NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 197 



chiefly southerly, vve did not have one good night at light, and only one 

 or two fair ones. The wind was on three or four evenings very high, 

 and on one occasion Bertie nearly got buried under the sheet which 

 collapsed. Sugar, however, paid the last three nights, the last night, of 

 course, proving the best. However, taken all round, we got a fair 

 return for the labour put in, and brought home a large number of 

 insects. There were some strange appearances. The beautiful May 

 weather had tempted many of the early species to try a second brood, 

 apparently in many cases successfully. The earlier NocTUiE were 

 much earlier than last year, but the changed conditions of July had 

 made the later species rather later. In the following captures it may 

 be understood that I took charge of the sugaring and netting depart- 

 ment whilst my son made almost all the captures at the light. 



During the day time, a second brood of Papilio machaon was in 

 abundance, as many as forty being taken by an entomologist during 

 one day. This is in striking contrast to last year, when scarcely a 

 specimen of a second brood occurred. Larvae of all sizes, and pupae, 

 were also to be found at the same time. Pieris napi was abundant in 

 the Fen ; the two other species, rapce, and brassicce, in the gardens of the 

 village. Colias edusa was seen once or twice, but was common at 

 Cambridge. Gonopteryx rhamtii was apparently fairly plentiful, whilst 

 Cynthia cardui^ Va?iessa ataldfi/a, V. urticce and V. io were everywhere. 

 The hedges were alive with Epinephele tithonus and E. Ja?iira, whilst 

 Chortobiiis pamphihis, Polyom/natus phlceas and Lyaena icarus occurred 

 on the green in front of the house where I stayed. I saw Satyrus 

 megara in the orchard, and this, I think, completes my observation on 

 the Diurnal fauna. 



In the NocTURNi, most of the captures were made at light. Smerin- 

 thus popi{li (evidently a specimen of an autumn brood) was bottled, 

 and larvae of Chcerocampa elpenor of various sizes noticed on the ditch 

 sides. Macrogaster arundinis came to every sheet but ours (it was the 

 same last year), only odd specimens, of course, owing to the lateness of 

 the season. Hepialus humuli males swung merrily right in the heart 

 of the Fen, whilst Niidaria senex was captured at early dusk, its ap- 

 pearance at that time in abundance almost always presaging a dewy 

 evening and an entomological collapse at dark. It also came late to 

 light. N. mundana occasionally at light in the Fen, but this species 

 can be best captured with the hand-lamp in the " droves " outside the 

 actual " Fen." Liihosia griseola occurred sparingly at light, but more 

 freely the last few nights at sugar, whilst its var. stramineola was rare. 

 We took three only between us. Z. lurideola was not common. Larvae 

 oi Eiichelia jacob(Z(Z\itxQ.XQ^wzw\g the Senecio to ribbons, whilst Chelonia 

 caia now and again showed up at light. Arctia fuiiginosa occurred as 

 a second brood : we got some four or five specimens at light. One larva 

 only of Spilosoi/ia urticce occurred, and though I nursed it because I 

 did not know the habits of the animal, it acted contrariwise and died. 

 Liparis aurifiua was everywhere, and an occasional Z. saluis at light. 

 Bornbyx 7ieustria on one night came in crowds. We boxed and bottled 

 two or three dozen, and I consider them one of the best results of the 

 trip, owing to their variation. But Bertie did better in this line with 

 Odo7iestis potatoria. He took some five dozen specimens, comprising 

 no less than four yellow males, one or two males almost of the colour 



