174 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S rvECORD. 



rooted up all the dock they could find for larvae, so now the insect is 

 forced to take to sorrel as its food-plant. It is a thousand pities this 

 beautiful insect should have suffered so much persecution. As this 

 species does not vary to any extent it is quite unnecessary to have a 

 very long series of it, I should like to appeal, with all due respect, to 

 my brothers of the net, to be moderate in their demands when they 

 meet with .E. chnjdtliforinis, or any other rare insect. It is a foolish 

 policy to " kill the goose that lays the golden eggs." I made a close 

 search whilst at Folkestone for other species of ^Et/eriidae {Sesildae)^ 

 and on July 8th was fortunate enough to take three .E. ichneumoni- 

 formis as they flew in the early morning over a steep piece of broken 

 ground; two others were taken on the 10th and 11th in widely 

 separated localities. This little clearwing appeared to be rather scarce, 

 these five examples, of which two were males and three females, were 

 all I could find. .E. ichneHmonifotinis is an awkward insect to take, it 

 has a habit of flying very low to the ground and with considerable 

 rapidity, its small size and inconspicuous colouring makes it a very 

 difficult insect to see. I did not find sweeping herbage, as recommended 

 in some works, a success, but possibly, with more experience, I would 

 have taken this insect in greater numbers. 



Searching fence posts on the Warren and elsewhere was not so 

 productive as I expected, the most common insect taken in such 

 situations was Xylophasia lithoxylea, and other species taken more or 

 less commonly included Xylophasia monoylypha, Ciicullia umbratica, 

 Hadena {Ma)iiestra) brassicae, H. oleracea, AcidaUa acersata, A. 

 uiarqinepunctata, Eupithecia centanreata, K. vulgata, several Tortrices 

 and other micros, and about a dozen Sphinx liiiustn mostly in perfect 

 condition. One post in the Warren appeared to be specially favoured 

 by this large moth, as four examples were taken oil' on consecutive 

 afternoons. 



Beating bushes and rough herbage gave a good many insects 

 principally Geometers and Micros. By far the commonest insect 

 seen was Euclidia (flyphica, scores could have been taken had one 

 wanted them, Venilia maculata were to be beaten out of every bush, 

 Ortholitha bipunctaria was very common on chalky slopes, the males of 

 of Diacrisia sannio (russtda) were common enough amongst long rank 

 grass, the females as usual were not so much in evidence, and a couple of 

 very fresh Kndrosa [Setina) irroreUa were disturbed out of similar places. 

 I was surprised to pick up a rather worn $ Bupalus piniaria from 

 amongst the rank grass at the top of the zig-zag path, far enough away 

 from the nearest pines, it must have been blown out of its usual haunts. 

 A fine fresh J Arctia villica was found at rest under a gorse bush. 

 Other insects beaten out of bushes included Caniptoi/raiiniia bilineata 

 (abundant), Melanthia procellata, Nemoria viridata, Hemitliea striyata 

 (common), Phibalapteryx tersata (common). Abraxas yrossidariata 

 (common), Loxiaspilis maryinata (common), Eupithecia haworthiata 

 (isoyrawviaria) (abundant), E. puiiiilata (common), E. sxiccentnriata 

 and E. scabiosata, AcidaUa triyeminata, A. bisetata, A. nrnata and A. 

 aversata, Strenia clathrata and a few fine fresh Aspilates yilraria, 

 Eiiiaturya atoiiiaria, of a much lighter form than we get in Abertillery 

 Avas common enough, one 2 I took was marked exactly like a male, 

 Enlype [Melanippe) unanynlata and E. [M.) montanata, Coremia fcrru- 



