174 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



sun came out, but the wind was now almost a gale and nothing was 

 tempted to fly. We looked in at Matley Bog and I have rarely seen 

 anything so wet. We thrashed alder steadily in the hope of Macaria 

 nlternata hut only produced (^'abera pnsaria and Acidalia acersata. In 

 fact the only decent insect boxed before evening was Acidalia tritienunata 

 ofif a fence in Lyndhurst. Having been blown quite dry before we 

 got back, we thought with the high wind there might be a chance in 

 the wood, so we tried it again. While putting on treacle, the raiit 

 re-started heavily and continued all night. Nothing flew at dusk, so 

 we occupied our time searching tree trunks and low oak branches with 

 lanterns, for larvae dislodged by the storm. By this means we 

 obtained more N. treinda, X. channia and P. rideyis, and one Panolis 

 piniperda on oak evidently blown from a neighbouring pine. Treacle 

 had the same miserable result — only a few common moths — so we 

 went to bed hoping for a better day to-morrow. 



This, our last full day, proved worse than ever, and nothing could 

 be done but beating and trunk-searching. This was uncomfortable 

 enough in the rain and the sodden undergrowth, but we persisted and 

 considerably added to our bag of ^V. trepida, etc. A quite fresh 

 Hylophila jiraainana was a surprise for the time of year, and we also 

 took a late female Gnophria rubricoUis oft" a bracken frond, which gave 

 a nice batch of ova. We decided not to treacle at night, but the rain 

 having at last stopped we went out on to the Common and dug a few 

 more A. aprilina and beat a few more larvae. A specimen of 

 Nephopteri/.c spissicella was beaten out and the only Pthodophaea suarella 

 we had seen in the Forest. A pupa of KiKjimia pob/cJdoros was found 

 on a barn near a sallow tree, but a long search produced no more. 

 We then went home to pack sn as to dispatch our luggage early to 

 Fordingbridge and give ourselves as long a morning as possible 

 should the day prove tine. 



At last we got a morning with some blue sky visible and no wind, 

 so we took lunch with us, saw our bags oft' in the cart and cycled to 

 Fordingbridge for an afternoon train. The sun never came well out, 

 but it was warm and still, and butterflies were in even greater numbers 

 than on the 7th ; twenty var. valesina were taken in an hour or two, 

 although the females of 7). papliia were still in a very small minority. 

 Three more white-spotted males occurred, all badly damaged, and a 

 female with a patch of valesina colouring in the centre of the right hind- 

 wing, but wath more extreme varieties we had no luck. We could not get 

 a day, however, without rain, and down it came again before one o'clock. 

 This finished the butterflies as we had to leave at two, but happily 

 we got a dry ride over the moors to Fordingbridge. Our last capture 

 was a fine B. roboraria on a tree just outside the enclosure — No ! not 

 the last — as in Fordingbridge we found a colony of Cia-idlia larvae on 

 VerbascHiii nigrwii which we fondly hope may be C. lyclmitia — time 

 will show, as I am always doubtful about these larvae. 



A striking feature among the New Forest butterflies was the 

 absence of Ar<jynnis af/laia and A. ci/dij)pe (adippe) — none of the 

 former and only one of the latter. They may have been present on 

 the open ground outside the enclosure, but the wind was so high all 

 the time that they certainly did not fly. One other species new to me 

 as a New Forest insect was Catocala nitpta, a larva of which was 

 found when searching for /*.'. poh/rldoros pupae. I thought at first it 

 w^as a dark C. sponsa, but soon recognised its true identity. 



