42 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



among the breeders of English Vanessids ! — N. Manders, Lt. Colonel. 

 B.A.M.C. ; Curepipe, Mauritius. 



Sugar at Witherslack. — At the beginning of July I spent a few 

 days at Witherslack, in company with my friend Rev. J. E. Tarbat, 

 and our experience with sugar was so remarkable as to be worthy of 

 record. It was the kind of experience one hardly expects to have more 

 than once in a lifetime. We sugared for seven nights, and each night, 

 irrespective of varying weather conditions and of nights which did not 

 seem likely to be favourable — clear, cool, or windy — the moths 

 swarmed. On the majority of the evenings we worked a round of 

 trees, partly in an open field, through a little orchard and spinney on 

 the side of a hill, and up to a big tree crowning a knoll. Every tree 

 had numbers of moths upon it, and on coming to this final tree — an 

 ash — in a somewhat exposed situation, my friend remarked, "We 

 shan't have much here, ash is not good for sugar." As he spoke, our 

 lamp shone upon the patch, which was a living mass of insects, coming 

 on while we watched, knocking one another off, tumbling to the foot, 

 and at once climbing up again. On our second round, when we had 

 picked off what we wanted, and had disturbed others, and it being 

 midnight, the moths were getting satiated and some had flown, we 

 counted those that remained on this tree and found there were 

 upwards of seventy on the one patch of sugar. We noted twenty-five 

 species that evening on that one tree. Altogether, on the seven even- 

 ings, June 30th to July 7th, we noticed the following species of Noctuse 

 feeding : — Thyatira batis and T. derasa, Cyniatophora dnplaris, Acronycta 

 psi, A.rumicis (including a dark form), and A. meiiyanthidis, Leucania coni- 

 gera, L. Uthargyria, L. comma, and L. pallens, Axylia putris, Xylophasia 

 rurea (and var.), X. lithoxylea, X. snblustris, X. monoylypha (with many 

 very dark forms), A', liepatica, Mamestra sordida, M. furva, M. brassicce, 

 M. persicaricR, Apamea basilinea, A. yemina (and var.), A. unanimis, A. 

 didyma, Miana striyilis, M. arcuosa, Grammesia triyrammica, Caradrina 

 alsines, Rusina tenebrosa, Agrotis segetum, A. exclamationis, A. corticea, 

 A. striyula, Noctita augur, N. plecta, N. c-nigrwn, N. triangulum, N. 

 brunnea, N. f estiva, N. rubi, N. baia, Triphmna comes, T.iyronuba, Mania 

 typica, M. maura, Euplexia lucipara, Aplecta prasina, A. nebulosa, A. 

 tincta, Hadena dentina, H. dissimilis, H. oleracea, H. pisi, H. thalassina, 

 and H. contigua — in all fifty-five species. — (Eev.) W. G. Whittingham ; 

 Knighton Vicarage, Leicester. 



OviPOsiTioN OF iElscHNA JUNCEA AND Agrion mercuriale. — In Dr. 

 Drabble's note {ante, vol. xxxviii. p. 310) he incidentally states that 

 JE. juncea deposits its eggs while hovering on the wing. This scarcely 

 agrees with my experiences of the species in Surrey. There, by its 

 actions, it gives one the impression that it deposits them in the tissues 

 of plants. I have supposed that A. mercuriale does the same thing, 

 but have never seen the process. Has Dr. Drabble had personal 

 experience of the proceedings of A. mercuriale when ovipositing? I 

 am afraid we know very little for certain about the early history of 

 dragonflies at present. — W. J. Lucas. 



Melit^a desfontainii and M. aurinia var. iberica in Central 

 Aragon. — I found these two species flying together last June in a gorge 



