128 THE entomologist's record. 



the forenoon, to-day was bright and sunny, with a moderate breeze 

 from the south-west, and during a ramble over the moors I came across 

 a fresh locaHty for marsh gentian, and here discovered that the young 

 larvse of A. (jraphodactyla are in the habit of attacking the very small 

 flowering-buds and shoots when not more than an inch, or a couple of 

 inches, above the ground, and so to a certain extent retard the growth 

 of the plants. Nearly every stem I examined had several empty egg- 

 shells upon it, so the larvfe should have been abundant, but I did not 

 see many, though every flower-bud showed traces of their presence, 

 I gathered some of the flowering stems and placed them in a jar of 

 water when I got home, and covered them with a muslin hood, and 

 every one of them must have contained larvje from the number that 

 appeared in the course of a week or ten days. I saw two full-grown 

 larvffi on the outside of one of the flowers, one dropped off the moment 

 I touched it, and was lost in the sphagnum. I also saw one of the moths, 

 but the wind blew it awaj', so I do not know whether it was a fresh or 

 worn specimen. 



Dusking, on the moors when the weather was favourable, produced 

 a varied bag, but insects were not as numerous as they were the 

 previous year. Coenohia riifa ((lespecta) was not uncommon in boggy 

 places, but was getting worn by the 15th of the month, Nudaria senex, 

 Triphaena orhona [sHhaeqaa) two only, Xona(/ria fidra, Acidalia oiiutaria, 

 Hyria auroraria, Hchranhia tiirfosalis, Hypenodes costaestrigalis, Cramhns 

 sylvellus, C. ivarrinf/tonellun, Hydrocampa nymphaeata, etc., occurred in 

 the same place, and on the drier part of the moors, Vachycnemia 

 hippocastanaria, Cidaria testata, Crainbus ha7)it'lliis, and an occasional 

 Sel'idoseuia pUunaria were captured. Pernnea caledoniana, Bactra 

 lancedana, and Tortri.v vibnrniana (a very different-looking insect from 

 the one we get here on the coast) occurred among sweet-gale. 



August 18th. — Walking back from church this evening a large 

 beetle kept buzzing round my head, and upon knocking it down with 

 my umbrella I found it was a fine specimen of Priontis coriariiis, an 

 insect I had never seen alive before. 



August 20th. — A good many of my larvaB of Adkinia (jraphodactyla 

 have attached themselves to the sides of the muslin hoods, and changed 

 to pupae. 



August 24th and 27th. ^ — Both days were bright and hot, and, on 

 the 27th, some heavy clouds rose late in the afternoon, and there was a 

 feeling of thunder in the air. About an hour before dusk I went to 

 my favourite boggy place, and found micros flying in goodly numbers, 

 and took some nice L'lepsis rusticaiw, Penthina maryinana, Peronea 

 caledoniana, as well as a couple of worn A. yraphodactyla, and some 

 Coenobia rufa (despecta), but soon after sunset the flight suddenly 

 ceased, and a heavy dew rose. Before starting I had sugared the trees 

 in the garden, but on going round on my return found every patch 

 vacant. 



August 31st. — This morning I Avent to the extensive boggy locality 

 where I have taken and observed most of the larva^of A. yraphodactyla, 

 and found that the recent hot weather had brought on the marsh 

 gentian, and a great many more flowers were blooming than when I 

 was on the same spot a week or ten days before. Upon examining 

 some of the flowers, I was surprised to find dead larvae in most of 

 them ; the larvae were nearly fullgrown, and they all had the same 



