NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 129 



there were 13 fires within a short' distance of the Wake Arms. The 

 rangers and poHce seem quite unable to put a stop to this. One man, 

 however, has been apprehended and committed for trial at Chelmsford, 

 and there are rumours afloat of clever and daring captures of entomo- 

 logists carrying lanterns while working the sallows. It is to be hoped 

 that the Commissioners will take more vigorous steps to stop this 

 scandal, either by increasing the Forest staff or in some other way. The 

 offer of a reward of £25 would seem to have had no effect. As the 

 heather is now, however, changing its colour from brown to green, it 

 is to be hoped that the new growth will soon cover and hide the 

 unsightly black spaces with a new garment of green. 



^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Notes of the Season.— Many will remember how in 1877 the 

 entomologists of the southern counties of Britain and some of the 

 northern ones were startled by the appearance of Colias edusa during 

 May. I took specimens myself in the gardens of St. Mark's College, 

 Chelsea, and they were frequently to be met with in, some numbers 

 even in the main thoroughfares. Although in nothing like the pro- 

 fusion of 1877, Colias edusa has this year again put in an appearance, 

 and considering its rarity during the last few years, there appears to be 

 no doubt that the specimens are immigrants. Records from all the 

 counties along the south and south-east coast have come to hand, the 

 var. helice occurring with the type. I have seen no specimens in 

 London, but the suburban district of Lee and Eltham has been visited 

 by the stranger. Prophecies rarely come off, but certainly everything 

 points to an edusa year on the south coast. But edusa is not the only 

 visitor. Several specimens of Deiopeia pulchella are recorded from 

 Kent, Hampshire, Sussex, etc., and there appears to be no doubt that 

 this well-known rover has extended its more recent wanderings to our 

 shores. Countless numbers of Plusia gainiiia arrived in England about 

 Tuesday, May 24th, when, suddenly, the moth occurred in swarms all 

 over Kent, and probably elsewhere. They are still (June 7th) in vast 

 numbers on every piece of waste ground. With these were Stenia 

 hybridalis. It is strange that these two species nearly always occur in 

 excessive abundance together. Last but not least, comes that cosmo- 

 politan species Cytithia cardui. Everywhere in- Kent the thistles are 

 being literally covered with eggs, 22 eggs were found on one small 

 leaf on Whit-Monday. So far, these are all well recognised migratory 

 species, and as all have a second brood when they do arrive here in 

 the spring, it is to be hoped that our southern lepidopterists will render 

 a good account of the rarest of them. By the by D. pukhdla is not 

 hard to rear, I believe, if any one has pluck enough to keep a hen for 

 eggs. The great capture of the season so far, however, is Ophiodes 

 lunaris, taken by Mr. Austin at Folkestone. Most of our recognised 

 rarer British species are putting in an appearance in numbers. The 

 lovely weather appears to have brought out insects which have been 

 lying over for generations. Even the growlers acknowledge that they 

 have a good beginning at last. — J. W. Tutt. 



Kifiloch Ran)wch, iV.^.— Insects are out in fair numbers here now 



c 



