NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 227 



imagines, and I hope they will produce a dark race. Tlie summer 

 broods are very rich in colour. Geometra papilionaria has not been rare 

 here but, unfortunately, all I took were males. They fly late, about 

 11 p.m. I have a small brood of Lophopteryx cncuUind feeding, thanks to 

 the kindness of the Kev. B. Smith of Great Marlow, They are very 

 interesting larvc^. The egg is laid simply on the underside of the 

 maple leaves in shady woods. In confinement they will eat sycamore. 

 Acidalia emarginata is a desideratum with many people but it is really 

 very generally distributed. It may be beaten out of the long grass in 

 woody places in the day time, but flies commonly at 11 p.m. and later. 

 It may often be found at rest at dusk, on the long grasses under 

 bushes and hedges. The weather was so utterly bad at the time 

 many of our local Tortrices appear, that I failed with nearly all 

 of them ; even of Phoxopteri/x uptipana and S. puncticostana, usually not 

 scarce, I did not see an example, and the same may be said of 

 Tortrix diversana, but Orthotaenki hrandenana and Catoptria conter- 

 minana were rather common. — 0. Fenn, Aiujust 8th, 189-1. 



Sandoicn and Lyndhurst. — From July 11th to August 4th I was at 

 Lyndhurst, and managed, despite rather poor sugaring, to obtain one 

 Triphaena suhsequa, one fine Nocttia stigmatica, good series of the 

 " Crimsons," short series of Nola strigula, Rypenodes aJbistrigalis, &c., 

 &c. As I did not commence working at Sandown until August 6th, I 

 was of course too late to report on some of the summer species. Only 

 two poor Agrotis Innigera ( <? and ? ), two or three Lencanta conigera, 

 six Caradrina taraxaci (absent since the first two nights, thouo-h not 

 then worn), and one Agrotis tritici were taken by me. Sugar has never 

 been quite a blank, and one or two nights have been very decent. 

 Cerigo matiira and Amphipyra tragopoginis have been commoner than 

 usual ; Agrotis pnta, Miana literosa and Apnmea didyma nearl\% biit 

 perhaps not quite so common as usual; Miana bicoloria and A(/rotis 

 nigricans have been decidedly scarce (for them). Only three Agrotis 

 suffusa have turned up at present, and no A. saucia. Noctua c-nigrnm 

 is just coming out but is apparently going to be common. Gnophos 



obscuraria has been jjlentiful, but the " blues " are deplorably scarce. 



Louis B. Prout, August 21st, 1894. 



Southend. — I have taken or bred the following insects since the end 

 of May. On the 3rd of June I took Agdistis bennetii, Epichnopleryx 

 radieUa and E. reticella, Ephlppiphora cirsiana, Eupoecilia afinituna, E. 

 vectisana, Bacculatrix cristatella, and Dasycera sidphurtella. Much time 

 was spent in hunting for cases of E. reticella, cases of Fumea nitidella 

 and E. radieUa were easily found, but those of E. reticella, althouo-h 

 the (? s were not uncommon, must have been hidden away, for a close 

 search did not yield a single case. Bombyx rubi emerged ; the larvae 

 had been successfully hibernated for the first time. 5th June. Tried 

 'sembling with Bombyx rubi, and attracted one <? . Dug up many roots 

 for larvaj of Sesia chrysidiformis, wliicii used to occur in this nei^libour- 

 hood, and found plenty of larva of Hepiulus humuli. Eupithecia culgata 

 Ciiephasia musculana, Sciaphila snbjectana, were netted. On June 7th 

 Riiinia luteolata, Scoparia dubitalis, Fhthcochroa rngosana, and Plutella 

 cruciferarum were netted, Acidalia viarginepunctata taken at lio-]it. 9th 

 June : Triphaena pronuba emerged, and a pair of Arctia villica taken. 

 10th June : Tortrix costana was bred from Epilobium angiistifolium. 

 Sciaphila hybridana was abundant on the salt marshes. 1 1th June 



