254 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vanessa antiopa in South-East London. — We captured this after- 

 noon in our garden here a fine specimen (barring a shght nick in one 

 of the hind wings) of Vanessa antiopa. The insect was taken by my 

 children on a fruit tree we had been in the habit of sugaring for 

 moths. — Geokge B. Browne; 43, Southbrook Road, Lee, S.E., 

 August 24th, 1901. 



Lyc^na minima (Polyommatus alsus) in August. — I caught this 

 afternoon (August 5th) a quite perfect specimen of P. alsus. Can this 

 be a late specimen of the early brood ? or is there a second generation 

 in August ? The butterfly was very common here in June, and I 

 expect the very hot weather we have had has brought out a second 

 generation. I should like to know if others have noticed this. — L. M. 

 Seth-Smith; Alleyue, Caterham Valley, Surrey, August 5, 1901. 



[Probably an individual of a partial second brood. Kane (Eur. 

 Butt.) states that L. minima is double-brooded on the Continent, the 

 imago appearing in May to June and July to August. — Ed.] 



Abundance of Lyc^ena argiolus at Lee. — Although L. an/iolus was 

 seen abundantly in the country last year, I did not find it common here. 

 This year, however, it has been very abundant. The first one was seen 

 on May 2ud, and twelve days later I counted nine in twenty minutes 

 in Burnt Ash Road. I saw the last of the spring brood on June 9th. 

 Two specimens of the later brood were seen on July 24th, and since 

 then it has been common here. — F. M. B. Carr ; 46, Handen Road, 

 Lee, S.E., July 29, 1901. 



Purple Larva of Sphinx ligustri. — On August 10th I had a 

 beautiful larva of this species exactly similar to the variety found by 

 Dr. Laver at Colchester in September, 1882, and figured in Buckler's 

 ' Larvae of the British Butterflies and Moths,' vol. ii. pi. xxii. fig. 2. 

 It was full-fed, and found in a potato-patch at Goldhanger, near here ; 

 it did not feed, and went under the same afternoon. Once before I had 

 a purple larva brought me that was more purple than green, but not 

 so dark and distinct as this one. — Edward A. Fitch; Maldon, Essex, 

 August 17, 1901. 



Larv^ of Sphinx convolvuli at Maldon. — Having bred most of 

 the hawks, I was pleased to get two larva3, nearly full-fed, of this 

 moth on August 14th. They were found by one of my men in a 

 potato-field where Convolvulus arvensis is abundant. One is exactly 

 similar to Buckler's figures ; the other is green, with a canary-coloured 

 horn — a very pretty variety. I had this larva once before, but did not 

 breed the moth. I hope now to be more successful. Barrett (' Lepi- 

 doptera of the British Islands,' vol. ii. p. 27) says "it is doubtful 

 whether there are records of the finding of twenty larvae, in all, in 

 these islands." — Edward A. Fitch ; Maldon, Essex, August 17, 1901. 



Sphinx convolvuli larv^ in Lancashire. — On August 19th my 

 brother and I took on the Lancashire coast sand-hills twenty-six larvae 

 of S. convolvuli. They were feeding on wild convolvulus or bindweed, 

 and varied in length from 2i in. to 3| in. One of them is of a brownish 

 colour and another black. In the largest examples the black stripes on 

 the sides are almost absent. As Newman (' British Butterflies and 

 Moths') states that he had never seen the larvse or pupae, I thought 



