204 THE entomologist's record. 



immediate cause that compelled ethisa to migi'ate westward in large 

 numbers last season, I would be pleased if any entomologist having 

 notes on the seasons of 1891-92 on the Continent, would publish them 

 in the Record. Were the clover fields in any large area of Continental 

 Europe more luxuriant in 1891 than in any of the several years pre- 

 ceding it, or was it generally a very favourable breeding year for all 

 insects ? judging by the number of rare :nigrants taken in England 

 last year, I imagine that it may have been due to the latter cause, or to 

 some seasonal derangement, or scarcity of food on the Continent in 

 1892. Perhaps, in the case of edusa, a failure of the clover fields. — 

 W. W. Smith, Ashburton, N. Z. April, 1893. 



Cannibalism of Arctia caja larv^. — On page 157 of the Ent. 

 Bee. there is a note concerning newly-formed jDupaj eaten by the larva? 

 of Arctia caja. In 1889 I kept a brood of the larva3 of Smerinthus 

 populi with the larvae of Arctia caja, and noticed that the former 

 gradually disappeared ; but I could not find out the reason until one 

 morning I saw one of the " Tigers " in the act of eating a " Hawk." — 

 J. F. Bird, Rosedale, 162, Bailing Eoad, Hammersmith, W. June 

 -[Sth, 1893. 



Failure of Sugar. — I have sugared in the most promising places, 

 and on the best evenings for the last three weeks, and have only seen 

 two common insects. I may mention that larva? are also scarce. The 

 locality is considered a good one, being on the borders of Tilgate 

 Forest, and I have collected in it over twenty years, but never knew it 

 so bad before. — C. Hamlin, Forest Cottage, Balcombe Lane, Balcombe, 

 Sussex. Jmie 27th, 1893. 



I have sugared four times, twice with Mr. Hewett near Winchester, 

 and twice in the Isle of Wight. On the first occasion, nothing, on the 

 second, 1 fine Agrotis cinerea ; on the third, 1 Thyatyra hatis ; and on 

 the fourth, 5 Aplecta nehulosa, 1 Grammesia trigrammica, and 1 Hadena 

 thalassina were all I saw, but larva? are extremely jjlentiful. — J. 

 C. MoBERLY. May 2Srd, 1893. 



The season has been very unsatisfactory. For the last month neither 

 in the North nor here has anything come to sugar, and scarcely any 

 insects seem to be on flight. After the heavy rain of the last two days, 

 however, I saw plenty on sugar and at lime blossoms. In this locality. 

 Mania maura seems very plentiful. — W. F. de V. Kane. Ardtully, 

 Kenmare, Kerry. June 2dth, 1893. 



The Larva of Lasiobimata meg^ra. — I have been rearing a few 

 Lasiommata megcera from the egg. The larva? were kept through the 

 winter in a corked glass bottle, generally in a cold room. They never 

 quite ceased feeding, even in the severe frost. The first chang-e of skin 

 after the winter was on February 13th, when the larva was about half 

 an inch long. The earliest was in the pupa on March 31st, and 

 emerged May 3rd. — J. E. E. Allen, Galway. May dth, 1893. 



NOTES OF THE SEASON. 



North London. — My observances on collecting this season corresjjond 

 exactly with previous notes — sugar useless, light attractive, and one of 

 the earliest seasons on record. Hypsipetes impluviata I took in April 

 this year. In 1891 I took them in the same place and in good con- 

 dition on June 18th. I found full-fed larvae of Orgyia gonostiqma by 

 the 22nd of May.— A. W. Mera, Forest Gate. May Gt'h, 1893. 



