1892. J 309 



the bottom of the net ! 3Iicra parva in a saltmarsh away from the coast line was 

 hardly to be expected, but a look at it in its box convinced me that it must be either 

 that species or 31. paula, and a subsequent examination of the insect showed that 

 it agreed well with tlie coloured figure of the former in the Ent. Ann. for 1859, and 

 bore the special characteristics mentioned by Dr. H. Gruard Knaggs in the Ent. 

 Ann. for 1874 (pp. 156 — 8), as distinguishing M. parva from its near ally. The 

 condition of the moth is not quite so good as one could wish, but it is natural to 

 conclude that it, as well as the other rare Lepidoptera that occurred along the 

 South Coast in the end of May and in June, was a visitor from the continent, and 

 had come over to us with the vast flights of C. Edusa, V. cardui, and others that 

 had undoubtedly crossed the channel, and arrived on our shores just at that same 

 time. — Eustace R. Bankes, The Rectory, Corfe Castle : October 4th, 1892. 



Vanessa Antiopa in the Isle of PiirhecTc. — It is a source of very gi'eat satisfaction 

 to me to be able to record the occurrence of V. Atitiopa in this neighbourhood during 

 the past summer, and particularly so, as it is an addition to our list of Purbeck 

 Lepidoptera. On June 1st, while Mr. Arthur W. Geffcken, who is H. M. Inspector 

 of Drawing in schools for this district, was driving along the road from Swanage to 

 Studland, between 1.30 and 2 p.m., he noticed a specimen flying along the road 

 towards him, and when quite close it turned sharply to the left over some bushes 

 in the hedge, giving him a capital view of its upper-side. I may mention that Mr. 

 Geffcken is very well acquainted with the " Camberwell Beauty," having frequently 

 met with it both in Europe and America, but he tells me that he has never before 

 seen it in Britain. — Id. 



Re-occurrence of Acrolepia marcidella in the Isle of PurhecJc. — I have much 

 pleasure in recording my third capture of this great rarity on the Purbeck coast, as 

 I was fortunate enough to net a specimen on June 15th last while it was flying in 

 the evening within a few yards of where the two previous ones were taken. It is 

 certainly in finer condition than either of them, and differs somewhat from them in 

 the pattern of its markings. Unfortunately the food-plant still remains a mystery, 

 as our efforts to find traces of the larvae have been altogether in vain. — C. R. Digby, 

 Scale, Farnham : August 30th, 1892. 



Plusia moneta. — It may intei'est some of our readers to know that the food-plant 

 {Aconitum napellus) of this insect grows in the greatest profusion, and apparently 

 wild, in Redlynch Park, Somersetshire, about four miles from Wincanton. Some 

 idea of its abundance may be formed when I state that, when in flower, it is quite 

 a feature in the landscape, and it occupies some parts of the park to the exclusion 

 of everything else. In Hooker's Flora we read " native (?) in Wales, Hereford and 

 Somerset." This latter citation may probably refer to the locality above-mentioned, 

 and yet this is not precisely the sort of place any one who has seen the plant in the 

 Alps, &c., would expect to find it in. P. moneta is pretty certainly a recent voluntary 

 introduction to this country, and appears to be somewhat of a garden insect in the 

 south-east, therefore, it is probable that any search for the insect, at present, in this 

 Somersetshire locality would prove of no avail. But it is also most certainly 

 spreading itself, and if it should get so far west as Redlynch Park it is likely to 



