6.6 THE entomologist's KECOUD. 



away from any dry stony banks, which this insect seems usually to 

 frequent.*-' Theda w-albuin was so pa^.'nl by the 8th and 10th of that 

 month, that, though I saw a dozen on the former date, and seven on 

 the latter, all either settled on or flying over bramble sprays, I was 

 glad to let them alone, after netting a couple, and discovering the state 

 in which they were. I managed to get a good series of X. scalopacina by 

 searching rushes and thistle heads in a damp wood about a mile away, 

 where I further secured a few very good examples of Xurtna stit/matica, 

 as well as N. ilahlii. On July 12th and 18th, I captured on the 

 heather, about the summit of the Longraynds, an insect, which I feel 

 much inclined to call N. cunflua-\ ; it is smaller, and, as a rule, more 

 brilliantly coloured than N. f estiva, which latter occurs with us usually 

 in damp woods, while the smaller species is restricted to the heather, 

 which in extent covers miles on the top of " the hill." In the same 

 locality I obtained some very good forms of Dryobota fnrva, which 

 appears to be partial to high ground. C'haraeas yvaminis was very 

 common during the first half of August at the spot where earlier I had 

 got A', ticolopacina. I managed also to rear these two from cater- 

 pillars. I got a few full-fed larvte of Clioerocampa elpenor as early as 

 the 21st July ; they were very large, and ought to produce splendid 

 imagines. Aip-otis lucernea again made its appearance in its old 

 habitat ; I noticed a few flying on the 14th July. About this time I 

 bred a small number of Tet/iea siibtusa, from larvae found in the spring. 

 I was very much astonished to get A(/rotis obdisca here, both at light and 

 sugar, also two examples of Noctua depnncta ; these two species were taken 

 in August. On 29th August, and on 6th September, I captured 5 s of 

 Neuronia popularia for the first time ; they were flying around lamps ; 

 the S is common here at light most years. From the middle of 

 September to the end of October, eight specimens of the autumnal 

 brood of N. jdontaglnis emerged, one of these, a $ bred on the 28th 

 September, has the hind-wings tinged with red, nmch as the Conti- 

 nental type of this sex. On September 18th, I caught two specimens 

 of Jjithomia solidcupuh at rest, on some large ash-trees in the valley, and 

 one more on the 28th, in a like position. The first few days of 

 October I got a few Xylina ornithopux, on these same trees ; they were 

 as fresh as if they had been reared. I did not, this year, see a single 

 Mdlinia yilvapo or Cirrltoedia xcrampellna, though I began looking for 

 the latter early in August. On the other hand, I am glad to say that, 

 on the 7th October, I found a $ Tiliacra (Xanthia) aurayo at rest on 

 a blade of grass ; I placed her in a box with a branch of beech, and 

 fortunately she has laid some twenty eggs or so, the larvtc from which 

 I hope to rear next spring. This species is new to the locality. 

 During November, I bred a good series of Fnecilncampa popuU, from 

 larvjc found in June last. They vary very much in size. 1 have, for 

 some seasons past, reared [Aipcrinaccupitix from young larvjc, and have 

 always fed them exclusively on meadow-grass [L'oa annua) ; the 



* This species is very abtindant on Wicken Fen, and along the ditch sides at 

 Deal.— Ed. 



I Noctua co)ijliia, Tr., is only known as British from the Shetland and ? Orkney 

 Islands. N. ccDijlua, H.-S., is a large form of N.festira. Our correspondent's 

 specimens would appear to be .V. cuiijhia, Newn., a quite different insect, generally 

 recognised now ai» a moorland form of N. /estiva, and with no title of claim at all 

 to the name conjiita (vide., Brit. Nuct. and their Vars., ii., p. 119, and Eiit. lice, 

 vol. vii.. p. 77)— Ed. 



