115 



CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 



Tortrices in the Liverpool District. — The localities worked com- 

 prise Wallasey sand-bills, and Kirby and Simonswood Mosses, near to 

 Liverpool ; also Delamere Forest, some twenty miles away, in Cheshire. 

 Most of the species are common and pretty generally distributed, but, 

 as no local notes appear to have been published for some time, this 

 record may be of interest. Tortrix podana, Scop., is common all 

 round Liverpool. T. rosanct, L., occurred freely at Wallasey, a nice 

 series being bred from larvae taken on sallow early in July ; while 

 T. dumetana, Tr., was captured on Kirby Moss at the end of the 

 month. T. ribeana, Hb., was taken sparingly on the Moss early in 

 August, and a few T. corylana, Fb., were bred from Wallasey. T. uni- 

 fasciana, Dup., occurred freely on palings arouud Sefton Park, though 

 worn, as a rule, when I came across them. T. viridana, L. I did not 

 see any green specimens, although very abundant on the Mosses, and 

 at Delamere in July. The moths were yellow, although many ap- 

 peared fresh ; I attribute this to the damp, especially on the Mosses, 

 where it was very noticeable. T. ministrana, L., and var. ferrugana 

 occurred in some numbers at Delamere in May. T. forsterana, Fb., 

 is common throughout the district, as one would expect of so uni- 

 versally distributed an insect. The genus Peronea, Curt., is well 

 represented. P. sponsa, Fb., was bred from beech, and the moth was 

 common on palings under the trees during September. The specimens 

 are all noticeably darker than a series taken at Brockley, S.E., in 1898. 

 A visit to Wallasey the last week in July produced P. variegana, Schiff., 

 which was very abundant among the burnet-rose (Rosa spinosissima). 

 The special object of search was P. permutana, of which only one 

 example was found ; another trip on August Bank Holiday was blank 

 as regards this local insect, but P. aspersana turned up in good num- 

 bers. It is noteworthy that the black form of variegana was only 

 found on the east side of Liverpool, in the Sefton Park district ; the 

 nearest approach to it, at Wallasey, was a nearly unicolorous dark 

 brownish variety. Teras contaminana, Hb., was a common moth round 

 Sefton Park in the autumn, but I did not take many, being busy with 

 other things. The pretty Dictyopteryx bergmanniana, L., was plentiful 

 among the burnet-rose on the sand-hills throughout June ; one speci- 

 men was a pale lemon-yellow, with the ferruginous markings obsolete. 

 Penthina betulatana, Haw., and P. corticana, Hb., are everywhere abun- 

 dant among birch ; some examples were bred from Delamere larva? 

 obtained in May. Of P. sororculana, Zett., only one was captured at 

 Delamere, also in May. Pardia tripunctana, Hb., and Spilonota in- 

 carnatana, Hb., were met with at Wallasey, where the latter simply 

 swarmed the last week in July, but only seemed to last a few days in 

 good condition. Aspis ndmanniana, L.,is common, and found through- 

 out the district. Sericoris urticana, Hb., S. lacunana, Dup., and S. 

 cespitana, Hb., were also generally common. Delamere produced 

 Phoxopteryx myrtillana, Tr., in May ; abundant and easily disturbed in 

 the daytime. Hypermecia crnciana, L., a pretty little species addicted 

 to sallow, abounded on the sand-hills, and, at Wallasey, was found to 

 vary scarcely at all. Grapholitha ramella, L., and Catoptria amulana, 



