(30 rAut'ust, 



opposite where the tram stops (Wallasey Eoad) being followed will 

 lead the traveller directly through Wallasey village on to the sandhills 

 in their best parts. The distance from Liscard Village is about two 

 miles, rather under than over, and in following the road either the 

 fork may be taken which rises up to Wallasey Church, and which 

 eventually leads past the Claremont Schools, across a pii;ce of waste 

 ground and down the lane opposite a row of cottages on to the sand- 

 hills, or the main road which descends just before reaching the Church, 

 and then turns to the right to form the main street of the village. 

 The former road offers a little better collecting for the Lepidopterist, 

 by beating the hedges, than the latter. 



Arrived on the sandhills, the Lepidopterist need have nothing to complain of, 

 nor need the Coleopterist, nor would the student of any other Order of insects go 

 away without many species of interest, pi-oviding the weather be suitable. Among 

 the Diurnal Lej^idoptera, the only butterfly not of universal distribution, which 

 haunts this district, is the "Grayling" {Salyrus Semele), and during August this is 

 abundant, and it is most interesting to notice how the species has a habit of settling 

 on the bare sand, where it is not easily observed, owing to tlie harniony between the 

 speckled pattern of the uuder-sides of the wings, and the surface on which it rests. 

 During August and September, by examining the tufts of yellow bed-straw {Galium 

 veriim) the larvae of Chcerocawpa porcellus and Macroglossa stellatarum may be 

 found, and that of Deilephila galii may be looked for at the same time, for it once 

 occurred in abundance here (in 1870), but has not been met with since. On the 

 same tufts may probably be found the larvfe of Melanippe galiata and Eubolia 

 lineolata, both of which species are common on the sandhills, just beyond Wallasey 

 Village. The larvae of Arctia fuliyinosa may be found throughout the autumn on 

 low plants, and those of Bomhyx rubi among the tangled grass, and Itosa spiiioais- 

 sima, but both these species hibernate, and are difBcult to get through the winter, 

 though, by adopting Mr. Eobson's plan — or, at any rate, the one recommended by 

 him, — of enclosing a single full-fed larva of the "fox" moth in a chip-box, and 

 leaving it for a few weeks in the fender by the kitchen fire, they may often be got to 

 form their cocoons, and to emerge early in the following year. By shaking the her- 

 bage hanging from the sandy banks, Mamestra alliiolon, Leticania littoralis, 

 Heliothis peltigera (occasionally), and many other species of NoctucB may be obtained 

 in good condition ; while, by examining the ragwort flowers with a lantern, Agrotis 

 valligera, tritici, aquilina, cnrsoria, tiigricans, and prcecox, Hydrcecia niclitans, &c., 

 may be taken in abundance on favournble nights in August and September, while at 

 the same time there is a chance of Sterrha sacraria on the same flowers, for it has 

 occurred here a few times. Several of tlie above-mentioned Noctnte, Agrotis valli- 

 gera especially, may be seen during the day-time, even in the hot sunshine, on the 

 ragwort flowers, but they fall off at the slightest alarm. The Wallasey sandhills, 

 as^ everybody knows, are the home of at least three species of Lepidopterous insects, 

 which scarcely, if at all, occur elsewhere, viz. : Nyssia zonaria, though this has 

 spread itself, and been transplanted for some distance along the coast ; Rhodaria 

 sanguinalis ; and Feruitea permutana. N. zonaria occurs in the imago condition 



