98 THE entomologist's record. 



when they were compeiled to rest outside the flower. In the 

 following year many ilamestra brassicae emerged from the puptB. I 

 do not remember to have seen this habit recorded, so it may be as well 

 to make a note of it. — G. T. Bethune-Baker, F.E.S., 19, Clarendon 

 Eoad, Edgbaston. 



Ants appropriating old burrows of Clearwings. — On the 28th 

 June, 1911, while collecting the burrows of the " clearwing," Sesia 

 andrenaefoniiis, in the twigs of Viburnniii lantana, near Cookham, in 

 Bucks, I happened out of curiosity, to split open an old disused burrow, 

 and found it tenanted by some small " ants." Mr. H. Donisthorpe 

 has kindly indentiiied these as being Leptothorax nylanderi, Forst. — 

 E. S. A. Baynes, 120, Warwick Street. 



J^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Cheimatobia boreata in Warwickshire. — On November 13th last, 

 I went out to Earlswood to see what 1 could get, but on arrival there 

 it was raining ; nothing deterred, however, I started searching, and at 

 first found only a single ? Uijbernia defoliaria, but on my old sugar 

 patches were slugs and centipedes in plenty. Many wings of 

 Geometridae were spread out on the trees adhering to the old sugar, and 

 in some cases the four wings spread, but the bodies gone. I had the 

 opportunity of watching the performance, and saw the moth remain 

 quite motionless, whilst a slug eat its body leaving the wings alone, 

 and this I noticed in more than one case. The rain, however, was 

 increasing, and just as I thought I had had enough, I caught sight of 

 the tip of a wing projecting from under a leaf, and on turning it over, 

 I was delighted to take my first C. boreata. Spurred on by this find I 

 continued searching, and ended with a bag of six C. boreata, six H. 

 aiirantiaria, one O. vaccinii, and one Orthosia circellaris. On the 20th 

 I had another chance, and arrived to find all the pools and ditches 

 frozen over, and the frost did not give all day. I had never before taken 

 anything in a sharp frost, but I searched about, thinking I would take 

 the next train back. Having noted that their foodplant was birch, I 

 paid special attention to those trees, searching all round the trunks, 

 and finally disturbed the fallen leaves with my stick, which produced 

 good results. At mid-day one of my sous and a friend of his bicycled 

 over, and thus reinforced and with the sun shining brightly also, H. 

 aurantiaria began to show on the bottoms of the trunks, never, 

 however, leaving altogether the shelter of the herbage. C. boreata also 

 appeared, and we took a good series of it, as Vv'ell as of H. aurantiaria 

 and ti. defoliaria. It was a pleasant surprise that Nature should unlock 

 the door of her storehouse during so sharp a frost. — J. T. Fountain, 

 Darwin Street, Birmingham. 



Early Moths. — During the last weeks of February I made a start 

 collecting, and at present have a nicely varied lot of Hybernia leuco- 

 phearia on the boards, with a few H. marginaria and Fhiyalia jiedaria, 

 obtained during several visits to Richmond Park and Wimbledon 

 Common. On March 6th I was lucky enough to take a ? Nyssia 

 hiKpidaria at the former place, and hope to get ova. — J. Aldkrson, 

 14, Daflbrne Road, Upper Tooting, S.W. [It would be interesting to 

 know whether the uniformly dark form of U. lencophearia still occurs 

 at Richmond, and if so, what is the percentage compared with the 



