288 THE entomologist's record. 



sucli as RnsiiKi teiieln-ond, &c. — re(j[uire much more careful liaiidling tliaii 

 the majority ot' insects (the scales seem to be more loosely fixed), and 1 

 now kill A. ophioiji-amma with oxalic acid, and set it with the least possible 

 delay. 



A. saacia seems to have been entirely absent from Kainham this year, 

 for I have not seen a single specimen, good or bad. The local form is 

 a beautiful one, being much clouded with light grey, and the specimens 

 are considerably larger than those which I have been accustomed to meet 

 Avith elsewhere. 



A. lunosa has been very abundant on sugar this year. One seems to 

 have taken it more frequently at light, and I find a note that the first 

 time I ever saw it at sugar, was on September 27th, 1892. Perhaps it 

 is a case of ac( pared taste, which has become hereditary, 



I took a specimen of Hadciia tluihiftsind at sugar, on Sept. -itli ; 

 8t;iinton gives June and July ; Merrin, May, June and July ; Newman, 

 May and June. I bred H. suand (one out of a number of })upa!), on the 

 loth of August ; Stainton gives June ; Merrin, May, June, and some- 

 times, August ; Newman, June. 



A friend took a single Zyijaena fiUpendtdae, at Soutliend, on the 4tli 

 of September ; I myself took one at Penzance, on August 11th, 181)0; 

 Stainton gives June and July ; Merrin, June ; Newman, June, begin- 

 ing. I found a freshly -emerged 5 of Metrocampa warriaritaria, sitting 

 on a grass-stem at the foot of a tree, on the night of Sept. oth ; Stainton, 

 gives July ; Merrin, June and July ; Newman, July. I find I took a 

 specimen at light on the 3Uth August, 1893. 



A friend writes me that he was taking Agrotis triliel, on Se})t. 1-itli, 

 of this year ; Stainton, gives August ; Merrin, July and August ; 

 Newman, July. 1 took Lencania impura a week ago. 



Some of these are doubtless instances of partial second broods : some, 

 perhaps, cases of the survival of the fittest, most vigorous and latest 

 developed. One can understand that, when an insect's i^eriod of flight 

 covers perhaps a month, some individuals may be delayed some little 

 while beyond the rest, and some of these may live long beyond the time 

 of those first developed. Or, a change of weather, when the larva? are 

 feeding, may check the growth of some, kill others, and perhaps, not 

 affect the remainder, who may have got beyond the stage wliere the 

 check can be felt. In confinement, the larv^y which lag behind the others 

 generally seem to me to die, but in a wild state, they may j)ossibly i)ick 

 up again, and go through their changes successfully, and, possibly, in 

 solitary grandeur. In the year 188G, I found on June 3rd, a magni- 

 ficent 2 S<duriii(( r(irj>in/\ evidently just emerged, a month late at least. 



One last word to those who, like myself, hope against hoj^e, for a 

 grand catch of rarities — ^peo[)le M'ho have seen Fa/u'.s'.sa autiopu, but 

 liave not caught it. May it not l)e that we, who c;all ourselves the un- 

 lucky ones, are to liave our luck amongst varieties, instead of amongst 

 species ? I suggest, of course, that there must l)e varieties of common 

 Lepidoptera which are as rare as V. aatiopa, as rare, perhaps, as Valeria 

 oleac/lua, and some varieties may ])rove to be unique. If luck does not 

 favour us one way, it may another. The very commonest species may 

 produce a prize. How many have been cheered and gratified by a 

 grand var. of Arctia cnia, or of Abraxas grosxnlariata (I once threw 

 away a wliole Ijrood of semi-trans})arent specimens of the latter species, 

 onlv ii'oubling to set two, to show how lorctcltcd Hiey were). A great 



