NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 179 



many were crawling about the stems of the trees. — V. R. Perkins ; 

 54, Gloucester Street, Pimlico, S.W., July 20, 1881. 



BoLETOBiA FULiGiNARiA IN LoNDON. — I am pleased to inform 

 you that I have been fortunate in having another specimen of 

 Boletohia fuliginaria, handed to me by the same man who took 

 the one I recorded in 1879. This was taken on our warehouse 

 door, in Upper Thames Street, when opened this morning. It is 

 a male, and in good condition. — J, R. Wellman ; Elm Park, 

 Brixton Rise, S.W., July 14, 1881. 



Abundance op Hybernia defoliaria and other Larv^ in 

 THE New Forest. — Having visited the New Forest about the 

 middle of June I was very much surprised to find the oak trees, 

 in this proverbially leafy month, as bare and leafless as in " dark 

 December." The contrast between the bright beautiful green of 

 the ferns and the grey dead appearance of the oaks was very 

 striking ; it was the difference between life and death : in fact I 

 heard an old man say, " All the oaks in the forest are dead." 

 Such a phenomenon is, I believe, happily rare in this country ; 

 at all events the oldest inhabitant of the locality I visited 

 (Holmsley) does not remember any similar occurrence. Having 

 examined the trees I found that myriads of H. defoliaria and 

 other larvae, having denuded them of every particle of foliage, 

 were hanging from the leafless branches by silken threads, or 

 ravenously consuming the brambles and other green herbage on 

 the ground. The incessant rasping noise of countless thousands 

 of jaws was distinctly and strangely audible. I do not know 

 whether this phenomenon was local, or extended over the whole 

 of the forest. Perhaps some other correspondent may favour us 

 with his experience. Insects generally are abundant this season 

 in the forest ; but Triphcena pronuba, in numbers as well as 

 variety, surpasses all other species. I would strongly recommend 

 collectors to take a good series of this common, but beautiful, 

 moth, as several varieties can now be obtained which are rarely 

 seen in ordinary seasons. — W. M'Rae ; Westbourne House, 

 Bournemouth, July 20, 1881. 



On THE Rearing of Leucania obsoleta from the Larva. — 

 At the latter end of August, 1880, whilst on an entomological 

 visit to Buckinghamshire, at the end of a day's run I took home 

 a number of the stems of Arundo phragmites. They were placed 



