1870.1 229 



C. tristis, of the same author, is, I have no doubt, identical with C. Brullcei, Dbm. 

 The specific distinctness of C. tener, Zadd., can scarcely be decided until the (J has 

 been found. — Id. 



Note on Argi/nnis Dia. — I have to announce an undoubtedly British specimen of 

 this fritillary. It is a female, and was taken in 1872 at Worcester Park, Surrey, by 

 a connection of my own, Master Wallace A. Smith. He could not identify his cap- 

 ture, and placed it apart by itself. Very recently, on my looking over his insects, 

 he drew my attention to the specimen as something peculiar : he perfectly recollects 

 making the capture, and the exact spot where it was made. I found the specimen 

 pinned and set in beginner's fashion. Mr. Wallace Smith has never had 

 to do with any dealer or collector ; and, except things given to him by me, his 

 cabinet contains nothing but what he captured himself. — W. Aenold Lewis, 

 Temple : February liih, 1876. 



A fortnight at T'entnor in October. — A fortnight's work at the ivy between 

 Ventnor and St. Laurence in October sounds promising enough, but in fact last year 

 I found its results not a little disappointing. The weather certainly was unfavoura- 

 ble and cold ; it was also genei-ally moonhght, and the ivy's attraction suffered per- 

 haps from want of concentration ; but, making every allowance for this, the returns 

 were indeed meagre, considering the locality. Phlogophora meticulosa alone was con- 

 sistent and unremitting in its attendance, poorly backed up by Anihocelis j^istacina 

 and Cerastis vaccinii. My best and, indeed, only good capture was one Heliothis 

 armijera which appeared on the 19th, a night so bleak and unprofitable that I was 

 almost beginning to look for Dasycampa rubiginea. It was a $ , and I should have 

 been grateful for two or three eggs, but in this respect I was not to be humoured. 

 Other captures were Agrotis saucia (of which I amassed half-a-dozen wasted speci- 

 mens), five Epunda lichenea (from which I obtained a few eggs — unfertilised), one 

 Calocampa exoleta, three Epunda nigra, a few Orthosia macilenta, and one Nocttia 

 glareosa (this last quite fresh, though on Wimbledon Common it had been over nearly 

 a month earlier) . Of many common insects, such as Agriojns ajjriliiia, lladena protea, 

 Orlhosia lota, and A. litura, I saw no trace. 



On the 20th (the last night of my stay), the weather changed. For tho first 

 time it was both dark and warm. En route for tho ivy, I found ichneumons so com- 

 mon at the lamps, and was so elated by tho capture of Nonagria crassicornis in a 

 similar situation (the first insects I had seen at light during my stay), that I foolishly 

 broke the charm by returning for a reinforcement of pill-boxes and pins. 



Bidding farewell to the ivy, I noticed what looked like a Notodonta on one of 

 the lamps ; a climb revealed Uasypolia Templi ! Now, on this esplanade there are 

 five lamps and no more, and on these five lamps I foiuid ten Templi, Insi two on each. 

 Very probably there were more, as two of the lamps were diilicult of inspection, and 

 2e)?iju/j has a decided partiality for the dark corners and tho uprights. Curiously 

 enough, on the other lamps in the town, many of them lighting the terraces which 

 wind up from the esplanade, and not fifty yards distant, I could not detect a single 

 specimen. This species seems rather common in tho North (indeed, " live females " 

 appear to be the principal stock-in-trade of the Barnsley Entomologists), but I be- 

 lieve it has always been scarce in the South, and the occurrence of ten specimens on 

 half as many contiguous lamps is probably unprecedented. — C. J. Buckmasteu, 

 Sussex Lodge, Southfields, Wandsworth : February, 1876. 



