161 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Dytiscids in the New Forest. — Mr. Ansorge (Entom. xxxvii. 

 241) asks if anyone knows of the occurrence of Deronectes lotus in the 

 New Forest. I may therefore say that there is a stream in the forest 

 in which it may always be found in early June. I was very much 

 surprised when I first found it there, a good many years ago. Another 

 rare Dytiscid occurring in the forest I thiuk has not been recorded, viz, 

 Hydrovatus clypealis. This lives in a pond near Lyndhurst, in com- 

 pany with Pelobius hermanni. — D. Sharp; Cambridge, May 9th, 1905. 



London Lepidoptera. — I should be very grateful if any of your 

 readers would kindly supply me with the names of Macro-Lepidoptera 

 actually seen or captured inside the "four-mile radius" at any time 

 since, and including, 1900. I trust it will be noted that I desire per- 

 sonal experiences only. — George Lock; 41, Nithdale Road, Plumstead, 

 S.E., May 16th, 1905. 



Eupithecia stevensata. — When collecting in Freshwater, Isle of 

 Wight, last September, I captured a Eupithecia which puzzled me to 

 name. I have just shown the specimen (which is in perfect condition) 

 to my friend Mr. L. B. Prout, and he informs me that it is undoubtedly 

 E. stevensata. The specimen was caught while dusking along an 

 ordinary hedgeside where a few tamarisks were growing, but certainly 

 no juniper. This substantiates the statement, made some time ago by 

 Mr. Sydney Webb, that the insect appears in September, and that 

 the larva does not feed on juniper. As the insect had never to my 

 knowledge been caught outside the Dover district, I thought the record 

 might prove of interest. — J. P. Mutch ; 415, Hornsey Road, N. 



[Barrett, in ' British Lepidoptera,' treats stevensata as a form of 

 E. sobrinata. " If this form," he remarks, " when reared, should 

 appear to be distinct from E. sobrinata, it will be an exceedingly 

 difficult species to describe, seeing that although the shade of colour is 

 peculiar, the markings, though differing in intensity, are accurately 

 the same." — Ed.] 



Apamea ophiogramma. — Is Poa aquatica a usual food-plant for this 

 species ? I have found no less than six larvae this year feeding upon it. 

 Both Phalaris arundinacca and Poa aquatica grow together along the 

 margins of the streams here, and I get larvae of A. ophiogramma in both, 

 although mostly in the Phalaris. A. didyma (oculea) feeds commonly 

 on Poa aquatica, but is not very abundant on Phalaris arundinacea in 

 this district. — Francis C. Woodbridge ; Northcroft, Uxbridge. 



Note on Haworth's Type-specimen of " Noctua subfusca." — At 

 the sale of the first portion of the Mason Collection, Lot 498 — which 

 included Haworth's original type-specimen, bearing his own MS. label 

 "subfusca," of his Xochia subfusca — became my property. The moth, 

 which was first described by him in Lep. Brit. p. 114, as " Bombyx 

 subfusclts, , ' but was afterwards, on p. 219 of the same work, assigned a 

 more correct position under the name " Noctua subfusca" is an 

 obscurely-marked fuscous example of Ayrotis corticea, Hb., and the 

 name has been rightly sunk as a synonym of corticea. I observe, how- 



ENTOM. — JUNE, 1905. O 



