NOTES ON THE SEASON AT SANDOWN, ISLE OF WIGHT. 247 



taken on August 31st, bring to a close my list of noteworthy captures 

 on these marshes. 



Nearer to St. Helens, however, the spot was kindly shown to us 

 where Mr. R. H. Fox had discovered Acidalia enuitaria the previous 

 year, and Mr. Bell and I each managed to get a short series at dusk on 

 July 19th and 20th. One $ obliged with about 50 eggs, but only 

 about 10 of the larv^ have been coaxed into pupating, commencing to 

 do so on September 27th ; the majority are evidently resolved to 

 hybernate as larvte, despite the warming to which they have been sub- 

 jected. 



The St. Helens' sandhills were searched in vain for Fachi/f/astria 

 (Lasioramjia) trifolii, which is known to occur there, but they yielded 

 some good sport. The Noctuids would not come to the sugared 

 bunches of marram, and were chiefly obtained at flowers of ragwort 

 or bramble, or occasionally marram. Af/rotis tritici was, of course, in 

 great abundance and variety, A. vestigialis became rather common by 

 August 27th, while of A. ripae and Leucania littoralis, a very few belated 

 specimens were observed well on into August. Larva of A. ripae were 

 in the utmost profusion ; three of us collected about 700 in a very 

 short time, working only a few of the patches of Atriplex, etc., and 

 leaving the small larvae. Selidosema plaiiiaria was fairly common 

 among the gorse- bushes, and I was pleased to take both sexes — the 

 females at rest on the bushes, or on grass close by, after dark ; in the 

 New Forest, I had taken only males, probably through working for 

 them in the day-time. The small things are probably very interesting 

 on the sand-hills, but I did not descend below the Pyralides. Among 

 these I was interested to make acquaintance with the local Melisso- 

 hlapten hipunctanux, which positively swarmed in one place, and 

 Nep/iDptcn/x (/enistella, which was common among the gorse ; but what 

 pleased me most was to turn up Crambtis contaminelliis and C. alpinellus, 

 the latter quite commonly in an extremely restricted spot. C. contam- 

 inellus is given as an Isle of Wight species in More's list (1860), but I 

 had rashly challenged it and got it relegated to Mr. Poole's appendix, 

 where Mr. Bankes suggested that " If More's insect occurred in the 

 salt-marshes, it was doubtless C. salinellus." It appears doubtful 

 whether More and Dr. Wallace worked the marshes much, as they 

 were ignorant of the occurrence of several of the species I have 

 enumerated above ; but they had clearly worked the sandhills, record- 

 ing Ai/rotis vestigialis, Leucania littoralis, and Selidose)na plumaria, 

 unless, indeed, these records came from the other end of the Island — 

 unfortunately, no localities were given. 



Calamia phragmitidis, with the beautiful extreme form of ab. 

 rufescens, Euchlaena apiciaria, Eupithecia coronata, Craiiibns latistrius, 

 and other old friends, still occurred in their old haunts between 

 Sandown and Shanklin, but, often though I had worked that 

 particular piece of ground in former years, I found there were still 

 new friends to be added to my list ; on August 14th, a Fyralis glau- 

 cinalis, two Nephoptenja- genistella, and a $ Zonusoma porata came to 

 my light, and on August 21st, a rather worn Pterostowa palpina, 

 Brading Down produced many of its accustomed Geometrids in greater 

 or less numbers — Melanthia procellata, in great profusion, FarencJdoris 

 chri/snprasaria ( = vernaria), Euphyia picata, Anticlea rubidata, etc. — 

 but I think nothing novel in this superfamily ; one Tortricid new to 



