NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 15 



moorlands, I believe, all over the West of Scotland, at the height of 

 abont 1,000 feet. I obtained it last October, near Lanark, where I 

 took about fifty in half-an-hour, as it only Hies for about that period, 

 from 5.30 to 6 p.m. There are three localities known for it near 

 Kinloch-Eannock, where I understand it flies later in the evening, and 

 has to be sought for by the aid of a lamp. Another locality is near 

 Stirling. I obtained ova from a fine female that I took last autumn. 

 They were round, flatfish, and of a pale green colour when deposited, 

 but unfortunately, they have proved infertile. Enpithecia helveticata, 

 another uncommon insect from this locality, I discovered on the 

 junipers on the banks of the Allander, at Milngavie, about ten miles 

 from Glasgow, three years ago, towards the end of September, and I 

 have bred it yearly since then. The larva is of a raw transparent 

 green colour, with dark lines on the back and sides, and pale subdorsal 

 and lateral lines ; the head varies from pale green to a dark greenish 

 purple. W. F. Kirby, in Berge's Schmetterlingsbuch, mentions that 

 the larva of the var. arceuOiata has a purple head ; but it would be 

 utterly impossible to divide a brood of larvte and say these have green 

 heads and the others purple. The larva does not descend from the 

 plant to pupate, but spins a slight cocoon in the thickest part of the 

 plant. This it does also in the wild state, as last year I beat out half- 

 a-dozen pupfe when searching for the larva. Mr. Sydney Webb 



(Dover) writes on May 27th: "lam sorry to think that there is a 

 possibility of Acontia luctuosa being improved out of its Devon habitat, 

 as it has been from Caterham Valley, where it formerly swarmed, and 

 from Greenhithe, whence it has probably disappeared for many years, 

 but where, 30 years ago, it was extremely abundant. Can Mr. Dobree 

 Fox tell us anything about Devonian Papilio ranchaon? 1 know they 

 are captured to the number of three or four nearly every year. Has 

 the ground been salted and the insects now endeavouring to hold their 

 own, or is it a dAvindled-down natural locality? If put down, 

 naturalists would, I am sure, avoid taking specimens, in order to give 

 the species a better chance of establishing a domicile there, but the 

 fact should be duly recorded, otherwise the indi^ddual attempting the 

 acclimatisation deserves tar and feathers — at least, ' them's iny senti- 

 ments.' " Mr. T. Maddison (Durham) writes on May 29th : "Forres 



is a small country town, lies low, and is very uninteresting. Not far 

 away is an ordinary wood with a river running through it, and in the 

 woodland paths and on the river banks Salvage took some years ago 

 the extraordinary number of Trypliaena subseqiui, which has made 

 Forres famous. Very few have been taken since. A mile or two out 

 of the town are the Altyre Woods. Here amongst the dwarf birches 

 Endromis versicolor occurs — not however in any numbers. Reid and 

 I, in July, 1891, spent tAvo days in searching for larvae of this insect — 

 a weary and toilsome work — and we got about 20 each — not much in 

 the way of sport. There was nothing else in the Avood just then except 

 a few Acidalia fnmaia and a very few "micros." Some four or five 

 miles away are a lot of rolling sand dunes (I forget the name of the 

 place), where we spent another day most unprofitably. I got three 

 macros — all common Geometers — and Reid got a feAV common "micros." 

 Nice forms of Dianthoecia capsincola and D. conspersa (both ochreous) 

 are bred from seed heads of lychnis. Itetinia resinana and B. duplana 

 are taken early in the year. The curious pupa) (inside a round 



