PRACTICAL HINTS. 



246 



ovipositing on the cymes of Luzula canipestrts, in a meadow here. The 

 moth sits very quietly on the flowers, thrusting the abdomen down 

 between the perianth and the scarious bract at the base of the flower, 

 where the ea:g is laid. One female made use of an outside flower, and 

 as the bract was forced away from the perianth by the moth's abdomen, 

 I could plainly, by aid of my pocket lens, see the ovipositor which 

 appeared little, but strong, thrust out. When fully extended, however, 

 the tip was hidden in the flower and I failed to see the egg actually 

 deposited. One female, kept in a box, laid no eggs, but the next 

 evening, when placed in a large test tube with a piece of the 

 food-plant, she commenced laying at once. These moths appear 

 to hide in the grass during the day. At the time of flight they 

 run up a grass stem and take wing with a jerk, keeping low down 

 among the herbage. If they collide with a leaf or stem, which they 

 seem habitually to do, they settle for a few minutes, and then repeat 

 the process. The best way to find the ova of C. murinipennella is to 

 pull ofl' carefully the perianth of the Litzula, leaving the scaly bracts on 

 the plant, the egg will usually be found adhering to the base of the 

 perianth or it may be left in the bract. I should say in nature not 

 more than one egg is laid in the same flower. — -Alfred Sigh, F.E.S., 

 65, Bari'owgate Eoad, Chiswick. May 18th, 1901. 



J^RACTICAL HINTS.* 



Field Work for July. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



1. — Ova of Leucania alhipinicta laid August 18th, 1899, hatched 

 August 29th, fed up rapidly on grass, and by October 5th many 

 bad pupated ; they were kept in a room where was a fire every day, 

 the pupte being left undisturbed and the surface of the earth not 

 damped ; imagines commenced to emerge October 26th. 



2. — From the end of -July to the middle of August the imagines 

 of Leucania btrrilinea are to be obtained freely at light in the Norfolk 

 Broads, Horning being the most worked centre. 



8. — At dusk in the middle of August the females of Charaeas 

 <i ram in is are often to be taken in numbers, both in the Norfolk Broads 

 and the Cambridge fens, fluttering up the reeds and grass-culms, and 

 paired couples are often to be found from 10 p.m. -11 p.m. It is 

 remarkable that the males fly freely, and often in great numbers for 

 about an hour in the early morning between 7.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m., 

 when no $ s are to be found. 



4. — Three dozen larvfe of Dianthoicia ciuubali were taken from 

 the flowers of Li/chnis floscnndi during the first week of August on 

 Balerno Bog (Carlier). 



5. — -Towards the end of August and well on nito September, a 

 warm overcast afternoon will give an abundance of Celaena hanorthii 

 flying over the mosses on the moors, and it appears that if the 

 atmosphere be clear and the sun shining there are few specimens on the 



' pKAt 1 icAL Hints vun the Field Lepibopteuist, recently published, contains 

 1,*2:)U siiiiiliir hints to these, distribiUed ovei' every month in the year. Interleaved 

 (for collector's own notes).- Ed. 



