WHITSUNTIDE IN THE MIDLANDS. 



128 



My son had never tcxken this species nor Stri/nton pnini, so we 

 broke our journey on the way to Peterborough on the morning of the 

 Srd, to try for the latter in the original Monk's Wood locality. The 

 wood, alas ! is fast vanishing under the hands of a Canadian Timber 

 Company, but I have hopes of sufficient blackthorn surviving for the 

 maintenance of -S'. pinni, as it is only the oak and ash that they are 

 after. 



The season was difficult to gauge, but we found that the hot spell 

 had more than balanced the cold March and April, and things were 

 now very forward. S. jinini larvae had all gone, except a sickly- 

 looking ichneumoned specimen and a dead one that had succumbed 

 for the same reason, but we managed to obtain three pupae which have 

 since emerged — the first as early as June 9th. Rnralis hettdae were 

 not uncommon and Trichiura crataeiji more plentiful than I have 

 known before and almost full-grown. A good many were seen 

 sunning themselves on the higher outside branches. Other blackthorn 

 feeders such as Mixelia o.rijacaiit/iae, Nola cuciiUatella and of course 

 Diliiha raerideoceiiJuda were in numbers and frequently imagines of 

 Hi/liipliila pratiinana, gorgeous in their freshness, fell into the um- 

 brellas. Several Poecilocauipa popiili and Ai/ridpin aprilina larvae and a 

 freshly emerged Craiiiophnya lupistri were found on tree trunks, and as 

 the latter was on an oak with no ash quite near, the larva evidently 

 must sometimes wander before pupating. 



Just after leaving the wood my boy espied a large nest of 

 Evi'xjaster laite.strh on a blackthorn. They were changing to their 

 last skins and leaving the nest, so we took as many as we wanted and 

 they are doing well. The delay thus caused left us none too much 

 time for our train, but we managed to catch it, well satisfied with our 

 three-and-a-half hours work in the wood. 



During a tedious wait at Peterborough, we discussed the early 

 season and the chances of C. palaemon being over. I also half-joknigly 

 mentioned that Tajtinostola concolor was taken somewhere in this 

 corner of the county (the locality unknown to me) and with things so 

 forward might already be out. 



This suggestion proved to be prophetic. We visited our C. 

 palaemon wood the same evening, put on some treacle, and while 

 dusking in an open grassy ride my boy called out that he had netted a 

 " Wainscot," and immediately after had another before I could arrive 

 to inspect. They were both in the net together and it was obvious at 

 once from the small size and robust thorax that they must be 

 T. concolor and not Petilanipa arciiosa, and so they proved to be. Two 

 others followed immediately — both falling to my son — and then the 

 flight was over. I noted the time exactly. 



The first was taken at '9.40 (summer time) and the last at 

 9.50. We searched over the ground with lanterns later, but took no 

 more. The next night we were on the spot early, but the night turned 

 chilly and few things flew. Again, however, at 9.40 (almost to the 

 minute) I netted a specimen and two more at intervals of ten minutes 

 —the last, at ten o'clock was seen to fly down into the grass and settle 

 near the roots. My boy this time drew a blank, so our combined total 

 for the two evenings was seven specimens. 



Whether our locality is the one where the species has been turned 

 up in recent years or a new one I do not know, but given a little later 



