NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 295 



which grows so plentifully about the undercliff. Achcrontia atropos 

 appears also to have been unusually common this year in the 

 larval state. In addition to the captures already recorded in the 

 * Entomologist,' I know of specimens having been taken at Oxford 

 and Twickenham. Sphinx convolvuli appears to have been common 

 throughout the South of England this year. Thus there have 

 been reported to me the capture of three specimens at Hurst- 

 pierpoint, in Sussex ; of two specimens at Portewood, near 

 Southampton ; and two at Godalming. On the evening of 

 September Gth, whilst mothing in a garden at Sevenoaks, my 

 cousin, Miss Constance Carvalho, and I each took a fine specimen 

 hovering over the flowers of the " evening primrose " {(Enothera 

 biennis). This observation is of interest, as Hermann Miiller 

 does not record S. convolvuli among the visitors to (Enothera. 

 The moths captured by my cousin and myself had the proboscis 

 well dusted with the yellow pollen of the flower. I noticed also 

 that the male of this species possesses the scent-tufts on the 

 ventral side of the base of the abdomen, to which attention has 

 already been directed by Fritz Miiller (Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 

 1878, p. ii). Another specimen has since been taken at Sevenoaks. 

 I have just had reported also the capture of a specimen of 

 Chcerocampa celerio at the beginning of the month, at Hurst- 

 pierpoint. — R. Meldola; September 26, 1885. 



ACHERONTIA ATROPOS AND MaCROGLOSSA STELLATARUM AT 



Sea. — On August 26th, while homeward bound from Australia 

 and when entering the chops of the Channel, two very fine 

 specimens of A. atropos were captured on board the ship; and 

 on the 11th of the same month, while we were at anchor off 

 Algiers, a damaged specimen was brought to me by one of the 

 blue-jackets. A few nights afterwards, between Algiers and 

 Gibraltar, while we were smoking on deck, an atropos alighted at 

 the feet of one of the officers and ran squeaking ujj his leg, much 

 to his astonishment ; but it flew away before it could be captured. 

 M. stellatarum was to be seen every day between Malta and 

 Gibraltar; and on August 25th, two days before we reached 

 Plymouth, one was observed flying about the ship. — Gervase F. 

 Mathew; Instow, N. Devon, October 8, 1885, 



Sphinx convolvuli at Bury. — On September 13th a specimen 

 of this species was found at rest on a tombstone in the cemetery. 

 — B. Kay; S, Ingham Street, Bury St. Edmunds. 



