NOTKS ON THE SEASON AT SANDOWN, ISLE OF WIGHT. 245 



Notes on the season at Sandown, Isle of Wight. 



By LOUIS B. PROUT, F.E.S. 



As collecting notes from the Isle of Wight have not been unduly 

 obtrusive in the EntoDudoi/ist's Record lately, and as I have had the 

 satisfaction of making several additions to Mr. Poole's very valuable 

 list of the lepidoptera of the island (recently noticed in this magazine, 

 vide p. 190, supra), I think there is sufficient raison d'etre for the 

 following notes. 



I spent nearly the whole of my summer holiday this year at 

 Sandown, arriving there on July 17th, and leaving on September 4th. 

 For a few days at the commencement I had the company of my friend 

 Mr. S. J. Bell; a little later I was joined by Mr. C. Capper, and later 

 still by Mr. W. B. Pratt, F.E.S. I had not, on the whole, anj^ reason 

 at all to complain of the scarcity of insects, although — excepting the 

 one glorious fortnight at the beginning of August — the weather was 

 decidedly mixed. 



I used to visit the locality annually at just about the same date as 

 this year, and, therefore, I have some good data on which to gauge 

 the backwardness of the season that has just closed. For instance, 

 among the insects which were swarming at sugar on the downs when 

 I arrived, were a number of Xylophasia snbltistris in good condition, 

 one worn Xeiiria reticulata, a few good Caradrina morpJieus, Leiicania 

 coiiuna, Aparnea ;/eniina (one very worn was observed as late as 

 August 3rd), Amathes prirmdae {=Noctna festiva), first broods of A. 

 c-nii/rutn, A<jrotis segetuni, A. exclamationis, etc. ; all these are species 

 which have usually been nearly, or quite "over" on my arrival, ^V. 

 reticulata indeed (and perhaps others), having never presented me with 

 even a straggler on any previous occasion. X. sublustris continued to 

 visit the sugar up to August 7th, and was fairly numerous till 

 August 2nd, whereas my previous total was scarcely half-a-dozen, all 

 taken at the very beginning of my visits. Similarly by day, some 

 unexpected species were still lingering on. I netted an absolutely 

 fresh specimen of lodis lactearia on July 19th, its beautiful green 

 colouring such as I have never, in over 20 years' experience, matched, 

 except in a bred specimen. Hewithea aestivaria (stripata) lasted in 

 irreproachable condition into the beginning of August, while such 

 occurrences as a Leucania obsoleta in fair condition on July 20th, first 

 brood of Di/sstroiua trmicata, though verj' worn, on July 24th, Eutricha 

 quercifolia, in cop., on August 6th, Hijposcotis (Gnophos) obscurata 

 scarcely out till the end of August, Scapula lutealis, a few worn on 

 August 26th, and probably others, which I do not call to mind at the 

 moment, deserve mention in view of the fact that Sandown is usually 

 a pretty " forward " locality. Perhaps it is also to the lateness of the 

 season that I owe the addition of 'Iricheris aurana to the Isle of Wight 

 list, a worn specimen turning up close to the town, in an often-visited 

 spot, on July 18th ; yet I may easily have overlooked this species on 

 earlier visits. But what puzzled me most was the abundance, in good 

 condition, of Hipocrita jacobaeae, from the time of my arrival until 

 well on into August — at least until the 10th. I do not think I ever 

 saw the imago on the wing at Sandown before, and it was suggested 

 to me that this was possibly a case of a second brood, rather than of 

 retarded emergences. Can any reader enlighten me as to whether the 

 November 15th, 1909. 



