CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 81 



that his work may be vvortliily supplemented by liis younger brother, who 

 has added such au important item to our knowledge of the range of this 

 rare species. — W. F. de V. Kank. 



liYC^NA BELLARGUs AND L. GORYDON IN 189(3. — The year 1896 was 

 a great year for Lycmia bellargiis and L. conjdon in the two localities in 

 N. Wilts which I visited for them, on the look-out for varieties. A sloping 

 bank of waste field at Winsley, about an acre in extent, where Hipocrepis 

 coinosa grows in plenty, was thickly studded with L. bellargxis fanning its 

 wings in the sunshine, or towards evening resting with closed wings on tlie 

 grass-stems. The May brood was the most abundant; but out of the two 

 broods in May and July I only took one good variety, which was an under 

 side of the female with no spots except the central discoidal spot on each 

 wing, and the hind marginal row of spots. Then early in August I paid 

 two or three visits to the range of chalk downs extending east from Devizes, 

 where I found L. corijdon literally swarming ; you could hardly walk without 

 treading on a specimen, and along the base of the downs every flower of 

 thistle and centaury had its two or three occupants. But, beyond the 

 difference in the width of the black hind-marginal band, I did not notice 

 any marked variation in the male, with the exception of one with the hind- 

 marginal band white with black veins running through to the fringe. 

 I also caught one dwarfed specimen with broad and rounded wings, looking 

 quite a different species. I noticed that several males had a distinct black 

 discoidal spot on the fore wings. Of the females I saw none of the form 

 much mottled with white, such as I have found in Hampshire ; but I caught 

 nine of the blue variety (var. sijn(jrapha], and saw as many more worn 

 specimens. I was pleased to take this brilliant variety again. I first caught 

 it in 1870, and then again in 1872, at which time I was living in the 

 neighbourhood. After I left I paid several visits in later years, but I never 

 saw another specimen till last year. Of the under side of L. corydon the 

 only variation, beyond the enlargement of the spots, was the occasional 

 absence of the basal spots of the fore wings, corresponding to var. icarinus 

 of L. icarus. I have further to note that at Wiusley, which is on the free- 

 stone, I saw one male L. corydon last year along with the L. bellaryus, which 

 is the only specimen I have seen there, except one other male which I saw 

 in 1893 in the same district, but not at the same spot. I should be glad 

 if any entomologist in the Bath district would say whether there is any 

 L. conjdon locality near there. Also I saw three male L. hellanjus amongst 

 the L. corydon near Devizes. I have never seen a specimen there before, 

 though I lived there many years; but there must be a L. bellargus colony 

 somewhere near, from which these specimens were stragglers. What most 

 astonished me in these trips was that amongst such a prodigious number of 

 specimens — and of L. corydon I must have seen thousands and examined 

 hundreds — there should be so little variation from the type. — C. A. Sladen ; 

 Burton Vicarage, Neston, Chester, Feb. 2nd, 1897. 



Setina irrorella in Sutherland. — Last June I found a specimen 

 of this insect floating in a pool of water on a small island in Badcall Bay, 

 on the west coast of Scotland.— Herbert Ashby; Pinehurst, Bassett, 

 Southampton, Feb. 9th, 1897. 



Notes from North Wales. — On May 28th and June 3rd, 1896, 

 I took here at light three specimens (males) of Ayrotis cinerea. Is not 

 this generally considered to be a maritime insect? We are nearly forty 



ENTOM.— 7MARCH, 1897. H 



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