NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 265 



Notes from Abbot's Wood. — Having heard that Lepi- 

 doptera were plentiful in the above locality I joined my brother, 

 on the 20th June, for a few days' collecting. He had been there 

 a week, and from the reports I had received I anticipated a fair 

 amount of work, and am glad to say I was not disappointed. On 

 the 2 1st we walked through some of the ridings of the wood 

 prospecting, and were pleased to come across a freshly emerged 

 female of Melitcea athalia at rest on a flower of hawkweed. 

 Argynnis selene was plentiful, but getting worn ; Thecla ruhi had 

 been common, and faded specimens were not infrequent, especially 

 in the White Field ; while Hesperia sylvanus and the commoner 

 species were in fair numbers. A single s]3ecimen of Gnophria 

 ruhricoUis and four pairs of Zygcena trifolii were also taken, 

 and ova obtained from the latter. On the 22nd we went into 

 the wood in the hope of taking M. athalia, but although the 

 morning broke bright and sunny, clouds gathered just as its 

 habitat was reached, and none were to be seen. However, by 

 scouring amongst its food-plant, the common cow-wheat (Melam- 

 pyrum 'pratense), which grows here in large masses, we were able 

 to add six fresh specimens to one we had already taken in the 

 White Field. A visit to Eastbourne the next day produced 

 LyccBiia minima {alsus), fairly common on the cliffs about 

 Holywell; with L. hellargus (adonis) and L. icarus (alexis) 

 further on towards Beachy Head. The 24th proved a genuine 

 midsummer day, hot and almost cloudless, and M. athalia 

 appeared on the wing in some abundance. We again took a 

 single specimen in the White Field, and filled our boxes in the 

 course of a couple of hours or so with a nice series of picked 

 specimens. A noticeable feature in the habits of this species on 

 the wing is its occurrence in little companies of from two to four 

 or more, so that single specimens were the exception. The 27th, 

 also proving fine and sunny, we paid a further visit to its head- 

 quarters in order to take some females, and were pleased to find 

 a few couples at rest on grass-stems, although the proportion of 

 females taken was only 20 per cent. Other species seen included 

 a hybernated female of Colias ediisa, Euchloe cardamines (which 

 was quite three weeks late), Dasychlra pudibunda, Timandra 

 amataria, Melanippe hastata. Among larvae by far the most 

 common was Eriogaster lanestris, which occurred in large 

 numbers on the blackthorn, some of the "nests" containing over 



entom. — OCT., 1885. . 2 m 



