NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 225 



were in too dilapidated a condition to be worth taking. Traces 

 of the larvae of Bomhyx castrensis were apparent on Artemisia, 

 and no doubt earlier in the season they had been common. I did 

 not see any sign of Geometra smaragdaria. 



Mr. Carrington raises the interesting question, " What becomes 

 of the Lepidoptera when the salt-marshes are covered with the 

 tide?" Something I observed may possibly throw some light on 

 this problem. I had found a particular spot on the marsh where 

 the two Eupoecili£e were common : it was a sort of bank sloping 

 towards a pool left by the tide ; the wind was blowing briskly from 

 the bank to the pool, and as I disturbed the insects it carried them 

 over it ; presently I observed one on the surface, and stooping to 

 pick it up was much surprised to find it rise off the water with 

 perfect ease and fly away. I soon observed others in the same 

 position, and presently saw several settle and (after remaining 

 apparently immersed for some time) fly away. I then found that 

 insects of the orders Hemiptera and Diptera had the same power 

 as the Lepidoptera, and that they floated on the water and rose 

 from it without difficulty. It seems, therefore, possible that 

 insects frequenting these marshes have acquired a kind of floating 

 apparatus which enables them to rest securely on the face of the 

 waters whilst their haunts are covered by the tide. 



Eose Cottage, Oval Eoad, Addiscombe, August 13, 1887. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



DiURNi IN Hampshire. — On the 25th July I saw three 

 fine specimens of Vanessa polychloros near Newport, Isle of 

 Wight; but, having no net, was unable to secure them. Three 

 days later I returned and caught in the same place three 

 specimens, probably those I had seen. I paid one visit to the 

 New Forest, near Lyndhurst, and took five Limenitis sibylla, 

 numbers of Lycama cegon, and many Hesperia comma. This was 

 on the 2nd August. — Harry C. Sandford ; Royal Military 

 Academy, Woolwich, August 3, 1887. 



DiURNi ABUNDANT AT Deal. — Many species of Diurni seem 

 to be abnormally abundant in this district this year. The 

 double-brooded species seem to be exceptionally so. The 



KNTOM. — SEPT. 1887. 2 G 



