NOTES ON COLLECTING. 243 



varnished. When searching for insects on the honey-dew, this bush 

 seemed a favourite, and most nights I could find many of the common 

 garden moths enjoying its sweets. Another, and a greater favourite 

 still, was a silver fir — Pieea piiisapo — -which, for a couple of months or 

 more, was the great attraction for Af/rotis e.rclamatimm, Triphaena 

 prnnuba, Lcucania pallenfi, and Apamca diiJipaa, besides many common 

 Geometers and Micros. At first I thought there must be some exuda- 

 tion from the tree, but failed to find any, and though I could not 

 satisfy myself with traces of the plant-lice, I can attribute its attractive- 

 ness to nothing else. It was not flowering— its leaves, which form a 

 sort of clu'vaux dc frisi', made it very difiicult to work, but gave great 

 shelter to insects whilst feeding. By day, bees, wasps and flies revelled 

 on it, as they do on ivy in full bloom. No wonder sugar was a failure ! 

 In July, I could only find three Cal;ininla pi/ralina to box off it, and, 

 searching honey-dewed leaves, I found none, though records say it has 

 been taken in considerable numbers by their means. Two other worn 

 males came to light. Hi/pcnodes albistrif/alis was fairly abundant, though 

 few came to sugar, but by dusking towards the end of June (somewhat 

 earlier than last year), I was able to take a larger proportion in good 

 condition. I kept a good many for eggs, but none were laid, most of 

 the insects dying very soon in confinement. In August, I again noticed 

 a large batch of eggs of Triphaena pronuha, on the meshes of a 

 boundary tennis net, as recorded in 1895. This must be a protective 

 arrangement, to save the massacre of the innocents that takes place on 

 low plants, though, if all the females lay at the same rate (700 to 800 

 eggs), it is scarcely one for which we should be grateful, as their larvirs 

 are only too fond of garden produce. 



Despite the drought, more prevalent in Devon and Cornwall than 

 elsewhere, and the destruction of early pupi:e, that must have occurred 

 from want of moisture and inability to break through the iron-bound 

 earth, my champion pupa-digger has brought in over 1,000 pupa? 

 already, and though other boys seem only able to find a dozen or two 

 now and then, there cannot be any great dearth this year. One would 

 have expected larvae to be abundant ; the absence of rain and the warm 

 weather ought to have been favourable to the young and their growth, 

 barring any unusual multiplicity of enemies, but, if so, I have not 

 been able to find them in any number. Just now, the constant heavy 

 rains are playing havoc with our autumn species, and the last few 

 mornings I have had to be contented with three or four larvt^ of 

 Hi/pnipeteft iuipliwiata and a few nondescripts, as the result of a couple 

 of hours searching and beating the alders ; from the sallows I can get 

 nothing, though I know Macaria alternata and Lohophora Hcxalimta, 

 breed on the spot. 



How comparatively scentless flowers have been this year ! A 

 large bed of Nicotiana affinh is often scarcely perceptible of an evening, 

 a few yards off ; so no wonder few Sphinx- convolvuU have been seen. 

 My son has taken two, the first, in perfect condition, on August 31st, 

 the second, somewhat worn, about a week ago, and since then it has 

 been too wet to watch at dusk. He and I both noticed what shy 

 insects they are, off in a moment if they hear voices, and, the other 

 night, one hovering over the flowers, darted away on the church bells 

 suddenly ringing, not to appear again, though there is no similar 

 attraction within miles. 



