18 THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



British Islands,' ii., refers to the wandering hahit of the full-grown 

 larva ; and Tutt (' British Moths ') leads us to suppose that pupation 

 is always effected in the ground. — Ed.] 



CAPTUBES AND FIELD BEPOBTS. 



Xylina furcifera near Brighton. — A perfect example of this 

 species was taken near here at sugar by Mr. Alfred Giebeler, of Wilbury 

 Boad, Hove, on September loth last. It is not a locality one would expect 

 to find this species. All being well, the district will be thoroughly worked 

 next season ; then it will be interesting to find if this rare Noctua is 

 actually established in the locality. — Alfred Brazenor ; Brighton, 

 Nov. 26th, 1898. 



[Probably' the first-known British examples of Xylina furcifera (=con- 

 formis) were the two specimens taken on ivy blossoms in October, 1859, 

 near Cardiff, aud exhibited at a meeting of the London Entomological 

 Society in March, 1861. These were referred to in the 'Entomologist's 

 Anuual ' for 1862, and a figure of the species given on the plate in that 

 volume. Mr, T. H. Allis, in a note published in 1869 (Eut. Mo. Mag. v. 

 278), states that he had seen four or five British individuals of X. con- 

 fonnis; one of these, he says, "was taken near Halifax, in spring, many 

 years since"; others were Welsh specimens, and had been received by 

 entomological friends from the original captor. In 1869 (Ent. Mo. Mag. 

 vi. 190) there is a record of two specimens taken in October at sugar in 

 Monmouthshire. Two are mentioned as having been taken in November, 

 1870, but the locality is not given (Eut. Mo. Mag. vii. 188). In the spring 

 of 1874 an example was found at rest on a birch trunk near Neath (Entom. 

 vii. 260 ; Ent. Mo. Mag. x. 276). 



The species was reared by Mr. W. Buckler in 1874 from eggs obtained 

 from moths which had been captured in Wales in October, 1870, and kept 

 in confinement during the winter. The larvae began to hatch on April 17th, 

 aud were full grown about June 17th. The first imago emerged on August 

 7th, aud the last ten days later (Eut. Mo. Mag. viii. 114). Mr. W. H. 

 Tugwell, in 1880, bred eighteen moths from tweuty eggs received from 

 Glamorganshire (Entom. xiii. 242); aud Mr. W. H. Grigg reared eight 

 examples the same year from ten eggs that had been sent to him (Ent. Mo. 

 Mag. xvii. 134). There were eight specimens in Machiu's collection, which 

 was sold at Stevens's in 1895, and these realised £3 7s. ; while the sixteen 

 examples in Wheeler's and Tugwell's sale made from 9s. to 12s. %d. each. 



It may be mentioned that Xylina furcifera, Hum., is fouud in Central 

 Europe, the Ural, and the Altai. A', ingrica, H.-S., which is probably only 

 a form of X. furcifera, is confined to boreal aud alpine localities, and is 

 always scarce. AT. [Agrotis) ustulata, Bull., is the Japanese representative, 

 aud X. grisea, Graeser, the Amurland form of X. ingrica. 



Xylina lambda (= zinckenii) appears to be very rare in Britain. It 

 was first brought forward by Dr. Kuaggs in 1866, when he recorded a 

 specimen from the neighbourhood of New Cross, where it was taken in the 

 month of September of that year. Another example was announced from 

 the Guildford district, and was obtained at sugar in October, 1866 (Ent. 

 Mo. Mag. iii. 163, 208, 235). These specimens were also referred to by 



