60 the entomologist's record. 



we really thought we were going to have a splendid year, but, before 

 the end of May, we were beginning to feel rather dispirited, for dusking 

 was anything but exciting, and beating for Geometrides very unprofit- 

 able. In June we tried treacling, but soon gave it up in despair when 

 we found that the Noctuides were " not taking any thank you." It 

 must be the flowers, we said. So Centranthus ruber, honeysuckle, etc., 

 were assiduously watched and plenty of the common Plusiids netted, 

 but hardly any of the treacle-frequenting moths noticed. We then 

 tried honeydew, there was plenty of it, but, alas ! honeydew was no 

 good at all. I was not surprised, for I have noticed that when treacle 

 is a failure it is not the slightest good working honeydew, which is 

 only attractive when treacling is lucrative. I wonder if this is the 

 experience of other collectors. So sped the months up to the end of 

 August. The treacle-pot was again brought out and we found matters 

 had improved a little. Common moths turned up fairly well, so we 

 had hopes that something really worth taking would join the feast. 

 Again we were disappointed, only the common moths turned up in 

 rapidly diminishing numbers until the middle of September, when 

 treacle was again quite useless. We could only hope that the good 

 things we had waited so patiently for would appear at ivy blossom, 

 but, with the exception of one specimen of Peridroma saucia, the few 

 moths that did come were only the usual common autumn species. 



Diurni. — I have already recorded (antea, vol. xviii., pp. 277 et seq.) 

 the butterflies met with in the Wye Valley last season, up to the end of 

 October, and so will only mention here the few noticed since, to com- 

 plete my records for the whole year: — Vanessa io, November 2nd; 

 Pyrantels atalanta, November 3rd ; and A//lais urticae, November 10th. 



Heterocera. — One of the Sphinx ligustri bred last year was from a 

 larva I found at Llandogo, on ash. When first found it was curious 

 in having a pink and shagreened horn, which fussed us greatly. A day 

 or two later it moulted, the last change but one, if I remember rightly, 

 when it appeared with its caudal appendage smooth and shining, and 

 of the correct black hue. In confinement it declined to eat ash, but 

 fed up to an enormous size on privet, the resulting imago being a 5 , 

 measuring a shade over 4^ inches. A fullfed larva of Eumorpha 

 elpenor was found in my brother's garden, crawling along the ground, 

 preparatory to burying. Anthrocera trifolii and A. tilipendulaewe saw, 

 for the first time, in this district. They both made their appearance 

 in the same field, one we have collected in since 1904, and we are 

 hoping they will be able to establish themselves there. The first- 

 named was noted from June 12th to mid-July, whilst the last- 

 named, which was scarcer than the former, was not seen until 

 July 14th, when A. trifolii was practically over. I also took two 

 very large specimens of A. filipendulae by the roadside, near Gloucester, 

 on July 3rd, which have remarkably broad borders to the hindwings. 

 Although I searched carefully I could find no more. Only one Hepialus 

 hectus was met with at Tintern, in a wood, but H. lupulinus, //. sylvinus, 

 and H. humuli were as common as usual. Nola confusalis was rather 

 common in our orchard on the trunks of the fruit-trees, and one was 

 found on the upperside of a bramble leaf, close to the droppings of a 

 bird, to which it had a remarkable likeness. Nudaria mundana is 

 always plentiful. The best way to find the larvae is to search the sides 



