i^OTES ON COLLECTING. 12^ 



and of which he did not know the name, now in a case hanging 

 in one of his rooms. He told nie that they were caught in July, 

 1886, at rest on bramble in the same locality as my 1896 specimens. 

 He laughed at the idea of "planting" when I ask him whether he 

 knew if they had been brought from the Continent and let loose, 

 and said, " I shouldn't think anybody would take the trouble." 

 An interval of ten years elapsed from the time of my having been 

 first told about A. cratacyi being taken near Dover, and my capturing 

 them, which points very strongly to the fact that they have at least 

 been breeding in this special locality for the past ten years, and 

 are, in my opinion, the last remaining link connecting them 

 with the A. erataiyi of bygone days. The whole story of my 

 capture may be summed up as folloAVS : — I was told some nine or 

 ten years ago that A. crataeiji was to be taken near Dover. In 1895 

 I ascertained the locality, and in June, 1896, captured them, and, 

 having recorded it, am told they are undoubtedly planted foreign 

 specimens. — H. Douglas Stockwell, 2, Albert Road, Dover. 



[How Mr. Stockwell can have converted our carefully worded 

 general statement into the definite statement he has substituted, is 

 beyond our comprehension. Like our correspondent's friend, we also 

 are inclined to laugh at the idea of anyone " bringing A. crataegi from 

 the Continent and then letting them loose." We never make 

 suggestions without fair knowledge that our suggestions are probably 

 true. For many years Mr. Edmonds bred A. cratmyi in the open, 

 at Windsor, and hundreds possibly escaped. We have a letter in our 

 possession, in which the fact is stated that several hundreds of pupsB 

 were bought on purpose to re-stock the old haunts of this species. 

 Two excellent lepidopterists, whose names are well known to our 

 readers, having bred some dozens of this species, and having no wish 

 to indulge in the doubtful pleasure of killing the specimens wantonly, 

 set them free. Two large broods that we kept ourselves for observa- 

 tion in the larval state, escaped from our oAvn garden, owing to the 

 growing branches of the plum tree, on which they were feeding, 

 forcing their way through the sleeves. These instances might be 

 increased tenfold without trouble. So long as the lepidopterists in 

 Britain are aware that hundreds of this particular species have been 

 set free in Surrey, Essex and Kent, science is not injured. The 

 district around Dover was well worked from 1880 until 1890, when 

 we ourselves spent the greater part of each summer, with other 

 entomologists, in the neighbourhood. Of course we might have 

 missed A. cratacf/i, but there were very few species we did miss at 

 that time. Like Mr. Stockwell, we don't think anyone brought 

 A. cratcu'i/i from the Continent and let them loose just where he 

 caught them. We never suggested anything so unlikely. — Ed.] 



ACHERONTIA ATKOPOS IN THE GuiLDFORD DISTRICT. Although for 



several years past I have heard rumours of the occurrence of this 

 interesting species in the district, I only succeeded in obtaining speci- 

 mens, in any stage of development, last year. Early in November, 

 potato-digging on a large scale was in progress near, so I made 

 enquiries of the men engaged thereon, and at last met a very 

 intelligent man, who informed me that about twenty pupse had been 

 found daring the previous day or two in a field where he w^as working, 

 and he was able to describe the pupa of A. atropos sufficiently to 



