NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 233 



of captures when it is common. Four specimens of Sphinx 

 convolvuU have been brought to me of late, but none of them 

 have been fine. — W. H. Harwood ; 8, West Stockwell Street, 

 Colchester, September 30, 1881. 



Notes from Ranworth Fen. — On August 15lh I sugared, 

 with my brother, in Ranworth Fen. The heavy and almost con- 

 tinuous rains of the week before had left the marshes in anything 

 but a pleasant state for working, water lying everywhere, under 

 the grass and sedges, three or four inches deep, and in many 

 places forming large pools much deeper. We sugared the stems 

 and leaves of some alder bushes, but our efforts were only 

 rewarded by the appearance of one species, AjMinea fibrosa ; this 

 was abundant enough, and we had taken twenty-five specimens, 

 when an unlucky slip into a pool put a stop to sugaring for me 

 that night. Besides the A. fibrosa we saw nothing but one Plusia 

 festuccs and a couple of the ubiquitous Triplicena pronuba. The 

 next day was dull and cloudy. We tried beating, and took on the 

 marsh Cidaria testata, Acidalia immutata, Phibalapteryx lignata, 

 Crambus selasellus, and C. nliginosellus. In the alder carrs we got 

 Epione apiciaria. All the Geometers we saw were much faded 

 and weather-worn. In the afternoon the sun came out for about 

 a quarter of an hour, and with the sun appeared Papilio Machaon. 

 We netted a couple, and saw two or three more ; and afterwards 

 my brother took another at rest on a reed. At dusk we netted 

 Nonagria fulva and N. despecta, but the latter insect was going off 

 in condition. We sugared that night in the very core of the fen, 

 between two reed beds. We stopped till midnight, but took 

 nothing except four A. fibrosa, T. pronuba always excepted. I 

 was a good deal surprised to find this latter insect turning up so 

 deeply into the fen. Up to August Stli, when the fine weather 

 ultimately broke up in this neighbourhood, the past season had 

 been a good one for entomologists, as it was generally in the 

 Broads district. P. Machaon has abounded. One collector 

 showed me a box containing fifteen dozen pupae, taken in little 

 more than a week. One imago which he bred remained, he 

 declared, less than twenty-four hours in the pupal state. The 

 same man showed me a board on which were set nine specimens 

 of Nonagria breviliiiea, some in fine condition ; also a few 

 N.canncB. — C. Candler; Harleston, Norfolk, September 1, 1881. 



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