NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 51 



most probable, though I have never taken the species, that 

 Argynnis pandora is influenced, in a manner similar to that 

 seen in its immediate congeners of the Palsearctic fauna, by 

 temperature and elevation. — Henry C. Lang ; Maidenhead, 

 Berks, January 26, 1885. 



Soaring Habit of Vanessa atalanta. — Whilst coaching 

 from Bettws-y-coed to Capel Curig, N. Wales, in September last, 

 I observed large numbers of this species, which was very common 

 generally, rise from the branches of ashes and oaks as we passed. 

 Every few yards two or three of the insects were disturbed, and 

 soared to a considerable height, like Apatura wis, the resem- 

 blance to whose flight was strikingly similar, a fact I had never 

 previously noted or seen recorded. — Martin J. Harding ; Old 

 Bank, Shrewsbury, December 21, 1884. 



Abundance of Vanessa atalanta and V. cardui. — With 

 regard to Miss Hinchcliff's note (Entom. xvii. 271) on these 

 species, I may say that both have been particularly numerous in 

 North Kent through the summer of 1884, a circumstance more 

 noteworthy, because it has not, on the whole, been at all a good 

 season for butterflies. Several of the usually abundant species 

 have been excessively scarce ; one of the oddest disappearances, 

 not merely in 1884, but for several years past, is that of Vanessa 

 io, which was so familiar to us amid the cliffs and chalk-pits, 

 delighting in the bloom of thistles and brambles. — J. B. S. 

 Clifford; Cambrian Grove, Gravesend, December 11, 1884. 



Lepidoptera in Somersetshire. — It has again been a barren 

 year for collectors in this part of the West of England. Vanessa 

 cardui and V. atalanta were exceptionally common, almost every 

 other species of Lepidoptera especially rare. At sugar, although 

 I persevered until late in October, only one species appeared in 

 any numbers ; my old acquaintance PoUa flavicincta, even 

 Anchocelis iiistac'ina, TriphcBna pronuha, Phlogophora meticidosa, 

 and such-like common insects appeared but sparsely. Of course 

 Xylina semibrunnea and X socia {petrijicata) were looked for in 

 vain. — H. W. Livett; Wells, Somerset, December, 1884. 



EUPITHECIA LINARIATA AND AciDALIA VIRGULARIA DOUBLE- 



brooded. — The past season, owing to its intense heat, was 

 undoubtedly favourable to the development of second broods of 

 insects which generally appear but once in the year. Yet how 



