NOTES ON COLLBCTING. 95 



Christy (Emsworth) says that, " on Jan. 20th, he took what appeared 

 to be a freshly-emerged male specimen of Phigalia pedaria at rest, 

 out of doors." Dr. Chapman writes again on March 8th, from 

 Cannes : "I took a Laitipides boetica yesterday, very worn," whilst, on 

 the 9th, he writes : " I have seen (Joneptenjx cleopatm. ]\[. fttdla- 

 tarum, in all conditions, is common. I have seen none ovipositing, 

 all on walls and hot banks, flying in the manner you wot." On 

 March 13th, the doctor further reports the capture of a Pohjgunia cgea. 



URRENT NOTES. 



Mr. Harcourt Bath thinks that the Fellows of the Entomological 

 Society are a poor lot not to be able to see that " Darwin " and 

 " Wallace " and " amixia " are responsible for the extermination of 

 British Lepidoptera. We would like to know whether the "insular 

 isolation " of, and influence of " amixia " on, Lycacna arion, are any 

 greater to-day than they have been at any period — say — for the last 

 tAventy thousand years. We have an idea, too, that we have seen 

 a small bird or two occasionally in France. But, evidently, Mr, 

 Bath should be a Fellow of the Entomological Society, in order to 

 explain Darwin's views more fully to the members of that much over- 

 estimated and self satisfied body. 



Mr. Kane records the capture of a small specimen of Leucania 

 unlpnncta [extranea), at Timoleague, on the coast of Cork, at sugar, 

 on a railway post, in September last. This is the second Irish 

 capture, the other being taken in the same month, at Clonbrock, 

 CO. Galway. 



The Nonpareil Entomological and Natural History Society held a 

 very successful exhibition of natural history objects at their meeting 

 rooms, on the evening of Feb. 18th, 1897. Much credit is due to 

 the secretaries and committee, who had the matter in hand. There 

 was a large number of visitors. 



Mr. Tutt read a paper on " The Variation of Lepidoptera and its 

 causes," at the meeting of the Essex Field Club, held on March 6th, 

 at Buckhurst Hill. 



We would call attention to the fact that the Rev. Prof. Wiltshire 

 (25, Granville Park, Lewisham, S.E.), the secretary of the Ray 

 Society, can still supply the early volumes of Buckler's Larvae of 

 Butierjiies and Moths, to the more recent recruits to our ranks. 



Mr. Graf-Kriisi again brings his nets to the notice of British 

 entomologists. We have no hesitation in recommending them to our 

 readers, as we have used nothing else for collecting for the last three 

 or four years. 



:]^RACTICAL HINTS. 



Field Work for April and May. 



By H. H. COKBETT, M.E.C.S. 



1. — The larva of Cosmia paleacea is to be found at the end of May 

 or beginning of June on birch. Beat the lower branches hard. The 

 larva is very sickly-looking, and, before I knew them, I used to throw 

 them away, thinking that they were ichneumoned. 



2. — The larva of Taeniocampa populeti is to be found at the end of 

 May, between flatly united leaves of poplar. The larva of Tethea 



