86 THE entomologist's RECOKl). 



year. The effect of the utter defoliation of the oak trees in some years 

 must often act detrimentally on other larvfe which are feeding at the 

 time, and of these Nyssia liispidnria would suffer greatly. It was an 

 off-hand suggestion certainly but seemed probahle. 



Mr. Bacot, who seconded the vote of thanks, observed that he 

 understood that jDupa^ had been dug in considerable numbers during 

 the past winter, and that the imagines emerging from these had been 

 in the proportion of twelve or fifteen females to one male. From fifty 

 pupa3 which he had received from Epping Forest he had not, as yet, 

 bred a single male. Thinking it probable that " assembling " Avould 

 occur, he, on February 3rd, took six or seven females to Chingford and 

 placed them in a small gauze cage about five feet from the ground. 

 The evening was favourable, warm and windy though clear. The first 

 g- turned up at about 6.45 ; others followed, in twos and threes at first 

 but afterwards singly and at longer intervals until 7.30, when the last 

 was cai:)tured. The total "bag" was seventeen and one or two others 

 were missed. Mr. Bacot watched the cage in order to try and get a 

 sight of the males as they came up, but it was too dark to see them 

 i;ntil they w^ere quite close ; their flight then seemed to be very rapid 

 and their buzzing against the cage audible some feet away ; two of 

 them flew against his face and the IjIow was more like that given by a 

 beetle than by a moth, (^n reaching home tAvo males were put into 

 the cage with the females; they co|)ulated about 10.30 but only 

 remained in copulation about fifteen minutes, herein differing from 

 Biston hirtarta and Ampliidasys hetnlaria, which remain joined for some 

 hours. After seixaration the two males and the virgin females were 

 removed to separate chip boxes for the night ; the next evening the 

 males began to get restive about 6.30, and were placed in the cage with 

 the females that had not commenced to lay, to which wei'e added two 

 that had emerged that morning. One of the males, a rather large one 

 with a piece torn out of one of his fore-wings, went in copulation 

 within a few minutes and the pair remained together about fifteen 

 minutes ; after they had separated the 2 was removed and shortly 

 afterwards the same $ was found in copulation with another $ . Mr. 

 Bacot kept this last 5 apart from the rest, in order that special note 

 might be taken as to whether her ova prove fertile or not, it having been 

 the third time that same $ had paired witliin twenty-four liours. 

 Mr. Bacot thinks that there is probably a second flight, as the males in 

 his cage again began to get lively about 10.30 to 11 p.m. 



Mr. Prout considered it probable that the abundance of N. hispularia 

 in 1893, was due rather to meteorological or local causes, than to immi- 

 gration. He had done a good deal of larva-beating during the last few 

 years, at the spot Avhere Mr. Bayne found the moths most abundant, and 

 the larva seem to have been steadily increasing in numbers, having 

 been specially plentiful in 1892. The larva is not exclusively an oak 

 feeder ; it will thrive Avell on hawthorn, and hornbeam. As hawthorn 

 is obtainable at least a month earlier than oak, a knowledge of its bemg 

 accepted by the larvte may be useful to those breeding the species from 

 ova. Mr. Prout was disposed to doubt whether it was safe to assume 

 that the coloration of figures, even of those of Hiibner, was always 

 accurate. He had long thought that there must be some kind of con- 

 nection between winter emergence and the occurrence of apterous 

 females, Orrjyio, etc., being merely casual exceptions due to some 

 different cause. It was certainly interesting to note that in the Ainphi^ 



