88 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 
Lyc#®NA ARGIoLUsS.—I am very much surprised to find from 
the remarks of Messrs. W. Harcourt Bath (Entom. 29) and 
J. Jenner Weir (Entom. 50) that Lycena argiolus is not double- 
brooded in the New Forest and some other localities in the 
South of England. There are certainly two broods in Essex and 
Suffolk ; but as the individuals of the first brood are much more 
numerous than those of the second, I am quite disposed to agree 
with Mr. C. J. Biggs that the latter—like so many other second 
broods—is only partial. The idea of looking for the larva on 
mountain ash, crab-apple, and bramble blossoms is so decidedly 
novel that it could only occur to an original and enterprising 
mind; but though it has been seen to feed upon the tender 
leaves and unripe berries of the holly, I cannot help thinking 
that it is a flower-feeder as a general rule, though this is a 
difficult point to settle conclusively, as most of the examples 
which have been obtained in the natural state have been beaten 
from various trees and shrubs. Mr. Weir mentions that I have 
found it on Rhamnus frangula blossoms, and also that it was 
found by Mr. G. F. Mathew on flowers of Escallonia in June; 
and in the book from which he quotes (‘Larve of British 
Butterflies and Moths,’ Ray Society, 1886, p. 188) the Rev. 
J. Hellins notes its having been found by Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher 
at Worthing, on flowers of Cornus sanguinea. I have also beaten 
it from Huonymus europeus flowers, and strongly suspect that we 
have by no means exhausted the list of its food-plants at present. 
The mayor of Colchester, Mr. Laver, has drawn my attention to 
the extreme partiality of the perfect insect for the flowers of 
Aucuba japonica. In the churchyard of Holy Trinity parish, in 
this town, there are several of these shrubs, upon which the fruit 
comes to maturity; and, as L. argiolus frequents them in the 
spring, Mr. Laver thinks that it may assist in fertilising the 
blossoms; but I have never looked for the larva on this plant, 
though I have frequently seen the butterflies flitting about it in 
my own garden. I collected for years in this district without 
meeting with a single specimen; it then became common for 
several seasons, but has been comparatively scarce during the 
past three or four years. Mr. Harcourt Bath seems to consider 
