2J:2 THE entomologist's record. 



reply in the words of the knife-grinder, " Story, God bless you f I 

 have none to tell, sir," for this has been the worst year, from a lepi- 

 dopterist's point of view, since I settled down in the south-west ; but, 

 perhaps, I may manage to string together a few desultory recollections 

 as a substitute. 



Thanks to the kindness of Mr. Wm. Hewett, who sent me a large num- 

 ber of the eggs of CaUiiiKirjiiia liera, that he obtained from Starcross last 

 autumn, I have been able to watch the life-history of that species. I 

 found the most trying times were about the first moult, when I lost 

 10%, and again at pupation, when a considerable number failed to 

 perfect their changes. I reared about 40%, and only two of these 

 Avere crippled. I did not find the larvae cannibals, as some say, and 

 kept as many as 25 together in 8-inch pots. It is true, some three or 

 four disappeared at the first moult without my finding any traco-^, but 

 that might easily occur with such small objects whilst changing food. 

 I fed them at first on forget-me-not [Mi/osntis) and raspberry, and when 

 these began to fail, I gave strawberry and purple dead-nettle. My larvte 

 refused ground-ivy, and, when young, dandelion ; so about Christmas 

 I tried them with groundsel, which they ate eagerly. Later on, I 

 gave dandelion again, and relishing it, they kept feeding on both till 

 full-groAvn. Those that pupated successfully, did so between April 

 11th and 20th ; the majority of the remainder spun a slight cocoon, 

 and then shrivelled up inside, whilst some could not even manage the 

 spinning. I suppose they were weakly ones, that had not enough vital 

 energy to complete their changes, but think, too, that some may have 

 been those I unavoidably disturbed in giving fresh food just as they 

 had settled down jn snug corners, and that the extra work entailed was 

 the straw that turned the scale. They had an uncomfortable way 

 with them, of getting just under the rim of the pot, between the 

 muslin and elastic, and so had to find new quarters and begin spinning 

 over again. All those that pupated, spun up above ground, in moss 

 and bits of blotting-paper and food-plant, generally with one side of 

 the cocoon on the earth, particles of Avhich were there freely mixed 

 with the web. None pupated underground, though I gave them a good 

 depth of earth, as advised by some breeders. I tried to pair a couple, 

 and kept them for three days in a large band-box with muslin top and 

 sides and a plant of groundsel, but, finding at the end of that time, the 

 arrangement had not been successful, I killed both, as, contrary to the 

 usual experience, they were scarcely at all damaged. 



I hear that ab. lutescens has been unusually abundant this year at 

 Starcross. I bred five of that form, and several with orange secondaries 

 ( = ab. aaturnina, Oberth.). The perfect insects emerged between June 

 16th and 2<Sth, generally between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. 



Towards the end of May, when hedge-working and dusking ought to 

 have been profitable, I did little but cover myself and my net with a 

 general stickiness, for Aphides reigned supreme. Trees, high and low ; 

 shrubs, great and small ; plants and climbers of all kinds were at their 

 mercy ; and many of the weaklings had their growth stunted for the year 

 by the insects sucking the juices of the growing shoots. Food for larvae, 

 for the most part, had to be washed, for it was difficult to find leaves 

 not infested ; oaks, beeches, elms, sycamores, wild cherry trees were 

 especially damaged, and one nut bush in the garden, that I keep con- 

 stantly cut low, and has unusually large leaves, might have been 



