a large specimen of Vanessa urticae 

 appeared, and, after circling round a moment, dropped on a leaf of 

 nettle close in front of me. Hoping that it would prove to be an 

 egg-laying female, I kept motionless and watched it expectantly. 

 Presently, it spread its wings, then flew up, but settled again not far 

 away. After two minutes, it was flying round again, and now began 

 to flutter and hover over the nettles as if searching for something. I 

 could see by this time, that the specimen was a fine dark female, with 

 much red in the ground colour of the wings. It settled repeatedly, 

 crawled over the nettle leaves, touching and evidently testing them 

 v.'ith its antennae, and then commenced to hang on to, and sidle along, 

 the margins of the leaves, holding the abdomen and hindmost pair of 

 legs underneath the leaf, and assisting its progress by fluttermg its 

 wings. After a very few minutes it had evidently found a suitable 

 leaf on the sunny margin of the nettle-bed, and, with half-opened 

 wings, became quiescent in the position just described, suitable for 

 depositing the ova on the underside and near the margin of one of the 

 larger leaves, where this species always seems to place them." 



* The young larvae, on emerging, first perforate the leaf in the vicinity of 



