NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 229 



5 s were abundant in tlie sirring as might be expected from the extreme 

 abundance of wasps hxst summer. I hope they may take a few years 

 now to get up their numbers again, for though they are doubtless very 

 useful insects they are never welcome when in great numbers. — 

 Nelson M. Richakdson. July 30th, 1894. 



Freshwater. — During my temporary absence in Guernsey upon 

 business, my brother was fortunate, with the assistance of my nephew, 

 in capturing a very richly mottled s[)ecimen of Laphi/gnia exujua at 

 sugar on Aug. 31st, and promjjtly followed up the success by taking an 

 equally tine Leucania alhipuncta on Sept. 4th, also at sugar. Common 

 species are coming very freely, Noctua c-nigrum and I'Mogophora 

 meticulosa being especially a nuisance, whilst Agrotis ohelisca and 

 Aporophyla australis are occasional visitors. I have also to record single 

 specimens of Pbma festncae (query, second brood,) and Heliophohus 

 hispidus, neither of which I have ever taken here before, although the 

 latter was reputed to occur in numbers formerly near Totland Bay, 

 where I have frequently searched by day without success. A second 

 specimen of L. albipuncta was captured at sugar last night within a few 

 feet of the spot at which the former was captured. — Albert J. Hodges, 

 Sept. 8th, 1894. 



Societies. 



At the meeting of the South London Entomologic.'^l and Natural 

 HisTOKY Society on July 12th, Mr. R. Adkin exhibited a bred series of 

 Diaiithoecia nana, all of which were very very dark and some unicolorous. 

 • Mr. Oldham; a specimen of linmia luteolata with a well-developed 

 waved line on all the wings. Mr. Auld ; a bred specimen of Phoro- 

 desma smaragdaria, in which only the discoidal sjjots were present. 

 Mr. C. A. Briggs ; a specimen of the rare Lacewing Fly, Nothochrysa 

 capitata, taken at Wisley. Mr. Perks ; the egg of a CocciueUa, deposited 

 on the point of a thorn. Mr. Turner ; Lycaena minima from Galway, 

 showing gradual diminution of spots on the underside, and a brown- 

 suffused specimen of L. astrarche from Reigate. Mr. Hall ; Drosera 



rotundifolia and I>. intermedia, from Wisley. On July 26th, Mr. 



Carpenter exhibited a bleached Epinephele ianira from the New Forest 

 which he said was the only insect captured worth recording durino- a 

 fortnight's hard work ; sugar was an absolute failure. Mr. R. Adkin ; 

 Coccyx strohiklla together with the spruce cones from which they had 

 been reared. Mr. Auld ; a series of Ephippiphora foeneUa, bred from 

 roots of mugwort ; the roots were shown with the pu})a-cases in silu. 

 ]\Ir. Mooro ; a number of fossil shark's teeth, taken out of a cargo of 

 guano from Bull River, South America. Mr. Frohawk said that black- 

 birds and thrushes were still in full song, and remarked that it was 

 unusually late for this to be the case. Mr. Step reported the a])pear- 

 ance on a ceiling in his house of a rare fungus (Peziza haemasti(/ma). 



On August 9th, Mr. Hall, in exhibiting bred series of Xanthia 



fnlvago from Derby and Croydon, stated that it was usual to obtain a 

 greater proportion of var flavescens from the north than from the south. 

 Mr. Adkin (on behalf of Mr. South) exhibited a bred series of Hyj)si- 

 petes sordidata from North wood, having a very dai"k ground colour ; 

 bred series of Cleoceris viminalis from Blatchworth, some of which were 

 melanic while others were very pale ; a specimen of Tortrix xylosteana 

 which had jet black markings instead of rich reddish-brown ; a series 



