68 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Ill October, Agriopis apr'dina (one, at rest on an oak just outside the 

 city), Oporahia dilutata. 



In November, at gas-lamps, Hijhernia defoUarla, Cheiinatohia hrumata, 

 Pcecilocavipa jwpxdi (a few of each). 



In December, P. popuU (two, one at a gas-lamp, the other flew into a 

 shop in the city). 



Larv.'E and Pup.e. — Mr. Hargreaves gave me, on April 4th, a cater- 

 pillar of Noctua hrunnea he had taken in Delaraere Forest. The moth, a 

 tine dark one, appeared on June 9lh. In North Wales, larvae of Agrotis 

 ashivortliii, in usual quantity. Out of two dozen or more I only got six 

 moths — one a cripple — in June. This was similar bad luck to last year's. 

 All ashworthii breeders, I fear, must lay themselves out for this, and be 

 glad if they sometimes meet nothing worse. Mr. Hargreaves brought me 

 seven larvae of Bombyx quercus from the Lancashire sandhills, where he 

 found Nyssia zonaria imagines. Six male and female quercus emerged from 

 their cocoons in July, the first a male with the right lower wing entirely 

 absent. Curiously enough I came across, in Delaraere Forest, on July 

 11th, a Vanessa urticcB exactly in the same condition. It was a fresh 

 specimen, and was able to get along so well with three wings that I failed 

 to net it. In April and May larvae of Arctia caia and Odonestis potatoria 

 were unusually abundant around Chester. Of the first species I took at 

 least two hundred caterpillars, in the hope of getting something startling 

 as a " variety." As usual, I was disappointed. Still, there were some in- 

 teresting forms. Sometimes the chocolate blotches nearly covered the 

 primaries; sometimes the black spots were equally in the ascendant on the 

 secondaries ; but the most interesting feature was the difference in tint of 

 the secondaries, from deep yellow with the barest suspicion of red in one 

 example, to deepest crimson in another. These two (males) I added to my 

 collection ; the first has only four spots on each lower wing ; the other has 

 the secondaries well blotched with large and often confluent spots. Another 

 specimen has the left secondary much more spotted than the right. 

 Lastly, the ground colour of the primaries in some of the moths is a pure 

 white, in others very ociireous. Many larvae were ichneumoned ; some 

 succumbed in the second stage to a parasite which left them as if preserved ; 

 others, in the final stage, to a diff'erent species, which crawled in swarms 

 out of the caterpillars as white maggots, and then spun tiny whitish cocoons. 

 Frequently, after being disturbed by a companion, a larva would leave off 

 spinning, take to the floor of the cage, and there change into a chrysalis. 

 This had to be quickly removed, or it would be devoured by the remaining 

 larvae. I selected about forty of the moths for setting ; the rest I took a 

 mile or two into the country, in different directions, as they emerged. Had 

 I not done so, some of them would have been brought to me by people 

 offering them for sale. On April 0th I took a larva of Bpilosoma fuliginosa, 

 spinning up on the heather on the top of Moel Fammau. The moth ap- 

 peared on May 6th, a fine male, and almost as dark as the var. borealis. 

 On April 16th, eggs of Beeston Castle Polia chi, crossed by Durham 

 oHvacea, hatched. Fed up on groundsel. The larvae did badly, many 

 dying. Survivors pupated by June 90lh. First emergence, August 10th. 

 Imagines all oUvacea, except two which were typical. Larvae of Xanthia 

 cerago unusually plentiful ; a few X. silago and X.ferruginea. These were 

 captured as they crept from the sallow catkins on which 1 fed A. asluvorthii. 

 On May 19th I took five pupie of P. festucm from Glyceria aquatica ; also 

 one on the 20th, and two on the 25th. The imagines appeared from May 



