140 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



own immediate neighbourhood comparatively untouched. 

 Again, we well know that some localities are much more 

 productive than others, even provided each has had the same 

 amount of labour expended on it; for instance, — I want no 

 prophetic knowledge to assure me that a day spent in the 

 New Forest will undoubtedly be more remunerative than the 

 same time spent in the fields in this locality ; yet, in the face 

 of these facts, 1 do not hesitate to say that we often neglect 

 places close at home, and the certainty of a moderate success, 

 to run the risk of a total failure at a distance. Supposing we 

 have collected in the same spot season after season, are we 

 sure that we have detected every species to be found there? 

 On the contrary, are we not often surprised at what we take ? 

 I have a case in point: — Last season I was walking through 

 a fir-wood, where I have collected for some years past, and 

 was greatly surprised at capturing a specimen of Macaria 

 alternala, a species I had never dreamt of taking there 

 amongst fir-trees, with no sallow in the neighbourhood ; and, 

 later in the season, as if in contrast, I beat out a specimen of 

 the handsome and pine-loving Crambus pinetellus from a 

 bush of spindle, where not a fir-tree stood. The only speci- 

 men of Lobophora hexapterata I ever took was upon an 

 extensive heath in this neighbourhood ; but perhaps the 

 most remarkable captures are two specimens of Agrotis 

 valligei'a, which I took at heather-blooms in the same locality. 

 The occurrence of the latter species upon heaths in this 

 neighbourhood has been doubted by some to whom I have 

 mentioned it; but I have only to say that the specimens are 

 in my cabinet, and can be seen by any person. It is strange 

 that such a coast-loving species should occur here ; but it 

 seems equally strange that the heath-loving Selidosema 

 plumaria should be found upon the cliffs at Lulworth, where 

 1 took two specimens a few seasons ago, when there for 

 Hesperia Acta^on. Thus it seems that no locality has been 

 so thoroughly worked that the number of species actually to 

 be found there are known positively, and the occurrence of 

 a hitherto unsuspected species is no uncommon thing in any 

 locality. The experience of many readers of this journal will 

 undoubtedly bear me out in these remarks. — G. B. Corbin. 



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