NOTES ON COLLECTING. 25 



from July lst-13th about 20 of the curious form of Paedisca profandana, 

 which I have noted before, in this magazine, as in no case approaching 

 any other iormot P. jtrofioidana, and, contrary to last year's experience, 

 three or four larvse found on oak some distance from the orchard and 

 entrusted to Mr. Bower produced ordinary forms. I do not know how 

 many, but I think three or five larvae were all I could find on June 

 3rd in a whole afternoon's searching on oak, whereas I got 44 of that 

 of the variety on apple in about half-an-hour on the 2nd. This seems 

 curious. At the present time Asteyoscopus spliin.i- is coming fairly 

 freely to light.— E. F. Studd, Oxton, Exeter. Xoveinber 25th, 1903. 



LEPmoPTERA at Knutsford. — With regard to the past season, there 

 is no doubt that the autumn has been the worst for collecting we have 

 had for many years, but I must say I found July and the first half 

 of August fairly good for sugaring. On several evenings insects 

 abounded, and, on one night especially, July 28th, I think I am well 

 within the mark in saying there were at least 1000 moths at my sugar at 

 one time. The round, moreover, was not an extensive one — not more 

 than 50 trees — and I counted over 50 moths on one patch of treacle. 

 The species were chiefly Ortho.sia sasptecta, Xoctiiabaia, Apamea didi/ina, 

 Noctxa festiva and that class of insect. The sugaring was not bad 

 either in early July when I was in Dorset.— George 0. Day, F.E.S., 

 Knutsford. October 21th, 1903. 



Cossus cossus at sugar. — I occasionally see a record of Cossus 

 cosstis being seen at sugar. I had a similar experience myself on 

 Aiigust 1st last, at a place called Rudheath, a few miles from Knuts- 

 ford. The moth which arrived after I had put the treacle on, was 

 resting just above the patch. I could not see if it was attempting to 

 imbibe the sweets or not. The curious part is that the wood consists 

 principally of fir-trees. — George 0. Day, Knutsford. October 27th, 

 1903. 



Lepidoptera at Market Drayton, in the New Forest and Cornwall. 

 — I think every one must allow that, on the whole, it has been a bad 

 season. It began badly, for the sallows were all in bloom and spoiled 

 before the moths emerged. Then the April frosts spoiled everything 

 and rendered larva-hunting after Easter quite useless. In May, many 

 species usually common here, were scarce, e.;/., Macaria notata, Xola 

 confttsalis, etc., even Cidaria cori/lata was comparatively rare. 

 Triphosa certata, however, was unusually numerous, and, between the 

 20th and 30th, I once or twice netted 20 in a single evening, flying at 

 dusk in a lane having many barberry bushes in the hedges. Zonosoma 

 pendularia was very scarce, and the type this year was commoner than 

 the variety. In early June, usually our best time here, the woods 

 produced almost nothing, but, in my cages, a brood of Xotodonta 

 trcpida emerged from the proceeds of a batch of ova obtained from a 

 wild parent taken June 25th, 1902. About 80% of the pupte produced 

 imagines, the remainder lying over. I also hatched a large number of 

 Coccipv strobilana, from spruce cones gathered in the New Forest in the 

 previous October, in the vain hope of getting Knpithecia toi/ata larvie ; 

 curiously enough they are the first recorded specimens from that 

 district. I say "curiously enough," because I am only a very chance 

 collector of Tortricids. I also bred a very dark 5 Ladocampa <juercus 

 from a larva picked up here. The colour is a very dark chocolate-brown, 

 not so red as the typical male. From June 15th to June 22nd I was in 



