18 THE EKTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



With the Sphinges and Bombyces very little could be done. Macro- 

 glossa stcllatarum occurred frequeutl}'^ ; of Zygaena filipenduhe I only saw- 

 one pupa ; a solitary Bombyx neustria was netted at dusk on the sand- 

 hills. Sugar, on the few occasions on which it was tried, proved a 

 failure ; consequently one could not get much of an idea of the local 

 NocTU^, but the following came under my notice : — Bryophila perla, 

 one or two specimens at rest ; of Leucania littoralis I procured a good 

 series flying wildly at dusk and at rest on flowers afterwards ; some- 

 thing very much like L. putrescens was taken out of a spider's web, but 

 the occupant of the web had treated it too roughly for me to determine 

 its identity with certainty ; Ajyamea didyma occurred in the usual 

 variety of forms, and the same remark applies to Minna strigilis and M. 

 bicoloria ; one or two specimens of the last species were unicolorous and 

 of a bright brick-red tint ; Caradrina alsines and C. taraxaci were 

 common, but worn ; of the genus Agrotis I noted A. vestigialis, A. 

 segctum, A. hmigera and A tritici, all of which were taken on the sand- 

 hills ; of Triphoina comes some good forms were taken ; one, which was 

 strongly barred, reminded me when at rest of T. ianthina ; another was 

 a very pale clay-coloured form with straw-tinted hind-wings ; a few 

 Amphipjyra tragopoginis were seen ; one or two Dianthcecia conspersa 

 were netted flying over flowers of Silene maritivia, and in the capsules 

 of the same plant were numbers of larvaj of this genus, amongst whicli 

 I recognised D. conspersa, D. capsincola, D. carpophaga and D. cucuhali ; 

 the imagines of D. conspersa were of the usual light southern form, not 

 ochreous as is, I believe, usually the case with the Devonshire variety ; 

 a number of D. capsincola have since emerged from the above-mentioned 

 larvse, but the other species appear to be lying over till next year; 

 larvse of Cuctdlia verhasci had been abundant, but were nearly over. 

 Amongst the GEOMETR^as observed were the following : — Crocallis 

 elinguaria, not common ; Boarmia repandata, frequent ; Gnophos 

 obscuraria, a rather dark form almost identical with that found in the 

 Clevedon district in Somerset ; worn Eminelesia affinitata, E. alchemillata 

 and E. decolorata flew at dusk in the lanes, and larva3 of the first and 

 last of these si^ecies were common in capsules of Lychnis dioica in 

 company with those of Eiqnthecia venosata ; larva3 of E. pidchcUata were 

 exceedingly common in foxglove flowers, but, as usual, about 90 per 

 cent, were ichneumoned ; single specimens of E. oblongata and E. 

 absynthiata occurred here and there ; I gathered a large bag full of the 

 flowers of Melampyrum pratense at Lynton, and obtained from it about 

 a dozen pupa3 of E. plunibeolata ; special search was made for larvae of 

 E. jasioneata, its food plant (Jasione montana) occurs generally, but as I 

 was some 25 miles from the reputed headquarters of the species, I was 

 not sanguine ; however, I managed to find a few larvte ; in this part of 

 Devon it is a scarce and very local insect. Melanippe unangulata and 

 M. galiata occurred sparingly, while Enbolia mensuraria was common. 

 Of the Pyralides I saw single specimens of Scoparia cembrce and 

 S. lineolea, and plenty of Fyrausta purpuralis and Herbula cesjritalis ; 

 Botys asinalis was not rare at dusk amongst its food-plant on the sand- 

 hills. The Plumes were represented by a few^ specimens of Pterophorus 

 monodactylns and Chrysocorys festaliclla only. Anerastia loteUa was 

 common on the sandhills at dusk ; specimens of Homceosoma nimbella 

 were found at rest on the ragwort heads at the same time, and Aphomia 

 sociella was frequent. Among the Tortriues which I noticed, Peronea 



