198 [February, 



these trees in response to the beating stick. Eupisteria heparata also 

 flew among them or settled on the ground, and Adela Sulzella and 

 Degeerella, Argyrolepia cnicana, and the red form of Eulia ministrana 

 occasionally occurred. Sepialus vellecla must have been common to 

 judge by the wings dropped by the bats and lying on the ground, but 

 I could not stay late enough on any evening to see them — trains not 

 permitting. One day, however, the wind was so furious that velleda 

 was fairly compelled to shelter in the spacious chambers formed by 

 the spreading roots of large beeches, a tolerably eloquent tribute to 

 the force of the wind. 



On the last visit to the Chase I experienced a disappointment. 

 I was proceeding in the early dusk over one of the barest hills towards 

 the station, when I noticed some small moths flying among tufts of 

 Nardus stricta and other wiry grasses, but not being able to see very 

 well, took them for Gelechia terrella. To m.ake sure, however, I boxed 

 one specimen, and found it to be Gelechia politella. 



King's Lynn, Norfolk : 



August Vjth. 1886. 



THE LEPIDOPTBRA OP THE BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT. 

 BY W. G. BLATCH. 



In the November (18S6) number of the Ent. Mo. Mag. appeared 

 a contribution by AV. Harcourt Bath, entitled, "Notes on the Lepid- 

 optera of the Birmingham District: a Retrospect." 



Mr. Bath's leading idea seems to be that great changes are 

 rapidly taking place in the forms and distribution of plants and 

 insects in the Midlands, and that the Birmingham district offers a 

 specially favourable field to the student of nature, inasmuch as he can 

 there see clear and numerous signs of the extinction of certain species, 

 and their replacement by others. If this were true, it would indeed 

 be an interesting fact, and every true naturalist would eagerly turn 

 his attention to a locality in which such peculiar conditions were so 

 strongly marked. 



But what is the character of the evidence adduced by Mr. Bath 

 in support of his contention ? With the single exception of Ljjccena 

 semiargus (which formerly occurred in the district, and now seems to 

 have disappeared), there is not a particle of reliable confirmatory 

 evidence in the long array of " examples " he gives in illustration of 

 his argument. 



It would occupy too much space to deal with all the details of 



