NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 15 



clouded moon and occasional heavy and cold storms of rain, but to 

 my surprise the moths simply could not resist the attractions of the 

 sugar, and appeared in far larger numbers th m on any other night this 

 autumn. Up till then sugar had been a sad failure, and had produced 

 extremely few moths of any sort or kind, and nothing worth setting 

 with the exception of four or five Epunda nigra. I left home on Oct. 

 15th for nearly a month, but on Nov. 13th — the very first evening on 

 which I tried night-work after my return — I had my second stroke of 

 good luck, and boxed four grand Dasycampa rubiginea off ivy bloom in 

 our shrubbery between 6 and 7.30 p.m., and took another on the follow- 

 ing night as it was sheltering un.ier an ivy-leaf during a torrent of rain. 

 Although I have been on the look-out for the species for years past, the 

 only specimen I ever met with until this autumn was taken within a few 

 yards of our front door on Nov. 3rd, 1883 —eight years ago ! — Eustace 

 R. Bankes, The Rectory, Corfe Castle. Dec. i^/h, 1891. 



Ruthin, North Wales, — I have just taken a fine Piecilocanipa populi 

 at light, the first of that species I ever saw alive ; " treacling " during 

 October produced two or three each of Anchocelis pistacina, A. litura, 

 Cerastis spadicea, Amphipyra tragopogonis, Plusia iota, Miselia oxya- 

 canthce (with one var. capucina), and one each of Agrotis suffusa and 

 Gonoptera libatrix, not a very remarkable record, Diloha ccEruleocephala 

 was to be had on the lamps. — J. E. R. Allen. Nov. i^th, 1891. 



Clevfdon. — Pcvcilocampa populi has been tolerably abundant at light 

 with us, though only males have been taken. Insects have not been so 

 plentiful at ivy this autumn. I was surprised the other day to find a 

 $ specimen oi Fhigalia pilosaria in my large breeding cage, standing 

 outside in the shade, and which I believe to be from a pupa dug this 

 autumn ; is not this unusually early? — J. Mason. Dec, 1891. 



Retarded Emergenck. — It is not wise to throw away one's rubbish 

 at the end of the first season ; in June last I bred two nice Cidaria 

 reticulata from larvae collected in 1889, these I should have missed had 

 I cleared out my rubbish. — H. Murray, Carnforth. Dec. 10th, 189 1. 



Hesperia lineola at Burwell Fen. — Looking at my series of 

 Hesperia thaumas a short time ago, I found among them a specimen of 

 H. lineola of my own taking, luckily it was labelled, and on referring to 

 the number in my diary found entered among other things, "Aug. 4th, 

 1890, Burwell Fen, i Hesperia thaumas," it was the only "skipper" I 

 boxed that day, and as my friend Mr. Jones was with me on the day in 

 question, he at once looked at his own set, and there, sure enough, was 

 another //. lineola taken on the same day, and peculiarly the only 

 " skipper " he boxed. There have been two previous records of H. 

 lineola on Burwell Fen, one by Mr. Vivian in 1889, and the other by 

 Mr. Tutt this year. I daresay when I go for them next year I shall find 

 plenty, as the two mentioned above were netted at random and kept as 

 nice looking Hesperia thaumas. — W. Farren, Cambridge. I^lov. 1891. 



Triph^na pronuba, Double-krooded. — In the third week in 

 August I found a large batch of white ova on a sprig of asparagus seed ; 

 they hatched on the ist of September, and began feeding well. By tiie 

 end of the week they were a quarter of an inch in length and growing 

 very fast ; by the end of the third week they were about three parts 

 grown, and were exceedingly voracious, eating up an armful of asparagus 

 seed in a night; I now began to wonder what they could be, and had 



