CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 65 



December weather. Whit-Monday, however, occurred very early in 

 1907 — a fortnight earlier than in 1906 — so some allowance should be 

 made. And if the May visits into Denbighshire were almost entomo- 

 logical blanks, they were worth taking if only to admire the wealth 

 of wild flowers on the hedge banks — primroses in profusion, the red- 

 dest of red campions, hyacinths, yellow as w^ell as white dead nettles, 

 violets, wood sorrel, stitchwort, &c. Three Lyccsna argiolus were 

 taken at rest off a holly hedge on the base of Minerva Mountain on 

 the 19th. This butterfly is single-brooded here. Second broods, it is 

 reported, have either failed to occur or have been poorly represented, 

 in 1907, in localities north of Warwickshire, probably owing to the 

 unfavourable season. The butterfly was unusually scarce in Denbigh- 

 shire. Four males and a couple of females were taken, June 1st. 

 Two of these were found resting on a holly hedge, and the remaining 

 four were beaten out of it. A male and female were netted on the 

 wing, June 8th — all in the same locality — and these were the last 

 seen. It is hardly possible to examine these "blues " without calling 

 to mind Darwin's theory in his ' Origin of Species.' The Creator 

 evidently bequeathed such a liberty of development — new insect 

 colour-forms arising even in a lifetime — that it is possible all the 

 " blues " were evolved from one original type through exterior causes 

 which are lumped together under the head of "environment." And 

 Charles Kingsley saw nothing in the acceptance of this possibility 

 which militated against the Bible story of creation. (See ' Life and 

 Letters of Charles Darwin.') 



From Wrexham to Llangollen Numeria pidveraria is a common 

 geometer. Here the dark bar on the upper wings is wider than in 

 my series from Kent, and the ground colour in both sexes is paler. 

 In beating the hedges we netted four on the 1st of June, together 

 with Melanippe fluctuata, Coremia unidentaria, a solitary Anticlea 

 badiata (a late specimen, but perfect), and Eupithecia vulgata. 

 Flying over the grass were numerous Emmelesia alhulata, and a 

 typical female Odontopera hidentata was discovered resting at the foot 

 of a hedge. Eubolia palumharia, M. montanata, and a female 

 S. mendica (the latter very rarely met with in the Chester district) 

 were added to the list on the 8th — together with larvae of V. urtica 

 off nettles. One of the pulveraria females is a pale buff, almost uni- 

 colorous and with faint markings. She laid a few eggs, and the 

 larvse pupated during August. We found Acronycta vienyanthidis 

 commonly enough on the heather tops in June. The form here has 

 a pale, bright ground colour, with clearly defined dark markings. 

 One I found at rest on a tree in the lowland — a mile away from the 

 heather — on the 15th, evidently driven off by the previous day's 

 stormy weather. 



About the middle of the month a friend called me into his garden 

 to look at his hollyhocks, the leaves of which were spun together 

 and well riddled by tortrix larvae. They turned out to be Tortrix 

 forsterana. The plants were saved from further mischief by picking 

 off the larvae, many of which I reared as imagos. x\t Burton Point, 

 on the Dee estuary, I found larvae of Aspis udmanniana plentiful in 

 spun-together bramble shoots, June 19th. 



ENTOM. MARCH, 1908. F 



