May, 1895. 1 |y5 



NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF STEGANOPTl'CHA PYGM^ANA, 

 Hb., at MERTON (NORFOLK) IN 1894. 



BY JOHN UA.KTLEY DUERAXT, F.E.S. 



Towards the end of April, 1S93, in the middle of the day, a small 

 Tortrix with white hind-wings flew over ray head, and not having a 

 net with me I was unable to catch it, as it flew to the top of a high 

 Scotch fir. 



I had for several years been on the look out for S.pygmceana, but 

 this brief view^ was all I had of it in 1893, for although I searched 

 diligently I was unable to meet with another. I made a note to try 

 earlier the next year. I commenced hunting for it, on sunshiny 

 days, from the beginning of March, 189J<, but I did not meet with it 

 until the 25th, when I secured a fine ^ . I took another on the 26th, 

 one on the 29th, three on the 30th (one a ? ), six on April 1st, three on 

 the 2nd, two on the 3rd, four on the 4th, one on the 6th, and ten on the 

 7th. Hitherto my captures had been obtained from isolated high 

 spruces, necessitating very hard work, for it was necessary to throw 

 heavy sticks to the tree-tops, and when a moth v/as started mark where 

 it settled, and then again dislodge it in the same manner until it came 

 low enough to be caught with a net on a long pole. On the 8th 

 I was unable to find a specimen on the trees, so I thought I would 

 work the spruce hedges which border the grass drives in the Merton 

 kitchen garden. At the first stroke out ^evf pygmcsana. I had with 

 much exertion and great expenditure of time already captured 32 

 specimens. On this day (the 8th) I had the satisfaction of takiug 

 33 more in about a couple of hours. Henceforth I confined my at- 

 tention to the hedges. On the 9th I took eleven, on the 10th twenty- 

 seven, on the 11th seven. The weather now changed and became cold 

 and rainy ; I took four more on the 15th, and finding that though 

 still out in numbers they were getting worn, and badly mixed with 

 hjfrciniana, I ceased collecting, w'ell satisfied with a bag of 114 speci- 

 mens, all taken within about 100 yards of my house. 



When first met with they occurred only on the sunny side of the 

 trees, and when I moved to the hedges they were still to be found 

 only on the sunny side. It was very pleasant collecting now, for I 

 had a hedge on either side (about 12 feet apart), and could stand in 

 the shadow and catch them in the sunshine. The ^ appears to fly 

 freely for little more than half an hour at about mid-day, evidently 

 seeking the ? , which, in my experience, is found only on the shady 

 side ; after this brief flight they only fly when disturbed. I took my 



