NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 309 



at light : — Acronycta menyanthidis at rest on a sprig of heather ; Xylo- 

 phasia rurea at rest on a pah'ng; Trachea piniperda flying round flowers 

 in sunshine ; two Agrotis tritici ; two A. var. aquilina ; four Anchocelis 

 litura ] three Nodua rubi. Mothing, treacUng and Hght (in the form 

 of a moth trap) were all tried with the above unsatisfactory result. On 

 an average the weather was fair, wind hardly ever in the East. Sep- 

 tember was the finer, though somewhat colder month. The only reason 

 I can think of to account in any way for such an extraordinary scarcity 

 of lepidoptera, is the fact that the whole neighbourhood sivarms with 

 Formica rufa ; I have found them on the top of hills 1600 feet high, 

 the moors are overrun with them, and so are all the roads and trees ; 

 every now and again, along the roads, one meets groups of three or four 

 of these pigmy highwaymen, dragging along some wretched caterpillar 

 or beetle many times their own size, making very slow progress how- 

 ever, for they rarely all pull in the same direction. Their chief rendezvous 

 is in the pine woods, which are full of their nests, being composed of 

 the loose friable mould mixed with the needles, and having a thick 

 coating of the latter all over ; some of them are very large, and must 

 contain many thousands, the largest I saw was in the shape of a sugar- 

 loaf, twelve feet in circumference at the base and two feet nine inches 

 in height. Perhaps F. rufa, by devouring the larvge, reduce the number 

 of imagines. Those living in a neighbourhood infested by F. rufa 

 would perhaps state their own views on the subject, saying whether they, 

 too, find lepidoptera scarce. — D. H. S. Steuart, 66, Albert Hall 

 Mansions, W. February ^//i, 1891. 



Leeds. — Oporobia dilutata was fairly common round Leeds in 

 October ; specimens were taken ranging from very dark bluish grey, to 

 light grey. I did not once see the pretty banded form met with in the 

 south. Cheimatobia boreata has been very common, judging by the 

 remains under the trees. C. brumata of course has been common, and 

 some good dark forms were met with. Hybernia auranliaria I have 

 only seen twice, one being a female. H. defoliaria does not appear to 

 be common in this district. I have taken, however, a very nice form of 

 it, in which both pairs of wings are of a uniform smoky brown, not 

 dotted as in the usual unicolorous variety. I have never before seen 

 anything like it. Amongst the Nocxu^ two specimens of Cerastis 

 vaccina are all that I have seen. — \V. Mansbridge, Luther Place, 

 Horsforth, near Leeds. 



Notes of the season of 1890 (Coleoptera). — On August 4th, 

 Mrs. Johnson and I drove down to Lough Neagh, which is about 

 14 English miles from here. We stopped on our way at Churchill, 

 as is our custom, in order to hunt the bogs there. There was how- 

 ever but little to be got. By beating birch trees I took Rhynchites 

 betulce^ Anopius plantaris, Cceliodes rubicundus and Orchestes rusci. 

 Having arrived at Lough Neagh and appeased the pangs of hunger, 

 we made our way to what is called Uerrywarragh Island, a tract 

 enclosed between the river Blackwater, the canal and Lough Neagh. 

 Here, on the lake shore under stones, we took a good number of 

 Pelopliila borealis, together with Bembidiuin punciuiafum, B. bipunc- 

 faluin, Philonthus ianiinatus, Ph. umbra tiiis, etc. Mrs. Johnson was 

 fortunate enough to get a specimen of Silpha dispar, but no amount of 



