50 THE entomologist's hecord. 



Lepidoptera at Skipwith and the Norfolk Broads. — With regard 

 to general conditions, my experience hias been pretty much the same 

 as that of others — bad, worse, worst, about describes the season of 1903 

 as far as fieldwork goes. The autumn has been quite hopeless — 30 

 rainy days in October, with 7"72in. of rain, in this dry district. 

 Since May I have been out whenever possible, even on the bitter 

 evenings in mid-June, when one's fingers were quite numb with the 

 cold while watching for the moths which should have come to the 

 flowers of rocket, etc. May was divided into two nearly equal parts — 

 lst-17th, constant rain and very dull, followed by a spell of bright, 

 rather scorching, weather, with persistent E. or N.E. wind and low 

 night temperatures. Lepidoptera backward and very scarce — very 

 few moths of any sort on the wing at dusk. Cmpidia inenijanthidis 

 was only just coming out at the end of the month ; Hadena f/lauca 

 more plentiful than usual. The most interesting event, however, was 

 the occurrence of two specimens of Coccyx cosmop/mrana on the 30th, 

 an addition to the local, and, I believe, to the county, list. Some 

 pupsB of Cucnllia hjchnitis which had " gone over " also began to 

 produce moths at the end of the month. They were from a batch of 

 21 larvae reared in 1901, of which six moths emerged last year. 

 Fourteen more came out this year, the last emerging on July 3rd. 

 June was cold and ungenial for the first three weeks, and insects 

 continued to be scarce. The first Theretra porcellns appeared at 

 rhododendron flowers on the 4th, and only three more were seen 

 altogether, and no Eiwiorpha elpenor. L'tispidia inenijantJiidis con- 

 tinued to appear till the 9th, after which none were found. A visit 

 to Bishop's Wood on the 6th showed the larvfe of usually common 

 species to be in profusion, e.g., Hi/bernia defoliaria, Cheutiatobia 

 bruiiiota, Phigalia pedaria, and Oporabia dilutata, but the onlymoths seen 

 were Cidaria mfuniata (fine), Eitpisteria ohliterata (a few, getting 

 worn), Acidalia reiiiutata (quite over), and a single specimen each of 

 Lomaspilia nianjinata, Ephyra punctaria, and Pacdisca bilunana. 

 Neniotnis airaiiDnerdaiiwlla was the only really abundant species. The 

 inside of a week, from June 21st to 26th, was spent in the Norfolk 

 broads with Messrs. Porritt and Lofthouse, but, though favoured with 

 brilliant weather, collecting was a failure, nothing worth noting being 

 taken, and no species except Tortrix costana being really plentiful, 

 and many of the usual local things entirely absent. Personally I 

 had the pleasure of making the acquaintance for the first time of 

 Papilio maclmon and Hi/drelia uncnla in their wild state. Light was 

 singularly unproductive, though we had what appeared an ideal 

 pitch for our lamps. On my return home at the end of the 

 month, I went for Acidalia straininata, but the species did 

 not put in an appearance till July 10th, and was not fully out 

 till the 19th and 20th. During this time the weather was very 

 showery, the delicate little moths soon got spoiled, and they were 

 quite over by the 2(Sth. I had the good fortune to take one specimen 

 that, had it been quite fresh, would have been a most beautiful aber- 

 ration ; unfortunately the showery weather had stripped the wings of 

 the greater part of the cilia and doubtless taken some of the freshness 

 oft" the wings themselves. In this specimen the whole area between 

 the last transverse line and the hind margin is suftused with light 

 smoky-grey, the wing-rays being conspicuously darker and the mar- 



