ENTOMOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 79 



which we are blind ; what tragedies are incessantly acting 

 in every bunch of nettles, almost under every grain of sand. 

 In no case did I find more than one parasite in a larva. 



The moth, I need hardly say, is variable in the size and 

 disposition of the dark spots on its wings ; but out of my 126 

 specimens not one presented any very striking variation 

 from the ordinary type. As the struggle for life must be 

 desperate, when only I in 75 can win, and the issue must 

 hang on very minute and seemingly unimportant circum- 

 stances, I conclude that the colours of the moth do not in 

 this case count for much in the race. 



I incline, however, to think that the red caterpillar is in 

 some way weaker, or more exposed to attack, than the gray 

 form ; not only are the gray caterpillars much more numerous, 

 but the proportion of moths produced by the red variety is 

 much smaller. 



Dou';l;is, l>\e of Mau, December ^5, 1877. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL RAMBLES, 1877. 



By J. B. HODGKINSON. 

 (Continued from p. 31.) 

 July. 

 This should have been the great Tortrix month, but 1 had 

 poor hopes of much luck, seeing that there were so few larvae 

 in June. Still I rambled away as usual, thinking that if there 

 were no moths I could add to my stock of health, which, 

 however, did not require mending; so off I set to Grange the 

 first week to get some Euchromia rufana, but, like everything 

 else, not one would stir. I paid several visits, but to no 

 purpose: cold and wet weather still continued; always an 

 umbrella ; and trying to find some sheltered place in one of 

 the walks through the wood I took Sericorh bifasciaua ofi' a 

 Scotch fir, and odd specimens of Ephippiphora signatavn, 

 as well as Aryyresthia mendicella from the sloe ; in fact 1 

 had to make up a bag with almost anything to keep n)y 

 setting-boards full. Then 1 turned to the wild cherry tree, 

 and took a lot of Argyrestliia ephippella, and among the 

 agrimony I found a few larva3 of Nepticula (Btteojasciella, but 

 only reared one of the second brood. There is something 

 singular about the second broods of both Nepticula and 

 Lithocolletis, so very few come out in proportion to those 

 that are in pupa all winter. The second week again off" to 



