STRAY NOTES ON THE MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA OF DULWICH, ETC. 303 



down by a football kicked up into one of the trees, and are found 

 walking about on the trunks and on the ground after a high wind. 

 I never took this larva on lime ; I regard it as difficult to feed, as it 

 requires clean and fresh food, which is not easy to obtain with a quick 

 withering tree like elm. Mr. Ilston Cox has taken Maovylussa 

 utiilatarniii. 



Of the so-called Bombycides Mr. Helps records Hi/li)p/iila j)rasi)ia)ia 

 and Nola cncullaldla ; Mr. Heasler, Lit/inaia lurideula, and I have seen 

 Kuclielia javohacac ; Arctia caia appears to be almost extinct, one larva in 



1892, and one last year in my garden, being my only records. Sj)il<)S()nia 

 lubricipeda and N. menthastri both swarm ; their larvae seem to eat 

 everything except the Cruciferae, including Virginia creeper, which does 

 not seem to be attacked by many things. PortJusia chri/surrhoea is 

 recorded by j\lr. Helps ; Dasi/chira piuUhunda, larva seen for the first 

 time last autumn ; Oiyi/ia antiqua common — I think it is partheno- 

 genetic, as I have hatched larvae from ova laid by presumably virgin 

 females ; Cili.r iilaucata common, it has two broods, and both in 1893, 

 and 1895 had, 1 fancy, a partial third; lUvramua vimda seen once ; 

 Lophupterijx camdina I add from Mr. Helps' list ; I'/ialcia bucephala 

 excessively common, its larva sometimes strips every lime tree in the 

 neighbourhood ; Gonopliora derasa and Tlujatijia bath are occasionally 

 taken at sugar. Mr. Cansdale records (' ijtnatophnra fluctnusa ; Aaplialia 

 diliita taken freely at sugar, 1898, but not seen since ; I'latijpteitjx 

 falcula taken by Mr. Cox. This gives the district 19 species of so-called 

 Bombycides and Pseudo-Bombycides, of which I vouch for 12, and took 

 4 in my garden. 



Bri/o}diila perla, taken by Mr. Heasler ; B. mnralia by Mr. Cox ; 

 Acroni/cta tridfus, A. psi, A. aver is, and A. metjacephala are all common 

 as larvaj and sitting on fences; Mr. Cox records A. runiicis. Leucania 

 cuniijfra, L. lithargyria, L. comma, L. impura and L. pallens are all 

 common, except L. comma, both flying and at sugar; Calamia lutosa, 

 one specimen on a street lamp in 1893 ; (joityna ochracea, one taken 

 at light ; Ilt/dmecia nictitans, H. micacea, both scarce, at sugar ; A.vijlia 

 putris, excessively common at sugar in 1893, but only sparingly since ; 

 ot Xi/l(ijihasia lit/io.ri/lea, X. }nunuyhjpha and A', scolopacina, the first 

 two common everywhere ; X. scolopacina came to sugar freely for the 

 first time last year. Dijitcri/ijia scabrinscula is fairly common at sugar ; 

 Neuroiia popidaris, one at light ; Ccriyo matura simply swarmed in 



1893, flying over rough grass slopes at, and immediately after dusk, and 

 then coming freely to sugar. I failed to find the larvit in the spot 

 where the perfect insect had swarmed, both in '94 and '95, and only saw 

 two or three imagines. Luperina testacea is common on fences close to 

 sugar patches, which, however, I never remember its getting on ; it 

 also visits flowers of Senecio jacobaea. Mamestra brassicae and ili. 

 persicariac swarm everywhere. As they feed at night, why do the 

 larv£e of the latter stick to the brown stems of Chcnopodium when of the 

 brown variety, and to the green leaves and green stems of Filex mas 

 in my garden, when that is their colour? Apamea basilinea, A. 

 yemina,A. ophiuyramma, A. didyma, all common, except A.ojdiioyraiiima, 

 which appears to be common wherever there is ribbon grass, which I 

 cannot grow, as the cats eat it. I have taken it hovering over Nicotiana 

 ajfinis just before dark, its flight being peculiarly like the floating of a 

 thistle-down or piece of gossamer, Miana striyiUs, M. fasciuncula, 



