NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 41 



and satellitla also occurred. One or two fine dark iiistabilis and populeti, 

 and dark and rich coloured stabilis were observed. Leucogrnpha was 

 very scarce. — T. A. Chapman, Firbank, Hereford. April, 1891. 



Flowers attractive to Moths. — Mr. Percy Russ, having in this 

 month's Record mentioned some flowers attractive to moths, it occurs 

 to me that I should draw attention to a plant which appears to have 

 hitherto been little noticed in this country, but which, during my 

 early experience in Germany, has proved more attractive than all 

 others, not even honeysuckle excepted. This is the common soap- 

 wort {Saponaria officinalis). In an abandoned bed of the river Lahn 

 near my native town, this plant grows in large patches where manv 

 of us used to collect nightly, and at twilight captured most of the 

 Sphingidte notably Deilephila elpenor, D. porcellus, Sphinx pinastri SiVid 

 S. convolviili, the two latter appearing season after season, often in 

 surprising numbers ; also some of the CiicidlicE. and many other Noctu^,. 

 With the exception of the Isle of Mad, I have no recollection of 

 having seen this plant in cultivated gardens in England, but I thii^k 

 those who possess suitable grounds should give it a trial. It is very 

 easily transplanted. I have seen it growing in profusion on the rail- 

 way bank in front of the signal-box at the Stamford Hill Station, 

 London. — J. Jager, 180, Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill. 

 March 2\st, 1891. 



Notes on Coleoptera in the Hastings district. — At the be- 

 ginning of the recent winter I took several good speties of Coleop- 

 tera in moss. At Hollington Wood in a small patch of moss 

 bordering a pathway I found seven Cceuopsis fissirostris, six C. waltoui 

 and one Tropiphorus carinatus besides a number of common species 

 including Olophrum piceum, Othius ficlvipentiis, J'achyporus brunneus, 

 Apteropeda graininis, etc., and, in a tuft, a single specimen of 

 Plinthus caliginosus. At Ore, in moss, I took about a dozen Trpi- 

 phoriis caritiaius, five Cccnopsis waltoni, and numerous common species 

 including Philojithus viarginatus, Stenus declarattcs, Liosoinus ovatuhts, 

 Otiorhynchus ligneiis, etc. After the severe weather, Coleoptera were 

 hard to find, and the few species I managed to turn up were of the 

 commonest description. — A, Ford, Claremont House, Upper Tower 

 Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea. 



Recent Experience on Hybernating Larv^. — A difference of 

 opinion seems still to exist as to whether hybernating larvae, feeding 

 on low growing plants, such as plantain, dandelion, Glechoma, Lainiuin, 

 etc., should be placed out of doors exposed to all weathers, or on 

 growing plants in a conservatory or some such house which is 

 necessarily at a higher temperature than the external atmosphere. 

 Having just successfully wintered a brood of Callimorpha hera from 

 ova, I will state how I succeeded, as well as failed on a former oc- 

 casion. Three seasons ago I placed some young larvse of this species 

 on a plant of Lamium purpureum out of doors, which in due time 

 died off. Out of that lot only four per cent, survived, the rest having 

 evidently succumbed to the cold. Having objection to place my 

 present contingent of larvse on a growing plant, for reasons given later, 

 I put them into my conservatory on cut bunches of Lamium pur- 

 pureum. The food being kept in water remained fresh during the 

 winter months, until it could be replaced early in the year, the 



