292 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



off as well as near correspondents. Still, though hunting has 

 been marred by rain, tempest, and scarcity of quarry, it has been 

 my good fortune to meet, during the season, with extraordinary 

 insects, as well as with entomological matters of interest. 



Beginning with Delamere Forest, in Cheshire, the comparative 

 scarcity of Nyssia hispidaria, in the early spring, looked like an 

 index to what had apparently been the generally observed 

 character of the year. But later on, at the end of May, three 

 specimens of Orthosia suspecta — taken at rest on oak-trunks — 

 amply compensated me for the rarity of N. hispidaria, especially 

 as 0. suspecta figures hitherto unrecorded for the Chester Natural 

 History Society's District, 



One 01* two visits followed during the month of June, — a 

 month which stands out in pleasant recollection as being perfect 

 in warmth and sunshine,— still, the greenwood was so deserted 

 by lepidopterous, and I may add by coleopterous, insects, that I 

 determined to take up an abode near its shades, for a few days, 

 as a thorough test. Here and there one comes across a few 

 scattered houses, where the inmates tell graphic stories of nightly 

 " mosquito " miseries. Forewarned, I therefore chose my lodging 

 outside the wood, and on high and open ground, with every 

 desired result. This visit began on the 11th of July, and from 

 this date the weather completely brok^rdown. Days of rain and 

 lack of sunshine followed each other, until I packed up and 

 returned on the 14th. My captures were — a larva of Eugonia 

 erosaria, taken on the trunk of an oak, and now a fine imago ; one 

 Geometra papilionaria ; a dozen or more Pseudoterpna pruinata 

 (cytisaria), which, by the way, only showed in a few cases the 

 ochreous colour supposed to be due to emergence in wet weather ; 

 a series of Cramhus margaritellus (a plentiful insect, and in fine 

 condition) ; Tortrix sorbiana, T. ministrana, Penthina pruniana, 

 Phycis carhonariella (fusca), Depressaria yeatiana, and a couple 

 of Ccenonympha typhon. The scarcity of the latter insect is, I 

 fear, in some measure due to over-collecting since its habitat 

 became so generally known. 



My other Delamere captures may be briefly summed up in 

 the following list : — June 22. Nemeophila russida, plentiful and 

 fresh from the chrysalis, and early by a fortnight or three weeks; 

 Cymatophora duplaris, a few ; a couple of Eucosmia undulata : 

 Lomaspilis marginata in plenty, by a row of willows ; Lyccena 

 agon, fairly numerous ; but the well-known forms, such as Aplecta 

 nebidosa, Drepana falcataria, Ellopia prosapiaria, Macaria litu- 

 rata, Melanippe montanata, M. sociata, Thera variata, Cabera 

 pasaria, and Metrocampa margaritaria, were extraordinarily rare. 

 Among butterflies the common Whites — usually so conspicuous 

 among the greenness — I failed to notice at all. Ccenonympha 

 pamphilus and Polyommatus phloeas even appeared to be less 



