NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 17 



were there in plenty, and in the woods, in addition, were many 

 N. dahUi This year the only insects I saw in the garden were 

 Hydroecia nictitans, Boarmia rhomhoidarhi and Jlepudns Inpidinus. Five 

 nights sugaring in the woods (one with th(! iiev. G. M. A. Hewett), 

 j)roduced five Amphipyra pi/ramidea, and not!iing more. So much for 

 imagines. Larva-beating lias been equally unproductive. Can anyone 

 tell me how to deal with T<ienior<imp(i mrnio^a in lis final stage as a 

 larva? I had several dozen of them tliis year bred from ova, and I 

 have sent many more dozens to correspondents, but I find that nearly all 

 our larvjc have shared the same fate. .lust l)efore pupating they die off 

 on the surface of the earth or among the leaves of the food-plant, going 

 off in the eleventh or twelfth segment, which have the appearance of 

 having been sharply nij^ped. They had abundance of good food and 

 plenty of room and air. They have been taken in all stages in the New 

 Forest by Tate, who has had exactly the same experience with his 



larvse. 1 should be glad to know how this might be avoided?" 



Mr. A. Adie Ualgiish (Glasgow) writes on Oct. 19th : — " Insects are still 

 scarce in this district ; I paid a visit to Milngavie one Saturday after- 

 noon in September with the intention of obtaining larvae of Eupithecia 

 helvt'ticata, and after three hours' hard work beating junipers I returned 

 home with about a dozen larvaj. Last year, I took nearly double that 

 number in half the time. Phihalapteri/x hipidata has been discovered 

 in the South of Scotland this year, and a good number have been taken. 



I obtained a nice series in the autumn holiday." Capt. Robertson 



(Coxhorne) writes on Oct. 2Uth : — " Entomology is still a failure here, 

 nothing comes to light or iv}^. The only insects I have seen lately are 

 crowds of Oporabia dilntata, which are very common near here, and which 



fly around the oak trees when one is shooting in the woods." Mr. 



W. Christy. (Emsworth) writes on Oct. 29th : — "In the exhibition box 

 I have imt a Notodontd trepida, with scalloped hind-wings, together 

 with a normal one for comparison. The scalloped specimen is one of 

 several that I bred of the same shape, but this one is the most curious. 

 It came out with others in late November and early December in an 

 open-air temperature. The i)upa3 had been forced during the previous 

 winter, and had been turned out into the open air in the early sum- 

 mer they having refused to come out by forcing. They were inbred 



once, the parents had lain in pupa for two j'cars." Rev. E. C. 



Uobree Fox (Castle Moreton) writes on Nov. 1st : — " I captured a fair 



number of Cidaria iniaia in its old haunts in a friend's house." 



Mr. Williamson (Slough) writes on Nov. 5th: — "I found larva) 

 plentiful during the late autumn, but very little on the wing or at 



sugar." Mr. A. Robinson (9, Red Hill, Chiselhurst) writes on 



Nov. 19th : — " I have always been told that black treacle is much 

 better than golden syrup for treacling, but this year I tried both on 

 the same nights, and the moths certainly seemed to prefer tlie latter. 

 Perha}).s my Idack treacle was not of the proper kind, l)ut it certainly 

 was black, and was similar in taste to the correct article. I got very 

 little, however, at treacle. Tlie moths were late in coming out, and 

 there were none but common species about. I received a few days 

 since, by post, some insects pinned into some material nailed to the 

 bottom of a cigar box. It held the pins ver}' tightly (much more so 

 than cork), and at the same time the pins appeared to penetrate it 

 easily. On empiiry, I was informed tliat the material is a kind of 

 linoleum floor-cloth, and my informant says, ' It is much better than 



