126 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



Random Notes on Lepidoptera, Adkinia graphodactyla, etc. 



By Paymaster-in-Chief GERVASE F. MATHEW, E.N., F.L.S., F.E.S. 



After what the papers described as the coldest July on record, we 

 arrived in the neighbourhood of Wimborne, on August 6th, 1907, for 

 the purpose of having a look for the larvte of Adkinia {Stenoptilia) 

 (jrapJwdactyla. For the first fortnight the weather, from an entomo- 

 logical point of view, was as bad as it could be — rain nearly every day, 

 with high wind — and much of the boggy ground that one could walk 

 over the previous year was more or less under water. About August 

 20th things began to mend, and, from that time up to September 12th, 

 the day we left, it was bright and warm, and the ground rapidly dried up. 



The first morning of our arrival I went to the locality where A. 

 (/raphuilactijla was discovered in 1906, but upon reaching the spot I 

 found, to my dismay, that the ground had been swept by a tire, and the 

 whole area was devoid of vegetation, or only vegetation of the scantiest 

 growth, for I think from appearances, the tire must have occurred late 

 in the autumn, or very early in the year now under notice. There was 

 no sign of any marsh gentian, but, on going to another place where I 

 knew it grew, and where there had been no fire, I noticed that the 

 plants were only just appearing above the surface, and very few of the 

 flower-buds were visible, and bog-asphodel, which was very nearly over 

 by August 2nd last year, was only just coming into bloom. This 

 was the result of the previous cold weather. It was rather a fine day, 

 sun and cloud, with a strong wind, and everything was reeking wet 

 after the heavy rain during the night. Hipparchia semele was 

 numerous, but all the males I captured were worn, having been 

 knocked about so by the everlasting wind. Plebeius anjus {aegon) was 

 just coming out, and in fine condition, but was not as numerous as it 

 was in 1906, and this remark applies to a good many other species. 

 Hydrocampa nyinphaealis, (Jia)id)us si/lvellus, and C irarrinytonellus were 

 common in boggy places, and Pseudoterpna cytisaria, Gnophos obsciirata, 

 and one Lycophotia [Ayrotis) strigula, were disturbed from the heather 

 as we walked through it. 



The next day (August 8th) there was a little fine rain during the 

 early morning, and after it ceased it remained densely overcast, with a 

 moderate gale from the southwest, but in spite of this I went for a 

 walk to a place where I remembered marsh gentian grew, and where I 

 thought I should find it tolerably sheltered, and here, after a while, I 

 came across a few plants which were growing among some rushes, and 

 while examining them disturbed and captured two A. yraphixlactyla. 

 These, of course, were of the first brood,* and this told me that it was 

 probably too soon to look for larvae. By this time the wind had 

 become too strong for any more outdoor work, so I returned home. 

 Upon examining the two moths I found they were male and female, 

 and were very much worn. The latter on being pinned and placed on 



* One is inclined to think that this species must be, on the facts here pubHshed, 

 triple-brooded in this counfriy. The first brood appears in June (see Eitt.liec, xx., 

 pp. 174-6) in Anhalt, and one suspects that we average quite as early as this part 

 of Germany in southern England ; the winter certainly being later in Germany. If 

 that be so, the imagines met in mid-August would agree with specimens of the 

 second brood that emerged with us the last week in July, 1906 (see Nat. Hist. Brit. 

 Lep., v., p. 535). — Ed. 



