178 THE entomologist's record. 



Bournemouth, York, etc., and would undoubtedly be found in many 

 others if specially looked for. — W. Reid, Pitcaple, Aberdeen, N.B. 

 Jime i2)^h, 1890. 



Variation in Melanippe fluctuata. — I notice two distinct types 

 of variation in Mela7iippe Jluc/iiata, which is a very common moth in 

 this district, especially in the months of April and May. In the type 

 which I will call No. i, the dark bars are very distinct and go right 

 across the wings, they are very black and show up most conspicuously 

 on the light ground, which appears white by contrast. In No. 2 type, 

 the dark markings are much less distinct, and stop in the middle of the 

 wing. I have an extreme case of this type in which the bars are absent, 

 the only trace of them being two oval spots on the upper margin of 

 each wing, with dark edges and lighter centres. I find No. 2 much the 

 commoner type here, and the specimens are larger than No. i. — John 

 Williams Vaughan, Jun., The Skreen, Erwood, R.S.O., Radnorshire. 



Black var. of Limenitis sibylla. — On Friday, July i8th, T cap- 

 tured at Holmesley a fine specimen of the black variety of Limenitis 

 sibylla, — R. E. James, Hornsey, N. 



^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Notes of the Season (Lepidoptera). — Pitcaple. — Several Nodua 

 sohrina have been obtained in Aberdeenshire this year. Agrotis pyro- 

 phila has also been captured, and Siilbia anomola in fair numbers. 

 Sugar and flowers produced splendid results last month, and I should 

 pronounce the last half of July and first half of August all that any one 

 could desire, from an entomological point of view, the only drawback 

 being the rain. Sometimes insects literally swarmed on the flowers 

 during the rain, a thing I never noticed before. — W, Reid, Pitcaple, 

 Aberdeen. August 27/"//, 1890. 



Sligo. — Insects seem to be tolerably abundant here this season. Each 

 year some one species seems to be more abundant than usual. This 

 has been a year for Chcerocaiipa porcellus ; the flowers of the common 

 rocket proved very attractive to them as well as to Diajithcecice and 

 Pliisiidtv. Sugar has, however, been a complete failure, hardly anything 

 having been obtained at it except Xylopkasia monoglypha^ and of this 

 species very few of the dark vars. have been captured. Light, on the 

 other hand, has been very attractive. On the night of August 8th, 

 between 11.30 p.m. and 1.30 a.m., I captured 147 specimens and 42 

 different species. My mode of working is simply a duplex lamp placed 

 at a window ; a tap tells me of an arrival, and I go outside and bottle 

 the insect, if worth while. On this night, however, I had to stay out- 

 side, and was unable to bottle one quarter of those that came. The 

 night was tolerably dark, with a south wind blowing in light squalls. 

 — P. Russ, Culleenamore, Sligo. August 2(yth, 1890. 



Wye Valley {below Builtli). — I think that in our district this year 

 has, on the whole, been a bad one for lepidoptera up to the present 

 time. Butterflies have been very scarce, even the commonest sorts 

 being much fewer in numbers than they generally are. I took a few 

 specimens of Lyccena argiolus, but not so many as last season. I tried 



