﻿NOTES FROM AN ESSEX LEPIDOPTERISt's DIARY. 265 



The 26tb was fine and warm, with sun and cloud and a light 

 westerly breeze. A female P. napi which was sent to me alive 

 from the South of Ireland deposited about forty eggs upon a 

 plant of black mustard, and I hope I may breed one or two of 

 the dark hrijonuji-lookmg females next spring. As it was a very 

 favourable evening for sugaring I went to the lanes and marshes, 

 and, as I anticipated, moths swarmed, twenty to forty on each 

 patch of sugar, the ground below being sprinkled with those that 

 had fallen off. The most numerous were pallens, c-nigrum, and 

 xanthographa — the two former very small examples, particularly 

 the pallens, some of which are smaller than any I have ever seen. 

 This seems to be the result of the hot dry summer, causing 

 perhaps a shortage of food ; the larvae fed up more rapidly than 

 usual, second broods appearing earlier this year than they 

 generally do. Among the jjallens were several of the red variety, 

 some of them very bright. Other species seen or taken were 

 A'', plecta, A. suffasa, A. segetum, G. Uhatrix, M. maura, C. niipta, 

 A. tragopogonis, C. vetnsta, P. mcticulosa, T. pronuha, X. polyodou, 

 H. micacea, H. paliidis (very much worn), and four of the red 

 variety of L.favicolor (second brood). 



The 28th was another favourable night for sugar, very warm 

 and oppressive, with a little fine rain occasionally. Moths were 

 in the greatest abundance ; I have never seen anything like it 

 before, the patches of sugar were quite hidden by them, and they 

 kept fighting and pushing each other about, but they seemed to 

 be rather light- shy and flew off in swarms directly the rays 

 of the lamp were turned on them. It was also difficult to box 

 any particular insect I wanted among the crowd, for as often as 

 not when the box was held under it three or four undesirables 

 would flop in at the same time. A great many were attracted 

 to my light, and when I placed it on the ground while boxing 

 an insect off a blade of grass, &c., dozens would come dashing 

 against the glass. These were chiefly Luperina testacea and 

 EpinPAironia popularis. The swarms to-night consisted of the 

 same species that I obtained on the 26th ; the best were three 

 L.favicolor, there might have been others, but among the crush 

 it was difficult to distinguish them. 



The 30th was a fine warm night. I went to the lanes and 

 marshes again. There were scores of moths on the sugar, but 

 nothing like the number there had been on the 28th. They 

 were mostly the same species, with the addition of Amathes 

 [Orthosia) circellaris, Agrotis saucia, and Calamia lutosa. It was 

 rather early for the latter, but it had been out for some days, as 

 its wings were rubbed and split. 



The first day in September was fine, bright and hot. I went 

 to a lucerne field in the morning, where I saw and caught two 

 Pyrameis cardui — one very fine, the other damaged ; these were, 

 I suspect, immigrants, as was also Plusia gamma, of which I 



