68 THE entomologist's eecord. 



of L. ahiifoliella and L. stettinella. Having occasionally bred a sueci- 

 men of L. klcma)ineUa, I am curious to know the form of its mine so 

 as to be able to identify it. — E. Atmore, King's Lynn, 



The Dianthceci^ at Howth. — The Diatithcecioe. will occasionally 

 come to light, but I think the only practical way to take them is to 

 stand and patiently watch, gazing intently at a clump of Silcne niari- 

 tima. Sometimes one watches an hour or so (letting Acidalia margine- 

 piaufa, A. bisetata, etc., fly away, lest Barrettii should be missed by 

 having the net otherwise engaged) before one sees in the dim light 

 something almost invisible, close to the flowers, and a rapid stroke 

 making sure of the prize, discloses generally that the capture is D. cap- 

 sophila. However, I captured a few Barrettii last year, but not very 

 fine specimens. The flight of these insects sometimes does not come 

 at all, and generally, when it does come, does not last for more than a 

 quarter of an hour or so. — G. V. Hart, 14, Lower Pembroke Street, 

 Dublin. 



Notes on Xanthia cerago and X. silago. — In the September of 

 1888, noticing the complete absence of the Xanthias from my sugared 

 trees, I began searching flower-heads, etc., and found to my great 

 astonishment that the two common species mentioned above seemed to 

 prefer the dry-looking feathery heads of the very pretty long grasses, 

 which are to be found in most clearings in woods, and which, in the 

 spot I was working, were especially luxuriant — some of the stronger 

 stems reaching a height of about 4 feet. Silago was the more 

 plentiful, and could have been taken by scores, sometimes as many as 

 four on a single head, and were easily boxed. Cerago was far less 

 abundant, and the only other moths I found at the same heads were, 

 if my memory serves me, one Hydrcecia micacea, and a few P. meti- 

 culosa. Last autumn I was upon the ground at about the same time, 

 but I saw no traces of either species on the grass ; indeed, the only 

 specimen I saw at all was a single silago beaten out by chance in 

 the afternoon. — A. J. Hodges, 2, Highbury Place, N. May, 1890. 



It is usual for me to collect both X. silago and X cera^:^o imagines 

 on " sallow " leaves, feeding on the honeydew which is on them, and 

 they are more especially abundant on dewy evenings. In the district I 

 work, the trees I "sugar" are parallel with a row of good sallow 

 bushes, a half mile in length, to which, when the sugar has failed, I 

 have devoted my attention with considerable success- — especially on 

 evenings following a fine day — when such species as Leiicania lithar- 

 gyria, L. pa I lens, L. impura, Apamea fibrosa, Noctua baja, N. aiigiir, 

 Triphmna comes, besides hosts of A. didyma {oculea) and N. xantho- 

 grapha may be taken. — J. Collins, Lilford Street, Warrington. 



I took large numbers of X. cerago on sallow leaves during " foggy " 

 evenings last August. I should like to have known of it some years 

 ago, but only found it out in 1888, when, having travelled to Moreton, 

 12 miles from here, to sugar on the heath, a fog came on, my sugar 

 was unproductive, and I was anything but satisfied with my evening's 

 sport, until I found cerago and silago on the " sallow " leaves, although 

 I must own I have never found any other species there. It is only as a 

 last hope that I search the bushes,in fact I should probably not go out 

 if I thought I should be driven to that extremity, I have a fine dark- 

 banded cerago taken in that way.— A. Forsyth, Weymouth. 



