NOTES ON COLLECTING. 245 



proportion of very small specimens, probably rather from want of time 

 to appropriate than from deficiency of food. — T. A. Chapman, Betula, 

 Reigate. Ai((/iist, 1911. 



Larva of Cupido minimus. ^ — In the Heuthal, on the Bernina, when 

 making various endeavours towards working out the earlj- stages of 

 AlbnUna phereten on August 2nd, 1911, I met with a plant which 

 I take to be Phaca alpina, with large bladder}' seed-pods, and 

 in these I found larvae which proved to be those of ('. ))irniiinis. 

 On ref rring to Tufct's Brithli Lepidoptcra, vol. x., p. 120, 1 find Zeller 

 quoted as finding this larva in seed-pods of different PapilUmaceae, 

 including a tall herbaceous plant with pale yellow blossoms, in the 

 neighbouring valley of Tuors on the Albula. The plant so referred 

 to is almost certainly Phaca alpina. The point that most interested 

 me was that some of the larvte appeared to have entered the pods by a 

 small hole, doubtless after leaving another one, but in other instances 

 the larva', sometimes of considerable size (even in last instar), were in 

 pods apparently intact, and must have entered the pods when the 

 they were so small as to make an inappreciable hole, and the pods sO' 

 young and growing as to close this hole up as though it had never 

 existed. The larvae, except in making holes of entry and exit, did not 

 appear to eat the pods, but only the contained seeds, though under the 

 stress f>f captivity they did eat portions of the pods. — Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman, Betula, Reigate. Amjust, 1911. 



Sparrow v. Butterfly. — On July 16th of this year I saw a house- 

 sparrow pursue and capture a Pieria rapac: the bird, after mouthing its 

 prey, suddenly opened its beak and let the butterfly fiy away apparently 

 uninjured. A few minutes later the same bird caught, and instantly 

 devoured, a L'hrt/aoiia which was slowl}' flapping along in the sunlight. 

 These two facts are worthy of record, if only because they illustrate 

 the enormous difficulty we must always find ni determining the tastes 

 of any insectivorous animal. A palate which can tolerate the vile- 

 smeiling Chri/sopa and ejects a butterfly must be a curious one. Facile 

 deductions of an insect's unpalatability from its possession of an odour 

 nauseous to our senses, or from its power of excreting acrid juices, must 

 always be accepted with a certain degree of caution. Both house- 

 sparrows and Pieris rapae abound in the garden in which I am 

 unfortunately compelled to spend the greater part of my days, but I 

 have, after four weeks fairly continuous observations, seen only this 

 one example of a sparrow hawking the butterflies. The birds are 

 constantly picking up or catching on the wing other insects too 

 small to be identified, but with the exception noted, they entirely 

 disregard the butterflies which often fl}- quite close to them. — 

 R. Shelford (M.A., F.Z.S.), 14, Clarendon Road, Margate. 



Jg^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Gloucestershire Lepidoptera. — Having met with the following 

 species in the neighbourhood of Stroud, and as apparently they have 

 not hitherto been recorded from Gloucestershire, Ithoughtanoteof them, 

 might be of service in the compilation of any future list. Dioryvtria 

 abietella, bred June 30th, 1902, from larva? mining shoot of I'iitii^^ 

 aylvestris : Penthina ca/naeana, bred June 18th, 1904, from larvae on 

 Sali.r capraea : Scricorin eiiphorhiana, taken June 4th, 1906, flying in 



