10 THE entomologist's RECORD, 



one knows only too well what this means, and feels pained that the 

 desire of having leaves no happy mean between the taking of a small 

 number for one's self and particular friends and the ruthlessness with 

 which an insect in limited haunts and easily caught, is sometimes hunted 

 down. I say this in all humility, and with a full knowledge of the 

 pressure which collectors who must possess at any price put on the minds 

 of those who can obtain our rarer species, and of having been a pleased 

 participator oftentimes in the spoils of the chase. But Zi/gaenn exulans 

 was not the only species obtained in the Scotch mountains, whilst the 

 Southron was in despair. Cranihus mi/eJlus, C. furcatellus, Stiymonota 

 dorsana and Sesia scoliifornm, were obtained in equal or greater abundance 

 than before, and in spite of the high code of morals one has 

 so recently been laying down, a still small voice whispers : — Oh ! 

 what must it have been to be thei'e. Or ambus ericeUus, too, on the 

 English side of the Cheviots, is a good record. Then the Southerners had 

 a turn. In the south-western counties the butterfly hunters had (I almost 

 regret to say) a successful search for Li/caena arion. Scientifically, the 

 capture of a rare insect like this in England is a delusion. Not a word 

 of its habits, or its life-history, do its ruthless destroyers tell us. It is 

 obtained for the cabinet — that is all ! A few Plusta moneta were captured 

 and bred. The " Crimsons " came to sugar in the New Forest, and the 

 rare Tortrix piceana was bred in considerable numbers. Then CaUi- 

 morpha hera gladdened the eyes of Messrs. Jager and Porritt in South 

 Devon. But these were as oases in the great desert of despair. Taken 

 all in all, entomologists were extremely wretched and unhappy ; there 

 was but little to catch, and as it is the nature of an Englishman to be 

 dull and uncomfortable if he cannot " go out and kill something," the 

 entomologist was dull and uncomfortable accordingly. And all the 

 time the wretched rain rained and poured and soaked and drowned, and 

 drowned and soaked and poured and rained again, and so it went on 

 until August began to draw to a close, although in the meantime Pro- 

 fessor Carlier had a struggle with a Catocala fraxini, with an oar. 

 Then, when the changing tints of the leaves began to warn us that 

 autumn was coming on apace, a change occurred. From almost all 

 parts of the country the cry was heard, " sugar is paying." In the Isle 

 of Wight, Leucania albipuucta to the tune of more than a dozen, La- 

 p]iil<lina exigua, and lots of Aporophyla australis occurred with what was 

 perhaps the best of all, a somewhat large second brood of Canidrina 

 arnhigiia. At Brighton, also, Leitcan/a alblpunda put in an appearance. 

 In late autumn, appeared (|uite a bevy of Tryplinrna subseqiia, a 

 month or even two beyond its usual date. Late Colias cdusa began to 

 appear, and occurred until well into October, whilst Epanda lichenea, 

 and beautiful vars. of E. lutnlenta were also taken. What grand series 

 of this insect some of us now possess, and yet how rare it once was ! A 

 strange race of Scotch Spilosoma menlhastri, in which the ochreous 

 ground colour of var. ochracea is replaced by a bi'ownish tint, was 

 reared in Elgin, although neither the captor nor the possessors have given 

 us a hint as to the probable reason of the increased tint. We have had 

 one or two frights this year. Perhaps we were most affected by the 

 startling news of almost a hundred specimens of Plusia ni having been 

 cattght and bred at Penzance. Fortunately the excess of zeal threw 

 sufficient doubt on the ca})tures, to prevent all but the most liardy par- 

 ticipating in this marvellous haul. The other scare concerned Catepkia 



