EMYDIA CKIBETJM. 175 



the most productive. The mere fact of the eggs being laid in 

 June, and remaining in the same state for a month or more, 

 would be a factor against a second brood, even in an excep- 

 tionally warm season, and a moth taken at the end of July may, 

 I think, be safely called a late specimen of the only brood pro- 

 duced in one season. 



It must be remembered that these observations were made 

 many years ago, but in principle they agree very closely with 

 Mr. Fowler's more recent remarks, from the fact that both are 

 taken directly from nature. 



On one occasion I recoHect having a female of the species 

 emerge, and thought I would try " sembling," and with this idea 

 put her in a willow chip-box, which I placed in my coat-pocket, 

 and, having arrived upon the heaths, forgot all about the box 

 and its contents until the unusual abundance of the moths 

 brought to my recollection the imprisoned lady love ; no less 

 than three males were in my pocket, and several others were 

 underneath my coat in various directions. I placed the box on 

 a low furze-bush, and netted thirty males in a less number of 

 minutes ; and I may say, without the least exaggeration, I 

 could have taken several hundreds if I had wished to do so. The 

 next evening I tried the same experiment on the same ground, 

 but the attractive charm had then vanished ; but I am quite 

 sure that very few people, even entomologists, could have 

 believed in the extreme abundance of the insect on such an 

 occasion as the previous evening unless they had seen it. My 

 experience points to one strange peculiarity about the species, 

 viz. that although the ova are usually, if not invariably, laid on 

 the heather, the larvae will seldom take to it as a food in confine- 

 ment; but, as Mr. Fowler remarks, his were reared upon 

 common groundsel, and those who have found the larvae know 

 very well that they are sometimes to be taken where the heather 

 is very sparse, although most of the works where the larva is 

 described give heather as the food-plant. 



In penning these remarks it brings to one's mind and memory 

 how many honoured names have passed away within a compara- 

 tively few years, and leaves a regret that some of the kindness 

 and geniality of their lives seems to have died with them, as far 

 as entomology is concerned. An interesting and somewhat con- 

 spicuous figure in my recollection of E. cribrum is poor old 

 Charles Turner, " the beetle man," whom I often met in my 

 rambles of an evening, generally returning from his toilsome 

 day's work upon the heaths, usually with a leafy branch of some 

 sort in his hand to drive the tormenting flies from his sunburnt 

 face, whilst he held a conversation with " the missus," who 

 trudged along the dusty road some paces behind her spouse. 

 Doubtless some of the present readers of the ' Entomologist ' 

 may recollect a few pleasant days or hours spent in pursuit of 



