CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 297 



throughout on Clematis vitalba, and I found them easy to rear. I 

 understand this interesting insect is much rarer than formerly in the 

 Warren, which is, I believe, its only known locality in the British 

 Islands.— G. H. Conquest ; Westcliflf-on-Sea, October 29th, 1907. 



Wye Valley Notes. Capture of Xylina furcifera (conformis). — 

 Last Easter, having decided to renew my acquaintance with the Wye 

 Valley, I travelled to Chepstow on the evening of March 28th, and on 

 the following day (Good Friday), there being no trains running on the 

 Wye Valley line, walked the eleven miles to my quarters near Bigsweir. 

 My chief object in visiting the district was to get some females of 

 Vanessa c-album, and in this I was not disappointed. During Friday 

 I saw four specimens of the butterfly, and captured one, and in the 

 course of the next three days a fair number were seen, and three more 

 taken. The species seems to be fairly well distributed up the valley 

 from Chepstow to Monmouth. Vanessa wtica was common every- 

 where ; V. io and Gonepte>yx rhamni rather less so. Of V. polychloros 

 I saw two, both on the Gloucestershire side of the river. Brephos 

 parthenias and B. notha were both taken in small numbers by watching 

 in open spaces, as they fly low in such situations, and have a some- 

 what weak and fluttering flight. 



The weather remained so hot just at this time that Pieris rapm 

 was seen on March 31st, and several P. yiapi and EuchUi'e cardamines 

 (males) on the following day. A large number of sallow bushes were 

 visited on the three evenings of my stay, but a clear sky and a full 

 moon prevented anything like a large bag. The scarcity of insects 

 was, however, more than made up for by the capture of a male Xylina 

 furcifera [conformis) on the 31st, which for a spring specimen is in 

 very good condition. The identification of the specimen has been 

 kindly confirmed by Dr. T. A. Chapman. A fine male Pachnohia 

 leucotjrapha was also taken on the same evening. Other species 

 noticed at sallows were : Tceniocampa gothica, T. incerta, T. stabiiis, 

 T. pulverulenta, Cerastis vaccinii, Scopelosoma satellitia, and Hyhernia 

 maryinaria. 



On my return home I sleeved two of the Vanessa c-album on a 

 currant bush, and put two in a cage with a supply of nettle-leaves. 

 One of the former soon died, owing, I think, to one or two cold nights 

 experienced just then, so I placed the survivor in the cage with the 

 other two. A few ova were laid on April 2nd, and more at intervals 

 on sunny days, until there were about one hundred in all. Some of 

 these I distributed amongst friends. Of those I kept the first hatched 

 on April 25th, and the last on May 28th. By June 8th two larvae 

 were hanging up, and the first pupated two days later. Thirty-five 

 larvffi reached the pupal state, and from these I bred thirty-four per- 

 fect specimens, the remaining one being slightly crippled. The pupae 

 were kept indoors, and the butterflies emerged between June 23rd and 

 July 28rd. A small portion were of the var. hutchinsoni form, and 

 there is a good deal of variation in the under sides. I attempted 

 to get a pairing in confinement in a large breeding-cage, but was not 

 successful. 



At Whitsuntide I again went down for a few days (May 17th-20th), 



ENTOM. — DECEMBER, 1907. 2 C 



