STRAY NOTES ON THE MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA OF DULWICH, ETC. 305 



Diaiithoeeiac l&vvee on the Li/chnis. Mr. Heasler records D. capsincola ; 

 Hecatera serena, once at sugar and once on a fence ; Misdia 

 oxi/aeanthae, tAvice at sugar and once at ivy bloom ; EupU'.iia 

 lucipara swarms at sugar, and has, I think, two broods ; PJdof/ophora 

 nit'ticidosa is also common at sugar, always has two broods, and 

 in 1893 both it and K. lucipara had a third. Hadena trifolii, 

 H, olcrarea and //. pi-si : the first two swarm everywhere, the third 

 is scarce. Its larva feeds on broom and bracken, on the former it 

 usually has rose-pink stripes, on the latter yellow ; but this distinc- 

 tion is developed about the third change of skin, all the little ones 

 being yellow. They also feed on grasses. They are subject to a 

 curious epidemic on arriving at the last skin, when many dry up 

 without shrivelling in the least, and look quite alive until touched. 

 They feed by night, and go down to the base of the food-plant by 

 day. Mr. Heasler adds H. thalasishia. Gueidlia wubratiea is listed by 

 Mr. Helps, C. chamomillae by Mr. Cansdale, and Epunda viininalis 

 by Mr. Cox. 



Gonoptera libatri.r, one worn specimen at sugar last spring in my 

 garden ; Habrostola triplasia, one at sugar in 1893 ; Plmia chri/sitiK 

 and P. (/awina — the first used to be moderately common in one spot 

 which is now built over — the latter, of course, swarms. Erastria 

 fasriana, recorded by Mr. Cansdale ; Eiuiidia mi, by Mr. Cox ; Catocala 

 nupta, freely at light and sugar, and early in the morning on fences. 



Zancl(i(/uatlia (jriscalis and Z, t.arsipi>nnali.s are both occasionally 

 taken at sugar ; also Hi/pena roatralifi and H. pivboscidalis. All four 

 occur in my garden. The district has therefore yielded 101 species 

 of the NocTuiDES, of which I have taken 84 and found 60 in my garden. 



Of the larger Incomplet.e we get the following : — Seda tipuli- 

 formis, taken by Mr. Heasler ; S. )ii;/upifnrniis, taken by Mr. Cansdale 

 (Ent. Bee, ii., p. 69). Zijifaena fdipeiuhdae I captured at Honor Oak 

 Park in 1893. Of Hepialus kumuli, H. si/lrinus, and H. lujudinus : — 

 the first and third abundant. The males of H. liuniuli st&rt into flight 

 simultaneously, hundreds will suddenly appear, swinging to and fro in 

 their characteristic manner. The females fly with great swiftness, 

 and do not swing like the males, which they appear to knock over in 

 their flight and immediately pair with. H. si/lrim(s I have taken 

 but once. Cassus lii/nipcrda, larva common, feeding on poplar and 

 willow. Two or three years ago hundreds were lying around the 

 poplars on Peckham Rye, killed, I believe, by the County Council 

 men. They spin a cocoon to hybernate in, come out in the spring, 

 change their skins, pupate almost immediately, and emerge in about 

 a couple of months. I had eggs in 1894 from a virgin female, but 

 they were infertile, so I failed to confirm parthenogenesis. Zeuzera 

 P!/n)ia, although considered common, I fail to find. I am told I 

 should not look on the lamps, but on the ground under them, where 

 the insects will be found quietly at rest. A female Z. pi/rina once 

 laid an enormous number of eggs in the match-box in which she had 

 been confined ; they were orange-coloured, and formed an irregular 

 sphere about half-an-inch in diameter ; as they soon shrivelled con- 

 siderably I thought them infertile, but still kept them. In a couple 

 of months they began to darken, ultimately becoming sienna brown, 

 and finally hatched out simultaneously, the whole ball rolling over 

 and over with the struggle of the mass of larvae to escape. A few took to 



