240 



fMarcIi, 



The only representative of the MycetophiUdce which I discerned among my captures was 

 BoUtophila cinerea. The TipuUdce suffered severely, of course, from the wet. Lim- 

 nohia picta I found very common among a lot of wild sage by the side of the Grassmere 

 Road, but only secured one specimen. Tipula o.nnulicomis was among the most 

 attractive species of the family, to which T. longicornis formed a dowdy contrast. 

 Limnohin lenco-phwa, and flavipes, and Erioptera nodulosa, complete my list of Tipulidw, 

 so far as I have been able to determine the species. By far the best of my captures 

 were two in the same family, LepUdoe, both taken on the same day and at the same 

 place, Coniston Old Man, viz. : — Leptis notnia, which is, according to Walker, " Rare ; 

 in the collection of the Entomological Club," and Atherix crassicornis, of which the same 

 learned authority remarks monosyllabically " Rare." I confess to have named tlie latter 

 rather on the " aut Erasmus, aut diaholus " principle ; but Professor Westwood, after 

 kindly subjecting my specimen to a close scrutiny, arrived at the same opinion. 



So ends the " Dipterous " account of our excursion. May another year prove more 

 auspicious ! — E. M. Geldart, Balliol College, Oxford. 



NOTES ON COLLECTING, MANAGEMENT, &c., (LEPIDOPTERA). 



BY H. G. KNAGGS, M.D. 



THE CATERPILLAR STATE. (Continued from page 220.) 



Times of year. — Necessarily, larvae may be taken all the year round ; but, 

 inasmuch as the hnnter v^ill stand a better chance of " making a bag " at particular 

 seasons, it may be as well to mention the more pi'ofitable times" in which to pursue 

 his occupation. 



Firstly, as soon after winter as may be convenient, it will be advisable to col- 

 lect, at favourable localities, quantities of fallen leaves ; and, having placed them 

 on a sheet, to knock them about in order to detach any hybernating larvse which 

 may be present. The French say that, though this method is rather chance- 

 work, the larvse of many of the rarer Noctuw are sometimes to be got in plenty 

 by the process ; at any rate it is worth trial ; nor do I doubt but that indoor 

 examination of sackfuls of dead leaves and moss from likely localities ; rubbish, 

 soil, tufts of plants (roots and all), especially from our heaths and sandhills ; 

 herbage gathered fi-om favoured banks and slopes, &c., would be most productive, 

 not only in the matter of hybernating larvse, but of other prizes, and amply 

 repay the trouble of collection and the expense of transport. 



About this time also loose bark may be detached (by means of a lever such as 

 used by Coleopterists) ; earthward-looking surfaces, the bottoms of stacks and ricks 

 whether of faggots, heather, gorse, beans, reeds, straw, or hay, &c., should be poked 

 about and investigated ; barns, out-houaes, garden frames and pits, inspected ; 

 thatched and other roofings beaten ; stones, logs, sods, &c., tui-ned over ; chinks 

 and crevices in trees, posts, pales, and walls, peered into ; tufty plants, (as grasses, 

 storks-bill, primrose, garden pinks, and the like) and tangled herbage turned up, 

 shaken, and both they and the surface of the soil beneath them carefully examined, 

 and indeed every conceivable hybernaculum should be hunted up, not forgetting the 

 nests of Hymenoptera (especially deserted ones) for the Galleridee. 



After continued heavy rains in February, there generally ensues a mild night 

 or two, without a breath of wind, and the groand being saturated with moisture, 



