42 'THE KNTOIMOLOOISt's T5K00RD. 



is the backbone of all entomological enteri^rise, and will awake, I doubt 

 not, the secret sympath,y of even our most advanced Scientists (a 

 Capital S, Mr. Printer, plense.J 



Who would have dared predict, when the first captures of single 

 specimens of Flmia monefa were recorded in 1890 from Emsworth 

 (Hants), Tunbridge Wells and Reading, with scanty additional records 

 the next year from the same and neighbouring localities, that in 1893, 

 as many as thirty-three specimens would be bred from larvae collected 

 off monkshood (Aconitum naj^ellm) in May by one gentleman alone ? 

 Who would give up hopes that any of our earlier prizes may not again 

 occur when in the pages of an esteemed contemporary the opinion is 

 expressed, bj' a writer whose bond fides and knowledge are alike beyond 

 criticism; that the long lost Gli/phifiia crenata needs but " careful, 

 persevering and intelligent search" to be again added to our list of 

 modern captures, even after the interval (in this instance) of forty 

 years. A collector, of the past generation, now resident in Liverpool, 

 and Avell-known for his capabilities of sincerity in friendship and 

 bitterness in hatred, the latter occasionally finding relief in verse (I 

 had ahnost said, poetry) expresses in his usual energetic manner that 

 the only reason why Lasiocamjm ilicifolla does not figure now in the 

 captures from Cannock Chase, is the sad decadence exhibited by the 

 " so-called collectors " of to-day. A touching compliment to the con- 

 fidence in this gentleman's sincerity was paid by the joint owner of the 

 writer's " Edd^'stone," when arrangements were almost completed for 

 the transference of that powerful illuminant to the wilds of Cannock. 

 A possibly more convincing case in point may be found in Notodonta 

 hicolor, which has undoubtedly been re-discovered in Kerry, in S.W. 

 Ireland, its claims to a residence in the British Islands having been 

 dormant for over a quarter of a century, since it had last been captured 

 at Burnt Wood, in Staffs, (a spot now a household Avord in the mouths 

 of all collectors through this one species alone) or since last reported 

 from that lovely country, where it has presumably survived in retire- 

 ment during this long interval. We might multiply instances, but 

 the sun is shining, the season advancing, and the swelling Ijuds of the 

 sallows announce to us the near approach of that period when the 

 faithful lantern, the companion of many a dark night's excursions, the 

 trusty net, worth many a more modern " improvement," and the 

 thousand and one off-shoots from these main stays of the lepidopteriat, 

 must be l)rought out and prepared for action. 



Before we leave the comparative leisure of the winter season, we 

 Avould linger awhile among the many pleasant recollections of the 

 past few months, for when the active season commences, meditation 

 and di>!cursiveness are l)oth alike at a discount, and the i)leasant and 

 chatty letters from correspondents innumerable, which have brightened 

 many a l)usy morning, will have dwindled to that cold formality in 

 which " brevity " is certainly the only " Avit." Who can not recall 

 the pleasant evenings Avhen, in friendly discussion Avith some congenial 

 spirit, the open cabinet becomes seemingly a magic chamber, and tlie 

 series after series of " specimens " become, as it Avere, instinct witli 

 life ; hoAv these feAv, too few, Nonaijria cannae recall the sunny Norfolk 

 Broads Avith their waving beds of the great Heed Mace {Tuphalatifolia) 

 and the Aveary hunting for stems in Avliich the larva had made its last 

 home ; hoAV that fine series of Semi .«i/^//f^<///'or»i/s Ijrings back vividly the 



