Notes on collecting. 219 



Chrysophanus dispar. — In May last I forwai'ded to the Record an 

 extract from the Bazaar, offering for sale living specimens of three 

 large " English Coppers," and three " Camberwell Beauties," re- 

 marking at the same time that I had written for further particulars. 

 Thii I did, asking Mr. J. W. Tattersall (the advertiser in question) for 

 full details in order that these important captures might be duly 

 recorded. I received a most courteous reply to my query from Mr. 

 Tattersall, informing me that the insects were all taken " in the 

 neighbourhood of Beaumaris, N. Wales," and that he was much sur- 

 prised (as an entomological novice) at the number of replies evoked by 

 his "ad." He further informed me that he had disposed of them " to 

 a gentleman who refused to give his name and address, but got all 

 particulars as to locality, etc., and remarked that he contributed to the 

 magazines," winding up with the remark that ho identified them by 

 Gordon's Our Countnj^ Bntterjlie:^ aiuJ Mothx. I wrote him again, 

 pressing for more exact information, and pointing out the rarity (to 

 say the least of it) of the " Large Copper." To this, Mr. J. W, T. 

 (not our worthy editor, by the Avay) replied that he, " or more strictly 

 speaking, my brother caught them, but, at present, I will not give the 

 exact locality, as Iknow, /Vo/» experience (! ), that a swarm of collectors 

 would soon be on the spot, and, so far, I have not been able to folio >v up 

 entn)iioloi/i/ solel;/ for jdeasure ! " He goes on to remark that he has 

 caught "a very fine butterfly or moth," which he is unable to 

 identify, it being " 1| inches across the wings, and entirely black and 

 quite sooty in appearance, also several fine cinnabar butterflies, but I 

 do not know whether they are common or not." He finishes by 

 asking me if I can tell him Avhere he can purchase " a list of tlie 

 market prices of butterflies, dc." Here I dropped the matter, owing to 

 my holidays intervening. I should be sorry to doubt the correctness 

 of Mr. Tattersall's statements, for his letters are courteous in the 

 extreme, and would rather think that he had " mis-identified " his 

 insects, which seems to me just possible from what I have seen of the 

 plates he mentions. This supposition, however, hardly fits in with 

 the fact that he disposed of them immediately on the day that the 

 advertisement appeared ! Will not some Liverpool reader " beard the 

 lion in his den," and try to get at the root of this mystery ? — S. J. Bell, 

 150, Stockwell Park Koad^ Brixton. Sept. 15th, 1896. 



Pupa digging in the New Forest. — I recently spent a few days in 

 the New Forest, and although there is little in the way of lepidopterous 

 imagines in the New i^'orest so late as the end of August, especially in 

 an early season, I did very well at pupa-digging, and obtained over 

 200 pupye of all sorts and sizes. Sugaring produced only Awphip>jra 

 pi/ramidea. — Harold Hodge, M.A., 6, Crown Office Row, Temple. 

 Sept., 189b. 



Synia musculosa as a British insect. — It seems strange that, in 

 the face of Mr. S. Stevens' assertion that at least 15 specimens of 

 Synia musculosa were, to his certain knowledge, taken at and near 

 Brighton early in the present half-century, "John Bull" should still 

 be apparently so sceptical as to its having occurred in Britain. Hut 

 if he had thought of referring to the Ent. Annual or the F.nt. Wk. In- 

 telligencer, he would have found that any such scepticism was quite 

 unjustifiable. In Knt. Ann., 1856, p. 16, Mr. Stainton records the 

 capture, on August 17th, 1855, of an example of S. uiusculosa, on a 



