186 THE entomologist's record. 



district. Hepialus hecta swarmed in most of the woods. A few heavily 

 marked Hepialus fusconebulosa {relleda) were taken at rest on grassy 

 banks towards the end of the month. A small secluded valley near 

 Abertillery gave Adscita staticcn, mostly of the liridis form, in plenty, 

 this species is exceeding local here, 1 only know of two spots where 

 it occurs. Anthroccra filipenilnlae and A. trifolii were in great 

 numbers in two or three flourishing colonies. Specimens with 

 confluent blotches were not uncommon, two or three A. trifolii ab. 

 minoides were taken as were several examples of the Idppocrepidis form 

 of A.Jilipendidae. Hippocrita jacobacv was fairly common in gardens, 

 but it is not a generally common insect in the district. On one 

 hillside Farasemia plantaf/inis was very common, dashing madly about 

 in the hot sunshine. This is an exceedingly difficult insect to take on 

 the wing in such situations ; about 4 p.m., however, they begin to settle 

 down for the night, and the flight then is not nearly so rapid, so a 

 good series was taken with comparatively little trouble. iJiacrisia 

 aannio {russula) appears to be a scarce insect here, a pair, <? and $ , 

 were beaten out of a clump of rushes in a small dingle within a few 

 yards of where I took a pair last year. These four specimens are all 

 I have seen of this species in these valleys. I have not seen anything 

 of Phragmatobia fidiginosa this year, in spite of close searching for the 

 larvae on sunny days in the Spring. One larva was found, last year, 

 crawling over heather, which ultimately gave a fine S • Spilusnma 

 nienthastri and S. lubricipeda were taken commonly enough at rest on 

 railway banks and amongst rough herbage, as well as in flight at dusk. 

 A single $ Diaphora mendica was beaten out of a patch of nettles in 

 the Llanock Wood, Crumlin. This $ laid about sixty ova on the 

 sides of the chip box in which she was confined. The larvfe fed up 

 well and rapidly on dock and I have now about forty pupae. This is 

 the first example of D. mendica I have seen in this neighbourhood. On 

 the slopes and on the heather covered tops of the hills the J s of 

 La&iocampa quercm and Macrothidacia ritbi were dashing about in 

 considerable numbers, in their wild erratic flight ; the latter being by 

 far the commoner of the two species. About 8.30 p.m. the ? s of 

 Macruthylacia rubi put in an appearance, flying low down over the 

 heather, they are much more easily taken on the wing than the S s. 



With the Noctuae comparatively little was done, sugar, as I have 

 mentioned before, was a complete failure. All my captures were taken 

 either at rest or in flight at dusk. A solitary pupa, collected at the foot 

 of a Lombardy poplar, near Wellingborough, Northants, in December, 

 1910, produced a fine Paliuipsestis uctotjeaima at the beginning of June. 

 A word of warning to those who are fortunate enough to breed this 

 species. At 9 a.m., when I first saw my specimen, it was in perfect 

 condition and appeared to be resting quietly on the side of a breeding 

 cage ; thinking it would be advisable to leave it alone for an hour or 

 two I did not look at it again till 1 o'clock; to my dismay I found that 

 it had, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., managed to knock itself about 

 rather badly, so 1 have now come to the conclusion that bred examples 

 of this species should be killed as soon as possible after the wings are 

 thoroughly dry. 



Sugaring for IJabnmjne derasa and Thyatira batis was a failure, 

 both species are rather rare in this locality. Acronycta psi was 

 common at rest on tree trunks, this species appears to prefer the 



