44 THE LEPIDOPTERIST 



Notes 



Members of the Boston Entomoltgical Club living 

 in distant places are entitled to send lots for the club 

 auction sales. Each lot should have a reserve price 

 placed on it. Shipments may be sent to the Superin- 

 tendent of Auctions, Mr. William Reifif, 366 

 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, by 

 express or insured parcel post, prepaid. Any speci- 

 mens which are not sold will be returned to the own- 

 er, the charges being deducted from the remittance. 

 The number of lots is limited to ten for each auction. 

 There are two auctions each month, on the second and 

 fourth Tuesdays. Any number of lots may be sent 

 in one shipment to save expenses. A commission of 

 10 per cent is charged. 



The collecting season in Eastern Massachusetts is 

 about three weeks late. The most interesting species 

 of Noctuidae to be taken (in the east) early in the 

 spring are the two species of the family Feralia. 



Feralia jocosa (the hemlock moth) usually is 

 taken by the 25th of March, but up to the present 

 time has not been found. This rather pretty green 

 moth is quite commonly found resting on the hem- 

 lock tree in the latter part of March and extending 

 into the middle of April. The specimens are strongly 

 green provided the weather is fairly dry, but if the 

 rains are constant and heavy the green is bleached 

 out, so much so that some specimens are pure white, 

 even though newly hatched. In pinning this species 

 the collector has to take care that none of the fluids 

 in the body come in contact with the green wings, for 

 if it does the green is turned to brown. The same 

 precautions have to be observed when mounting the 

 specimens. The collectors must take care not to 

 puncture the veins when setting the wings. The jo- 

 cosa can readily be seen resting on the brown bark, 

 even though it resembles the lichens on the trees. 



Another green moth which appears about one 

 week later than the jocosa is the Feralia major (the 

 pine moth). This is a much rarer moth and not often 



