en Lt SOP ee rer ee ware 
192 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Hybernia marginaria and H. defoliaria, with a fair number of 
Oporabia dilulata, and a few Noctuids, but in the following spring 
the oaks were just as green as ever and the larve of these species 
unusually scarce. In 1877 I was at Deal, and the hawthorn hedges 
in the surrounding neighbourhood, and the sea-buckthorns (Hippophe 
rhamnoides) on the sand-hills, were devastated by the larvae of 
Euproctis chrysorrhaa. I was not able to visit these localities again 
until 1881, but at that date I was unable to find a single larva of 
the species, although diligent search was made. Later, the horn- 
beams in a considerable tract of Epping Forest were leatless owing 
to the ravages of Cheimatobia brumata, and in this case some, 
although slight by comparison, damage occurred in the following 
spring, but that was the last of it, at any rate for the time being. 
Still more recently the larvee of Tortrix viridana so punished numbers 
of the oaks in Chattenden Roughs that they had the appearance of 
having been scorched. The species is always a common one there, 
but in the next spring it was certainly no more so than usual, and 
was no noticeable disfigurement to the trees. It is quite certain 
that in these cases no artificial means were taken to check the 
ravages of the larvee, yet they all died down to, or below, normal — 
numbers very rapidly.—Roprert Apxkiy; Eastbourne, July 15th, 
1916. 
SPHINX CONVOLVULI IN Susspx.—A fine specimen of S. convolvuls 
was caught on the wing at Burgess Hill, Sussex, on July 12th last.— 
F. G. 8. Bramwetx; 1, Dyke Road Drive, Brighton. 
A Spiper’s Sacacirry.—The other morning while waiting for a 
train at a suburban station in the bright sunshine, I felt a tickling 
sensation on my face, and, putting up my right hand to brush away 
the cause of irritation, I caught on my forefinger a shimmering gauzy 
filament at the end of which swung a tiny spider. Out of curiosity I 
held it up on a level with my head and the insect made one or two 
ineffectual attempts to reach my finger. Apparently realising then 
that this means of escape was hopeless, he swung inert for a few 
seconds, and then he suddenly shot out in a horizontal direction, 
spinning furiously as he went. This continued until he was six or 
nine inches from my finger, when another gauzy filament was rapidly 
dropped downwards at almost right angles to the first, attaching 
itself to a copy of the ‘Scotsman,’ which was projecting, unheeded 
by its owner, from under my left arm, and the clever little spider then 
slid down to what was comparatively solid ground and absolutely 
complete safety, for who could then have had the heart to harm 
such a brilliant little logician ?—W. Saunprers; 102, Comiston Road, 
Edinburgh. 
OBITUARY. 
With much regret we have to record the death, on May 26th, of 
Mr. Frederick Knock. A memoir will be published in our September 
issue. 
