COLLECTING BRITISH CLEAR-WINGED LEPIDOPTERA. 103 



into one's kitchen garden, where the currant trees grow, to 

 conduct the observations. The moths may be seen sunning 

 themselves on the bright leaves of the bushes, or flitting over 

 them on a sunny June morning. 



The larvae feed in the stems of the shoots, probably for two 

 years. Mr. Newstead, writing (Entom. xix. 90), says the larva 

 should be looked for in March and April. " Select black, red 

 and white currant bushes, that are pruned every year. Take 

 shoots that were cut in January and February of the previous 

 year, carefully split them open, and the larvae will be found in the 

 winter cocoon, not far from the end of the shoots." When the 

 larvae are full fed they gnaw the wood at right angles, and pupate 

 close to the exit. This is usually just above the joint of a 

 small twig, or where a leaf joins the twig. They leave only the 

 finest paper-like film of the outer bark, through which the pupa 

 pushes just before the moth emerges. These moths are not 

 difiicult to rear, if the larvae or pupae are taken in May. The 

 twigs must be kept standing in moist sand in a sunny place. 



Sesia asiliformis (cynipiformis). — This moth appears in June 

 or early in July. It frequents localities where oak trees grow, 

 and in some seasons is by no means uncommon in Hyde Park, 

 London. The best way to rear this species is to proceed to an 

 oak wood where the trees have been cut down some two or three 

 years. Indications of the larvae will be found by looking for the 

 frass thrown up where the bark joins the wood on the top of the 

 cut stumps. It is most common in the South of England. 



The larvae feed in the bark of oak for two years. The female 

 moths prefer the cut trees, depositing the ova on the top of the 

 cut section of bark. The simplest way is to cut off, with a saw, 

 about four inches deep of the top of the stump containing the 

 larvae or pupae, and keep these slices in a sunny, moist breeding- 

 cage. The pupte are then easily reared to imagines. The best 

 time to cut off these slices is about the middle to end of May. 

 Sometimes a single stump will produce quite a long series of the 

 moths a fortnight later. 



Sesia myopiformis. — This is another " domestic "' species, to 

 be found in the bark of apple and pear trees, as it emerges 

 in June and July. 



The larvae feed in the bark for two years. Try to entrap them 

 by tacking some leno-niuslin over trees known to be effected, but 



