THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 277 



my search. Whether they have been taken in any part of the 

 forest, or whether L. quadra has turned up in the same 

 locality, I am not prepared to say. It is true I have not had 

 an abundance of leisure to devote to entomological pursuits, 

 but I have spent sufficient time in the forest and elsewhere to 

 prove that in this locality there has been a paucity of this 

 particular class. There is a belt of tall fir trees skirting a 

 young oak wood in one part of my forest hunting-ground, and 

 in previous seasons I have seen L. rubricollis flying around 

 the tops of those trees in countless numbers. This season, 

 however, it has not been so ; not that their occurrence in 

 such a situation is at all a guarantee of a good day's " take," 

 even if they are common, for their capture is a difficult 

 matter. Fortunately they fly in the daytime, and are more 

 easily seen than they would be at dusk. It would be 

 interesting to know if this class of moths— the majority of 

 which are lichen feeders — have been scarce in other localities ; 

 and, if such has been the case, what cause has eff"ected it? 

 Is it possible the continued drought in this neighbourhood 

 has had anything to do with such a scarcity ? Surely the 

 heat has been sufficient to develope an unusual number of 

 insects. However, lichens prefer a humid atmosphere and 

 situation in which to grow; and the great heat and drought 

 might have been detrimental to their growth. But even 

 in this case I am not so sure that a scarcity of food could 

 have been the cause of a scarcity of moths this season, 

 as many of them were full-fed larva? before the drought 

 began ; still it seems extraordinary that in a season when 

 some insects are so common others should be unusually 

 scarce. This, be it understood, is only an observation made 

 in this immediate locality ; and my experience may differ 

 considerably from that of others at a distance. — G. B. 

 Corbin. 



Hyhernia leiicophearia. — Will any entomologist publish 

 his geological experiences of Hybernia leucophearia ? Here, 

 on the lower greensand, it is about as common as Vanessa 

 Antiopa or Deilephila livornica,yet generally it is considered 

 as an insect more profuse than welcome. Within a few miles 

 it occurs in plenty, i.e. on the London clay north of the 

 Downs (gravel and sand), and Wealden (clay) on the south. 

 My captures in the immediate neighbourhood have been as 



