CAPTUEBS AND FIELD REPORTS. 265 



were quite full fed, and as the plant was well-nigh over, I do not doubt 

 that others had turned. The next day I went in quest of the same insect 

 in an opposite direction near Winster, and was greatly rewarded by again 

 discovering this beautiful caterpillar, finding as many as seventeen ; and 

 on a subsequent search near the same grouud on Sept. 19th, adding nearly 

 two dozen more. I had no idea the species was so common, and a little 

 systematic searching was all that was required. The larva is a very con- 

 spicuous object, and lies quite exposed near the top of the plant amongst 

 the flowers, which it seems to eat in preference to the leaves. There are 

 four distinct varieties as regards colour : — 1, a pale yellowish green ; 2, a 

 darker olive-green tint ; 3, a delicate pink ; and 4, a similar pink ground, 

 but having the two stripes on either side of mediodorsal stripe, which was 

 in all cases a bright yellow, of a distinctly dark maroon colour. The plants 

 in this place were not so far advauced, and though many of the larvae were 

 full-grown, some seemed to belong to a later brood. All but four had spun 

 their cocoons by Sept 29th. A dried-up skin of a larva and one pupa of 

 an insect very similar, if not identical, have been given me by a friend 

 living near Lake Side. He found the two larvae early in August, feeding 

 on Michaelmas daisy in his garden. They certainly belong to the 

 " sharks," and as certainly are not chamomillce or umbratica; aud my reason 

 for doubting that they are asteris is that six weeks is a long period for the 

 larval stage of any of this genus to extend over, and my asteris larvae 

 refused to eat Michaelmas daisy leaves, though they nibbled at the flowers. 

 I wonder if they can possibly be C. gnaphalii. I believe the two larvae 

 have been taken in company in Darenth Wood. It is to be hoped that the 

 one pupa which I possess will live to tell its own tale in course of time. — 

 Arthur Miles Moss ; Kendal, Oct. 12th, 1898. 



Sphinx convolvuli in England. — Records of the capture of this 

 species during September and October of the present year have been 

 received as follows : — 



Berkshire. — On Sept. 17th I had a female S. convolvuli brought to me, 

 and on the 20th a male ditto, both taken within half a mile of my house. — 

 W. E. Butler ; Hayling House, Oxford Road, Reading, Oct. 1st, 1898. 



Devonshire (North). — By the kindness of Dr. Ernest Gardner, of Ilfra- 

 combe, I was enabled to take several specimens of S. convolvuli towards the 

 latter end of September. All were taken in the same garden, as they 

 hovered round a large patch of the tobacco-plant in flower. With the 

 regularity of clockwork they came down each night at 6.30. Variation in 

 the light did not seem to affect them at all. Less than half an hour's 

 work on two successive evenings brought eight specimens to the net. We 

 could have taken more, but it seemed a pity to make too severe an 

 onslaught on a fine species, so uncertain in its appearance in this country. 

 One evening, Dr. Gardner tells me, there were as many as thirty of these 

 great moths flying around the tobacco-plants at the same time. He had 

 never come across the species in any stage in the district before. Sphinx 

 ligustri and Smerinthus ocellatus he had met with, commonly breeding them 

 every year. — Harold Hodge ; 6, Crown Office Row, Temple. 



Essex. — On Sept. 22nd I had a specimen of S. convolvuli brought to 

 me, that had been taken at Stratford a few days before — A. W. Mera ; 

 79, Capel Road, Forest Gate, Sept. 26th, 1898. 



Gloucestershire. — From Sept 20th to 24th I have had every evening the 

 great pleasure of watching the flight of S. convolvuli, the very perfection 



ENTOM. — NOV. 1898. 2 B 



