NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 57 



Dr. Ividin^- (lluckerell) wiitos on Nov. Sth : — "Ivy lias been f?iving us 

 a few more insects, but mostly common ones. Oiiliosia maciU'ida has 

 been plentiful, fine and variable ; so have Orrhodia raccinii and O. 

 Uipihi. Several female imagines have been boxed by my son, ])ut as 

 yet none have favoured us with eggs ; these, with one E. nigra and one 

 X. socia have l)een our most aristocratic visitors. I have }Mit into my 

 box, with others, four Orrhodias — the ui)pcr two will be Mr. Tutt's O. 

 vaccinii var. rufa, the lower two raccinii var. spadicea (I presume). I 

 cannot think the question of identity of 0. vaccinii var. spadicca, at all 

 settled, as regards these— the upper var. rnfa, even, I cannot feel sure 

 about, as the forewing has the hind margin taking the form of ligula 

 (though not very distinctly); on closer examination, too, it varies con- 

 siderably from the second specimen of rufa. The last two I personally 

 consider to be a form of 0. ligula. The hind margin is characteristic. 

 I shall try to breed some, but find difficulty in getting eggs. Do these 

 si)ecies lay eggs in spring or before hybernating ? Can any member 



tell me from his own experience ? " Mr. C. Fenn (Lee) writes on 



Nov. 10th: — "In answer to Dr. Eiding's enquiry respecting the 

 dei^osition of eggs by the Orrhodia species, I can say from my own ex- 

 l)erience that they lay in the spring. Some years ago I obtained ova 

 of 0. vaccinii (of Stainton), and reared the larvae. None of them pro- 

 duced the spadicca form, but as I did not have a great number, this 

 evidence only goes for what it is worth. Personally, I have no doul;)t 

 of the distinctness of the two species, but, of course, this is only my own 

 opinion. O. vaccinii here is of universal distribution, but 0. spadicca 

 (lignla) is much more local, and though not scarce, is by no means as 



abundant as its congener." Capt. Kobertson (Coxhorue) writes on 



Dec. oth : — " With regard to the egg-laying of 0. vaccinii and 0. spadicca 

 (ligida), I can confirm Mr. Fenn's ex})erience. I have ])red both for 

 the last four or five years, and find very little difficulty in separating 

 the two species. If the females are taken in spring at sallow and 

 placed in large chip boxes, which have been previously scored with a 

 penknife, or cracked, so that they can find some place to hide their 

 eggs, they will readily oviposit. I think the " cut-out " appearance of 

 the forewing is the principal way of distinguishing 0. ligula from 

 0. vaccinii. The only good things I have taken this autumn arc 

 Cirrhoedia xeravipelina, at rest on an ash-tree, on Aug. 30th ; a few 

 Luperina cespitis, in the moth-trap, on Aug. 30th and Sept. 1st; a 

 female Pctasia cassinea, at rest on an apple-tree in the garden, on Nov. 

 1st; aXyJina semibrunnca on Nov. 18th, at ivy. The weather for the 

 })ast month has been remarkably mild, but nothing comes to light, with 



the exception of one Poccilocampa populi on Dec. 2nd." Mr. N. 



M. Richardson (Weymouth) writes, on Dec. 15th: — "The two larvfo of 

 Pliisia ni, found at Portland, were certainly very like P. gamma, which 

 makes it improl^able that anyone would take much troul)le to collect 

 them unless they had some reason to believe them different. The 

 capture of the species at Portland this season makes its occurrence at 

 Penzance more ])r()V)al)le. 1 have little doul)t that had the larvfe been 

 iiiucli worked for at the time of tlie capture in July more might liave 

 been obtained from I'ortland, and it seems easy to breed, so tliat if the 

 Penzance collector got it at all he might have taken a fair number. At 

 Portland the larvre were (juite small in July, and emerged at the be- 

 ginning of September." 



