88 [April, 



was taken ; y. dictcea was in great numbers, but tliere were more females than males ! 

 N. dictcBoides, two were taken ; J\r. ziczae one. Acronycta psi, rather common. 

 Leucania pollens, SIT taken. Calamia Zuioia, eight were taken in good condition. 

 Axylia putris, one was taken. Ztuzera cesculi, two were taken. Mamestra brassicee 

 was swarming. Grammesia trilinea, three or four in good condition. Agrotis 

 segetum, common. Xanthia cerago, X.gilvago, rather common. Phlogophora meti- 

 culosa, swarming in countless numbers, some lamps were covered with them. Eu- 

 plexia lucipara, two or three were taken. Plusia gamma was common, but rather 

 hard to capture, as it generally flew away when touched. Catocala nupta was 

 common, but most of the specimens were badly battered. Anchocelis litura, common ; 

 A. pistacina, very common in the roads, hiding under stones, paper, &c. Folia 

 flavicincta, two specimens. Hadena chetiopodii, common on the globes. 



From the above list it appears that this method of taking moths is far superior 

 to that of going at night time, when you have to get a long net and work away for 

 hours sometimes for a single moth ; and you always have a crowd of urchins 

 following you wherever you go, whereas, by going in the morning you escape these 

 ti-oubles. — Bertram G. Coopkk, Tiffin's School, Kingston-on-Thames : Feb., 1897. 



[Our correspondent is a lad 15 years of age, and the above was embodied 

 in a paper read at the Natural History Society of the School. His energy and 

 industry are highly commendable. — Eds.]. 



Note on the food of Bucculatrix artemisice, H.-S., in Britain. — It may be 

 within the remembrance of some of your readers that in these pages (vol. iv, first 

 series, p. 36) I added to our fauna a new Bucculatrix, B. artemisice (or artemisiella), 

 of which unfortunately I secured only a single specimen, and, to my regret, the 

 species has not since been taken in this country. It is with a view to inducing some 

 of your readers to look for the insect that these few lines are penned. On the con- 

 tinent, the food of this Bucculatrix is Artemisia campestris, but my larva was taken 

 on a yarrow leaf, which much perplexed Mr. Stainton, who asked (Annual for 1870, 

 p. 159) : " Is it pot.bible that this insect (artemisice) can be an extreme aberration 

 of cristatella, Z. ?" But, as I told my friend at the time, Artemisia vulgaris (mug- 

 wort) was common enough in the locality in which the capture was made, and as 

 there was a gale from the S.W. on the occasion, it might easily have been blown 

 from a neighbouring plant of mugwort. Then, again, I do not think B. artemisice 

 can have anything to do with cristatella, for the reasons that the larva, from the 

 first brood, of the latter is green, and full-fed at the beginning of May, whereas 

 that of the former was, so far as ray memory serves, whitish or drab, and it did not 

 pupate till the middle of June. 



There is yet, however, the possibility that B. artemisice may really feed on both 

 yarrow and Artemisia, for which we have a precedent in the case of Eupithecia 

 absynthlata and succenturiata, which will eat indiscriminately the flowers of either 

 plant ; or, again, it may here feed on Achillea, while abroad it affects Artemisia, 

 just as the opposite is stated to occur with Fhorodesma smaragdaria. Still, it is 

 my firm belief that the occurrence of my larva upon yarrow was purely accidental, 

 and that the species will be found upon Artemisia vulgaris, if sought for between 

 the beginning and middle of June on the south coast. Of course, it should also be 



