NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 301 



born on July loth, 1885. — (Rev.) G. H. Raynok, Panton Rectory, 

 Wragby. 



Early Appearance of Pcecilocampa populi. — On October 21st 

 I took a small male P. populi at rest in the waiting-room at E. Barkwith 

 Railway Station, whither it had evidently been attracted by light on the 

 previous evening. On looking through my diary, which has been kept 

 for many years, I cannot find a record of any capture earlier than 

 November 3rd, and this in the south of England. Have any of your 

 readers taken it in October ? It is certainly somewhat of a misnomer 

 to call it the December moth. — Id. 



Failure of " Sugar." — Thirty years ago I could take from forty to 

 sixty Nocture, but now on the same trees not a moth comes. The main 

 reason to which I attribute this change is the ivy, which in these parts 

 has been allowed to run wild for many years at its own sweet will, and 

 has now got to bloom upon a large number of trees, and with us it 

 begins early in September — according to position — and continues for 

 two months. Another reason, I believe, is the great revolution wrought 

 in all our good gardens of late years by the introduction of herbaceous 

 and sweet-blooming flowers. I will name a (e^ff which I find attractive : — 

 sunflowers (in many varieties), single dahlias, Aaron's rod {Solidago), 

 scabious {Achiilcea), Japan stonecrop {Sedum spcctabile). One evening 

 in 1 89 1 I took sixty-five moths in over twenty varieties upon a bed of 

 this last, including many that never come at all to sugar or ivy ; never- 

 theless, I consider that ivy is far and away the most attractive thing we 

 have for all kinds of insects, and recently I have taken several of the 

 very local long-horned grasshopper Meconema varia upon the blooms. 

 As a rule the flowers which bees frequent by day are attractive to moths 

 by night, and are worth visiting immediately after dark. — W. H. Tuck, 

 Tostock, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. 



Ennomos autumnaria. — On September 2nd a large female of this 

 species was discovered at Holborn Viaduct Station. It was fluttering 

 on one of the trucks of a goods train, which had recently arrived from 

 the coast. It had probably been attracted by the lights when loading. 

 About fifty ova have been deposited, but they are apparently infertile. — 

 A. T. Mitchell, 5, Clayton Terrace, Gunnersbury, W. November 

 ^th, 1892. 



Sphinx co\'VOLVULi. — I have been very keen on Sphinx convolvuli 

 this year, and been out every favourable night after night looking for 

 them over a heap of Nicotiana planted in the kitchen garden. So far 

 I have taken a dozen, my last being on September 18th — a very worn 

 female. I have her still alive in a glass filter with Convolvulus, but as 

 far as I can see she has not yet laid. Has any one found out whether 

 they hybernate or lay during the autumn. The weather here at present 

 is very bad : rain, hail, etc., every day, and bright moonlight at night, 

 so there is no good setting my moth-trap or sugaring. Is Eupatoriuni 

 cannabinum a well-known plant for Gortyna ochracea to feed on ? This 

 is the only thing, bar fox-glove, I can find the pupae in, — R. B. 

 Robertson, Swansea. October 6th, 1892. [Living pupce of S. con- 

 volvuli are largely advertised in the Continental magazines during the 

 winter months. — Ed.] 



Habit of Siauropcs fagi larva. — I noticed a nearly full-fed larva 

 o{ Stauropus fagi drinking from a spot of water, with which the cage 



