1903.] 125 



I have so far omitted to mention butterflies. The part in ii)y garden in which 

 the traps was most often set — an open grassy place adjoining a small coppice — is a 

 favourite resort of many species (certainly twenty), several of which are quite 

 plentiful tliere, yet of all tliese, two species and two only, were ever found in, on, or 

 Hying around the trap. First comes L. Hgeria, of wliich eight specimens in all 

 were captured, although it is by no means abundant in or near the garden. 

 Secondly, that essentially garden species, V. Atalanta ; of this two entered the trap 

 in 1899, and many in 1890. Indeed, on one afternoon in the latter year there were 

 at one time in, on, or about the trap no fewer than twenty-five of these beautiful 

 creatures. But no " white," no 'blue," no "meadow-brown," no " tortoiseshell," 

 no "peacock" ever came. But why not? Why at sugar Egeria and Atalanta 

 only ? Why inside the house urticcn only ? What creatures more alike (save for 

 the pattern on their wings) than tliese two common Vauessas, and yet what a 

 striking difference of habit ? Sliall we call it a moral or an intellectual difference ? 



Anotlier form of sugar trap, but a less promising one, is the soda water bottle 

 half filled with saccharine solution hung up in a tree to catch wasps. The attrac- 

 tiveness of tliis form of trap seems to be greatly increased by time ; the decomposing 

 mass of wasps and blue bottles becoming irresistible. Lepidoptera are always 

 captured in considerable numbers, but " evil communications corrupt good speci- 

 mens," and identification is not always easy ; but 1 have noted besides some of the 

 commoner autumnal sugar-frequenting Noctuce our friends L. Egeria a,nd V. Atalanta. 

 One such bottle captured unfortunately a number of my own bees, so I turned out 

 the greedy creatures on to the lawn, in the hope that some might recover. While 

 ministering to their wants a red admiral flew round me for some minutes, and finally 

 settled on a heap of the half-drowned Aculeates ! Apropos of this, the Rev. T. M. 

 Cardus told me that some years ago at Chittleharapton, North Devon, he found a 

 very fair specimen of V. Antiopa in such a wasp bottle. The subject clearly de- 

 serves moi-e attention. -G. B. Longstaff, Highlands, Putney Heath, S.W. : 19^/t 

 February, 1903. 



On the habits of the larvce of Hadena protea. — From a female of this species 

 taken at sugar on September 27th, 19Ui, I obtained a small batch of eggs. These 

 hatched on April 22nd following, and the young larvae were placed on swelling oak 

 buds, the leaves at that date not being open. They immediately began to eat their 

 way into the buds, and I saw nothing more of them for a fortnight, when I placed 

 some fresh oak twigs into the bottle by the old ones, so that the larvae could crawl 

 from one to the other. That the larvae were busy at work I could easily see, for 

 little piles of frass were adhering to the sides of the holes made by them when they 

 entered. I opened one of the buds to examine the young larva, and found a plump 

 whitish-looking little grub with a shining black head, more like a Tortrix larva 

 than that of a Hadena. As soon as it was placed on one of the fresh buds, which 

 by this time were bursting into leaf, it immediately set to work and buried itself as 

 quickly as possible. When they became larger, and the leaves were more fully ex- 

 panded, they spun the tips of them together, and lived in the tents thus formed, 

 and sometimes I noticed two or three larva; in the same tent, although, in a state of 

 nature, I do not suppose this would happen. They concealed themselves in this 

 fashion until they were nearly lull grown, and even then they appeared to be loth 



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