106 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



new, district record), and Rodophcea consociella. Out of thirteeu larvae of 

 Callimorpha hera I had seven alive at the end of April, and four of these 

 died. Three moths emerged on the 17th, 19th, and "^Oth of July. So 

 much for keeping hybernating larvae indoors! Few people are aware what 

 a good beetle we have at Chester — the small cockchafer, Melolontha solsti- 

 tialis ; and it is plentiful, though local. I got twenty in half an hour or 

 80 on the evening of the 17th, and sent them off to a coleopterist who was 

 without the species. It frequently comes to the electric lights. 



August. — As in May, there is commonly a serious and general break in 

 the weather during the first fortnight, usually about the l'2th. On the 

 3rd a friend and I made an early start for the VVirrai. Hardly had we got 

 to work amongst the Lepidoptera, when a black and angry-looking cloud 

 was seen coming rapidly over the horizon from the south-east : the storm- 

 path here is usually from south-east to north-west, and vice versa. Epine- 

 phele tithonus was out in such gratifying numbers that we anticipated 

 varieties ; but they were flying heavily and evidently looking about for 

 shelter. We were out in the open country, and it was too apparent that 

 time only admitted of hurrying to the only available haven, a railway-bridge 

 spanning a cutting. Just in time, and then came the thunder, lightning, 

 waterspout and setni-darkness ! We were in a state of siege for hours, for 

 the storm was driven back again from the coast by a fierce Atlantic gale. 

 This was the break-up of the weather, and entomology had to wait for quite 

 a week. Colias edusa was first observed on the 17th. Weighing the 

 evidence at hand, and trying to avoid anything undigested, I should say 

 the subsequent numbers of the butterfly were not due to migration but to 

 climatic and other circumstances favourable to the insects. I believe that 

 they are with us always. Besides, the migratory theory is always exposed 

 to the query, Where did they come from ? Lxiperiaa cespitis appeared at 

 the electric lamps on the 14th, and Notodonta dromedarius on the 17th. 

 The last species had been continuously emergmg from the chrysahs since 

 the Ist of June, and I am therefore inclined to put the insect captured on 

 the 17th down to a retarded emergence. On the same date I took at the 

 lamps a fine fresh specimen of Hydnecia petasitis — new to Chester ; and ray 

 friend Mr. Hargreaves (Mr. Cattermole), of the " Private Secretary " Com- 

 pany, captured' an Aplecta occulta — also new to Chester — on the JiSth. 

 Xanthia xerampelina is worth mentioning, in August, as a moth not quite 

 so scarce as in previous years. Amongst the beetles at the lamps was 

 Necrophorus ruspator. The dragonfly .3^schna grandis has been common 

 as usual during the summer. 



September. — I had found many species of larvae so scarce during the 

 season that I paid a visit to Delamere Forest on the 15th. Here the 

 birch-feeders, at any rate, were well represented. Brilliantly coloured are 

 many of them, and distinguished in appearance. A'', camelhia was very 

 common, including the rose-coloured variety. The same observation 

 applies to N. dromedarius; its red form, with the tips of the humps a 

 flaming crimson, is indeed a handsome caterpillar. Dasychira pudibunda 

 was also beaten from the birches : where is there a handsomer caterpillar, 

 with its delicate birch-green, its velvet-black segmental divisions, its four 

 pale straw-coloured, brush-like tufts or ornaments, its radiating groups of 

 golden hairs, and anal plume of maroon or purple? There were examples 

 m plenty of a whitish or very pale green larva, almost white below, with 

 legs and claspers of the same tint. The dorsal surface was a dark olive- 

 green, the head light reddish, and there was a shining black shield on the 



