292 THE entomologist's record. 



in Perthshire in 1851, located in plantations of spruce fir exclusively, 

 some I found at rest on the trunks " {Z<iolo<iist, 1852, p. 3496). 

 These remarks apply remarkably well in some particulars to the speci- 

 mens I have described in this article, and which are figured in Plate III. 

 Whatever uncertainty may rest on the var. ajtju-o.ciinaria, there can 

 be none on the var. precursaria, Weaver, which refers to the small form 

 of 0. Jiliyrainmaria, found so abundantly on some of the heaths of the 

 northern English counties. Weaver writes of it : — " This is smaller 

 than all the foregoing species, and difters from the last two 

 [filiiiraminaria and approximarla), in the female having ample wings, 

 the male I have not seen. I reared one specimen from a larva that 

 fed on heath, in Perthshire, in 1861 " f Ibid j. It will be observed that 

 most of the females that are figured, and that I bred, have also ample 

 wings, differing considerably from the more pointed-winged form usually 

 found on the moors of the northern counties of England. 



Entomological Haunts for a Season. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



" In a corner of my verandah stands a weapon, always ready, 

 wherewith I do battle against liver, dyspepsia, hypochondria, dull 

 care, loathed melancholy, and multifarious other natural enemies to 

 peace and long life. It is composed of a light springy stick, about 

 five feet long, to which is attached a ring of iron wire, about fifteen 

 inches in diameter, carrying a bag of mosquito-net or gauze, dyed 

 green. The wire is as light as it can be without becoming so thin 

 as to want stifthess, and the gauze of which the bag is made is soft 

 and open enough to be perfectly transparent. The minutest point 

 which may conduce to the perfection of the instrument is worthy of 

 attention, for its virtues are rare. I find nothing equal to it. It is 

 better than Eno's Fruit Salt. To the jaded ofiice slave, the brain- 

 Avorn student, the overwrought literary or professional man, I recom- 

 mend this panacea." 



There is something humanly healthy about the above quotation 

 of E. H. A., the talented author of The Tribes on inij Frontier, some- 

 thing that takes one back to the early days when our nets were 

 primitive, and made much in the manner described above, and 

 when I re-read it the other day, after having been engaged in the 

 technicalities of some German descriptions of British butterflies, I 

 breathed a sigh of relief, and came to the conclusion that collecting 

 insects had done my body at least as much good as the study of them 

 in foreign languages had done my temper. 



Therefore, when a friend in a very persuasive manner asked me 

 to write a few lines suggesting a series of runs, so that he might fill 

 in his time profitably by making the practical acquaintance of some 

 of our more local species, I could hardly resist the temptation. 



Sallowing should be considered first, and I must say that I think 

 this method of collecting is as successfully carried on in one part of 

 the country as another. I'achnobia leuan/rapJia extends from Folke- 

 stone in the east, to York in the north, and Brecon in the west, and 

 T. miniuaa and T. j>npuleti, both have a very wide range ; it is not to 

 be expected that the outskirts of large towns will prove favoured 

 haunts for the rarer species, and one must work more widely for them. 

 But it is too late for sallowing this year now. In April a few good 



