LEPIDOPTERA IN 1896. 113 



Jasminum nudiflorum, and the female gave me a batch of ova which I hope 

 may prove fertile. The ova are large, round, and flat, and of a brown 

 colour, looking very much like fine specimens of the " mealy bug." The 

 remaining pupa is still lively, and intends, I am afraid, to lie over. 



Returning home towards the end of June, I found almost all the early 

 larvae had disappeared. The drought and heat had hurried them through 

 their larval state. On June ^8th I obtained a fine larva of Amphidasys 

 betalaria, already full-fed. 



On July 4th I found a small larva of Notodonta dictmoides on a small 

 smooth-leaved birch. For some time it fed well on twigs of birch placed in 

 water. One day, however, I gave it birch of a somewhat woolly texture. 

 It refused to touch it, and kept crawling aimlessly about the pot. It was 

 clearly getting very weak, and could hardly hold on to its food-plant. 

 Suspecting the reason, I supplied it with smooth-leaved birch, and it at 

 once found its appetite again, and I had no more trouble with it. About 

 the middle of the month Cleora glahraria was fairly common in a larch 

 plantation, where long tassels of lichen hang from the lower branches. 

 Boannia ahietaria was also about at the same place, but difficult to capture, 

 and possessed of a mysterious power of rendering itself invisible as it 

 tlitted into tlie shade. 



During the early part of September Liiperina testacea and its varieties 

 came freely to light, along with a few L. cespitis. The latter seldom arrived 

 before 11 p.m., and were all more or less worn. Hellophohus popularls, of 

 course, came in swarms (all males ; the only way to obtain females seems to 

 be by netting at dusk in grass fields, or by sweeping). On Sept. 9th my 

 brother found a fair specimen of Acherontia atropos, only just alive, on the 

 ground outside the house. The insect looked as if it had been crushed, 

 the thora.x. being nearly in two parts. I have searched many potato fields, 

 but have never come across this moth before. 



Ivy, which was well in flower by the end of September, has not been 

 productive. I beat several " pug "-like larvae from it. Some of these 

 almost answered to Newman's description of Lohophora viretata. Others 

 were green all over. They have now pupated. Casually looking over 

 Greene's * Insect Hunter's Companion,'! noticed he alluded to the attractive 

 powers of sliced rotten apples. I determined to give them a trial. Some 

 I sliced and pressed on, others which were very soft I smeared on the trees. 

 The latter were decidedly the more attractive. I kept to the same trees, 

 going round each night just after si.x; p.m. Often the moths were already 

 thick on the old patch. Usually they dwindled in numbers as night 

 advanced. The following is a list taken from barely a dozen patches : — 

 Agrotis sujf'usa, A. saucia, A. segetum, Triphcena pronuba, Orthosia lota 

 (plentiful), 0. macllenta, Afichocelis rufina, A. pistacina (in swarms and 

 very variable), A. lunosa {A. litura is absent from the local list), C. vaccinii, 

 C. spadicea, Scopelosoma satellitia, Oporina croceago, Xanthia silago, 

 X. ferruginea, Polia jiavicincta, Epunda nigra (two males, four females; 

 never before ten p.m.), Miselia oxyacanthcB, Agriopis aprilina, Phlogophora 

 meticulosa, Hadena protea (mostly worn, but some beautiful specimens), 

 Xylina rhizolitha, X. petrijicata, Amphipyra pyramidea. These were 

 taken from Sept. 29th to Oct. 15th. The weather was very unfavourable, 

 as it was usually either cold and clear, pouring with rain, or blowing half a 

 gale.— F. G. Bkcggs; Fursdon, Egg Buckland, S. Devon, Dec. 17th. 



ENTOM. APRIL, 1897. K 



