snriKTiES. 81 



25th and 29tli of that mouth. Of course, as these ? s were certainly 

 not P. pednria, they were at once noted as Nyssia hispidaria and Feb. 

 5th being tine and bright, was devoted to searching for this species, the 

 said search being rewarded, after five hours, hy a single ^ taken on a 

 " spear " oalc. Hijhernla mar<jinaria (progemiaaria), both sexes, and 

 Anisopterijx aeseularia put in a first appearance on the same day. The 

 emergence of two 3's and a $ N. hispidaria during the night of Feb. 

 7th, which was warm, gave the impression that there was a possibility 

 that the species might be found more commonly than is usual in the 

 Forest, Avhei-e three years' searching had resulted in the discovery of 

 about *75 of a male. The next expedition, on the 12th of the same 

 month, was, however, hardly a success ; the wind was fresh, in fact 

 blew a gale from the N.W., the weather was dull with passing showers 

 of hail and rain, and the shade temperature ranged (in London) from 

 44° to 34"^. Only one crippled g" and a ? with five legs turned up, 

 and Lepidoptera generally were very scarce. The morning of Feb. 19th 

 however, had a very different aspect ; the wind was S.E., light, and 

 during the day the temperature ranged from 59° to 46° ; a shower fell 

 about 9 a.m. ; the weather was splendid for February — mild with bright 

 sunshine, and the clan turned out in force f(3r a grand effort. The 

 first hispidaria was quickl}^ found, and before many trees had been 

 searched, it became evident that the moth was in overwhelming abun- 

 dance. At lU.30 many were seen drying their wings and some with 

 wings quite unexpanded. The general time for emergence seems to be 

 from early morning to about 2 p.m. The height at which they usually 

 sat was four to five feet, but a fair proportion were very much higher. 

 Some were running rapidly uji the trunks, while one or two were rest- 

 ing, apparently unconcernedly, with the sun shining brightly upon them. 

 They press themselves very closety into crevices in the bark and are 

 not by any means eas}^ to find. Individuals were noticed on hornbeam, 

 beech, &c. as well as on oak, and even on trailing creepers. Very few 

 cripples were met with. The species must, as would be expected from 

 the apterous condition of the ? and the structure of the antennae in 

 the 3 , assemble, and it was remarked that where a J was discovered 

 one male, if not more, was jDractically certain to be on the same trunk. 

 To give an idea of the abundance of the insect on this day, I may say 

 that in one favoured spot thirteen were resting on a large oak — nine ^ s 

 and four J s. The other s^jring insects were seen on the same day but 

 were none of them present in more than their usual numbers. On the 

 25th no searching was done — the entry in the diary reads simply thus : 

 " Went to Chingford, weather awful, swore, and went home." On the 

 27th a single J emerged indoors. On March 5th a good deal of ground 

 was covered and about a score of specimens turned up ; the morning 

 was fine Init the sky clouded over gradually as the day went on ; the 

 weather was mild, wind N.W. but sport generally was not very good. 

 On the 12th of the same month two ^ s and one J were noticed and 

 the season, so far as this species was concei'ned, closed at 12.30 on 

 March 26th with the capture of a single (? drying its wings. Thus a 

 period of seven weeks had elapsed since the first appearance. 



The insect is, I should think, an easy one to pair in captivity. I 

 13laced a ^ which had been out a day or two with a freshly emerged 

 ? , in a fairly large wooden box, on Feb. 8th, but, though I looked at 

 them morning and evening, I did not witness the pairing ; however, on 

 the 11th, the $ deposited a number of fertile ova. 



