NOTES ON COLLECTING. ^9 



at Coombe Wood, Thundersley, July 29th ; Cri/ptitblabes l)i.stri>/ct and Ce- 

 rostoma lucella on July 30th, on which date several E. ericinella occurred 

 flying over heath on Thundersley Common. In early August, larvte 

 of Noiiai/ria anni(U)iis occurred among a few rushes at Thundersley ; 

 on August 3rd, Bhodophaea siiavella emerged, larvae found May 18th, 

 in a bunch of withered leaves of hawthorn at Eastwood ; the hairy 

 cases of L'oleoiihora alhicosta were found on furze at Thundersley, on 

 August 4th, and a vagrant Zeplujrns quercm was found on potato ; on 

 August 10th, lortri.c cori/lajia was bred from ash; Xartua haia came 

 to sugar on August 15th, and Triphaoia/imbria on August 21st ; larvte of 

 Diantlwecia capsincDla were found on seeds of campion, on August 

 26th, and at Fobbing, on September 7th, when in quest of larvte of 

 P/iorodesiiia amaraijdarla for a correspondent, I found close to the 

 church a full-fed larva of Mimas tiliae which had either crawled, or 

 fallen, from one of the churchyard elms, while on a fence close by was 

 Notolojihns antiqna, a very large $ , with a mass of eggs ; hirvae of 

 Eiipistcria oblitcrata were beaten from alder at Thundersley, on Sep- 

 tember 17th, pupa^ of Xonai/ria arnmlinis were found on September 

 21st, and the first moth emerged on September 25th ; I'aedisca 

 sordidana was bred from alder on September 30th, and larvte of 

 Da-tijcliira pudibunda, Ephyraporata and Drepana falcataria were beaten 

 at Thundersley, on October 12th. I found sugar very unproductive 

 right through the season, and should not have made so many additions 

 to my local list, had it not been for the bicycle, of which, as an aid to 

 the collector, I have a high opinion. — F. G. Whittle, Marine Avenue, 

 Southend. Januarij SOt/i, 1903. 



Early Emergences. — It may interest your readers to know that I 

 had two ? Si'lcnia lunaiia emerge on January 28th, also that, from 

 January 31st to February 3rd, I had larvae of Lymantria uioiiacha hatch 

 each day. Having no other food -plant available, I have put the larvfe 

 on fir. — Ernest A. Rogers, Kabul House, Buckeridge Road, Teign- 

 mouth, Devon. Ecbrnari/ 8rd, 1903. [We presume these have been 

 kept indoors all winter. — Ed.] 



Early appearance of Cyaniris argiolus. — I saw a <? ('ijaniris 

 anjiolHs settle on a holly bush in my garden (within a yard of me) 

 yesterday, February 20th, 1903. This, I think, beats by some weeks 

 the appearance of this insect in that abnormally early spring of 1893. 

 — Thomas Peed, M.A., Rose House, Worcester. Febrnarij 21st, 1903. 



Plusia moneta in the London district. — In July, 1897, 1 captured an 

 imago of Plnsia moneta in my garden at Southend, Catford, and that, 

 I believe, was the first recorded appearance of the insect in what may 

 properly be termed the London district. Although I had been on the 

 look out for this species ever since, it Avas not until last summer that I 

 met with any success. On searching the delphiniums in my own and 

 neighbour's gardens at the end of May and commencement of June 

 last, I found the following larvte and cocoons : — May 30th, ten larvae ; 

 June 4th, two cocoons ; June 18th, five cocoons ; I also took a cocoon 

 from a friend's garden at Croydon on July 6th. Of the ten larvse, 

 nine were small, and were found in the flower-buds of the delphiniums. 

 Unfortunately I had no opportunity of attempting any full description 

 of them at the time, but I did observe that they were of a dirtyish 

 yellow ground colour, mottled with darker markings, and were gener- 

 ally maggoty in appearance. I was not sure at the time that they 



