1892. ) 97 



1 (2) With two spots on the second abdominal segment 1. bisiffnata, Wdm. 



2 (1) With three spots on both the second and third abdominal segments... 



2. Jioralis, Mgn. 



B. BISIGIS'ATA, Wdm. 



Forehead and face prominent ; frontal stripe black ; antennae grey, with the 

 third joint three or four times the length of the second ; palpi black in the male, 

 sometimes pale in the female ; thorax of the male black, with three stripes, the 

 middle one broad and sometimes trifid ; the female thorax is cinereous, and marked 

 with four narrow stiipes ; three outer dorso-central bristles behind the transverse 

 groove ; abdomen grey, with two distinct, large, round spots on the second segment, 

 in the male with a central dorsal black line, anal segments black and shining ; in 

 the female the abdomen is greyish-white, with the spots very indistinct, and placed 

 more on the sides ; scutellum black in male, cinereous in female ; legs black. Not 

 common ; I captured both sexes near Maidstone, in Kent, in 1891. 



M. FLOEALis, Mgn. non Fin.* 



This little species (from 3 to 4 mm. in size) resembles the former in its general 

 colour and markings on the thorax, but the design upon the abdomen is different, 

 there being three spots instead of two on the second segment, and also upon the 

 third ; they often coalesce, and the middle spots seem formed by a dilatation of part 

 of the central stripe opposite the middle of the segments, the spot so formed being 

 sometimes on a higher level than the others ; the thii'd joint of the antennae is 

 rather shorter in proportion than in M. hisignata, and the abdominal spots are much 

 more distinct in the female. Kare ; I captured a single male near York in 1889. 



(To he continued). ] '^^ [.^ 



NOTES ON COLLECTINa TOETRICBS (THE POLE SYSTEM). 



BY CHARLES PENN, F.E.S. 



There is one thing which I have little doubt has struck most 

 Lepidopterists who have travelled at all, and that is, the difference in 

 the tactics pursued by the collectors of widely removed localities, even 

 when in search of the same insect. I used to be especially amused 

 at some of the fashions in nets, both as regards shape and size, and I 

 have even known the colour of the gauze or leno to be peculiar to 

 certain places, although it can hardly be classed as a local variation. 

 I dare say my own net was equally a subject of comment, from its 

 large size, but I am convinced that the larger a net can be worked, up 

 to a certain size, the greater will be the success attendant on its use. 

 "We might all of us be of some service to each other if we were to 

 compare notes a little more ; but there is something closely allied to 

 secretiveness (to put it as mildly as possible) among a certain class of 

 collectors which it is almost impossible to overcome. 



* T.floralis, Flu., belongs to the genus Nemorilla. 



