NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 295 



none. Hadena thalassina swarmed at light, and 1 got H. glauca, H. 

 contigua, H. proiea at rest on palings ; Xylophasia rurea with vars. 

 comhista and alopecurus was fairly plentiful at light, the vars., which 

 occur in equal numbers, being much commoner than the type, of which 

 I only got one, and that had a greenish ground colour, Miana strigilis 

 was very common ; there were many hundreds at sugar one night, all var. 

 cethiops, and I have never taken any other form in Rugeley, which is 

 not a manufacturing town of any importance, not at all smoky, and is 

 situated two miles from the Chase. Why this " thusness " I know not ; 

 but that malnutrition, damp, cold, environment, etc., do not apparently 

 satisfactorily account for all^ forms of melanism is certain. ^ Stilbia 

 anomala turned up again in plenty, but I could not get hold of a 

 female, although I searched the heather carefully with and without a 

 lantern. I got a fair number ol Hydrcecia nictitans, which here exhibits 

 markedly the effect of environment. Those I get in the town at light 

 are large and red, those from the Chase are small and dark, some 

 almost black. The sub-species hiceris, which one might expect to get 

 on the Chase, I have never found. Xanthia citrago was common in 

 the larval stage and Polia chi was more abundant than usual ; it seems 

 to prefer brick to stone here, and generally sits on the mortar, which it 

 simulates in a wonderful manner. Calocampa solidagmis kept up its 

 character for abundance and stupidity ; I took this year at light about a 

 dozen Mamesira furva which is entirely new to this locality. Habrostola 

 tripartita (urticce) and H. triplasia were common in both broods. 

 Plusia iota, P. chrysitis andP.gawma were all very common. P.pu/c/irina 

 was scarce, and I never saw a P. iiiterrogaiionis ; Odontopera bidentata 

 was excessively abundant at light, and Tephrosia biundularia and 

 punctulata were fairly plentiful, the dark form of the former called, I 

 believe, delamerensis, is the usual form here, the type is very rare. I 

 took one pregnant female of Geofuetra papitiofiaria, which laid about 

 150 ova, these I sleeved on a birch tree, and they have done famously 

 so far. Asthena luteata and Eupisteria heparata were both common ; 

 Ematurga atomaria was as common as usual ; the Chase form is at 

 times quite black, and is always very dark. Bupalus pifiiaria was 

 common among the firs, but Aspilates strigillaria was decidedly scarce. 

 I got some nice forms of Oporabia dilutata and Hyber?iia defoliaria in 

 an oak wood near here. Eupithecia pulchellata was a victim of enter- 

 prising excursionists, who seem to consider it the height of bliss 

 to lop off the heads of all the foxgloves they see. I got iarvK of E. 

 subfulvata, E. fraxinata (I get two larvoe a year regularly), E, 

 nanatct, E. itidigata, E. absy/it/iiata, E. tni/iutafa, E. assimilata^ 

 E. castigaia, E. lariciata, and E. rectangulata and bred a nice 

 yellow form of the last ; Cidaria immanata, C. testata, C. populata, 

 C. dotata, C.pyraliata, CfiilvatadXiA C./r/^z/^/rt! were all fairly common 

 I don't take C. russata here, I have some from Cambridgeshire, and, I 

 think there is little difficulty in distinguishing it from imvianata by 

 Mr. Fenn's method. Atiaitis plagiata was also common. In addition 

 to the insects mentioned above, I took larvae of Notodonta diciaa and 



^ Perhaps Mr. Freer will tell us what geological strata are characteristic of the 

 district, what the surface soil is like, and how it varies ? — Ed. 



' Can Mr. Freer suggest a cause for this form of melanism, which he records ? — Ed. 



