NOTKS AND OBSERVATIONS. 19 



have never noted such a habit before. — F. H. Haines ; Brookaide, 

 Winfrith, Dorset, December 6th, 1917. 



Notes prom Essex. — Colias edusa visited south-east Essex last 

 September. I saw one at Thorpe Bay on the 27th and two at North 

 Shoebury on the 29th. Gelechia costeUa, judging by the condition 

 of the food-plant, must have been rather common here. Within a 

 few yards of this house, on the railway fence, freshly emerged moths 

 were found on November 3rd. In the middle of October larvae had 

 been observed crawling up the same fence, at the base of which 

 there is a straggling growth of bittersweet. Hedya aceriana was, 

 November 2nd, found in fairly good condition on a fence close to 

 some poplars at Thorpe Bay. Surely this is a very late date. In the 

 same neighbourhood with the last, but a month earlier, ColeopJiora 

 artemisicoletta occurred in moderate numbers on mugwort. The 

 best way to secure these larvse is to transfer the beaten seeds and 

 rubbish from the umbrella to a bag, having previously removed all 

 spiders, snails, and earwigs. The moving seeds will then, given time, 

 creep up the sides of the bag. Larvae of Argyrolepia ceneana seemed 

 to be commoner than usual in the Laindon district this season. 

 They were, however, very local. Early in May I was searching 

 Thorndon Park fences for Solenobia inco^ispicuella when I found 

 under some beeches an Ornix, which I thought might prove to be 

 fagivora. Whatever doubt I had about it is removed, Mr. Pearce 

 having identified it as that species. Phigalia 2'>&daria : I found a (^ 

 of this usually common species on an elm trunk on the Vange 

 Marshes on March 10th. Although I have lived in this district 

 nearly thirty years I had not previously met with this insect. The 

 above bits of scrappy entomological news may interest some of your 

 readers. — F. G. Whittle ; Southend-on-Sea. 



Lepidoptera at Marlborough. — My observations of the moths 

 of Marlborough last year were chiefly confined to the Geometridae and 

 day-fliers. Food control and light control discouraged sugaring, 

 and lamps there were none. Above all, " summer time " is not 

 helpful to the entomologist who has to be at work at 7 a.m. It 

 would be interesting to know how the early moths adapted them- 

 selves to the bitter spring, which lasted well into x\pril. I observed 

 one Phigalia pedaria on February 26th and one Hybernia viarginaria 

 on. March 13th. The first and only Anisopteryx cescnlaria was seen 

 on palings on April 27th, but there was no rush of insects of this 

 family apparent when the weather changed in April. Apocheima 

 liispidaria I found dead on a trunk on April 22nd in quite good 

 condition, but cannot say how long it had been dead. But the 

 insects proper to May and June were certainly unusually abundant 

 in several cases. The most striking were the following : Parasemia 

 plantaginis (May 29th) swarmed throughout June in open woods, 

 downs, and all suitable places ; ChcBrocampa porcellus, throughout 

 June at pinks and rhododendrons ; Plusia moneta, P. iota, P. pul- 

 chrina, at pinks ; Eulype hastata was unusually common in three 

 different woods ; Mesotype virgata, both broods on high downs ; 

 Boarmia abietaria abounded in one small fir-wood. The following 



