LEPIDOPTERA OF THE BRITISH LINE IN FRANCE. 227 



the more remarkable, and can, as far as we at present know, 

 be for no more direct purpose than protective resemblance 

 (Haliday records a battle between the insects), because their 

 economy is entirely connected with Homoptera. Members of 

 the Fulgoridse, Cercopidas, Jassida3, and Membracidfe are all 

 known to be destroyed by Dryinidse. Douglas, in the E. M. M. 

 1882, pp. 116, 142; my references on the " Hvmenopterous 

 Parasites of Rhynchota " (' Zoologist,' 1909, pp. 216-220) ; and 

 Perkins' " Leafhoppers and their Natural Enemies " (Bull. 

 Hawaian Sugar Plant. Ass. i, 1905, pp. 1-62), cover most of the 

 known facts of their life-cycle. But these parasites are extremely 

 retiring, for in twenty-five years' collecting I have captured no 

 more than some dozen imagines. 



Monks' Soham House, Suffolk, 

 August 20th, 1917. 



NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF THE BRITISH 

 LINE IN FRANCE. 



By Capt. H. D. Smart, M.C, R.A.M.C, F.E.S. 



Since I last wrote on this subject I have been able to add a 

 good many species to my list, and to note further localities for 

 some of the less universal insects. These additions chiefly con- 

 cern the moths, as, to the time when a shrapnel bullet put a stop 

 to my continental activities, the season has been a particularly 

 poor one for butterflies. This has probably been due chiefly to 

 the arctic winter and sub-arctic spring, bringing to Northern 

 Europe degrees of cold, and particularly of wet cold, that are very 

 unusual. Another reason may be the prevalence of strong winds 

 throughout the very hot early summer. The insect shortage 

 seems to me to have affected one great class, united not by 

 structural resemblances but by habit — that is, the tremendous 

 body of diurnal grass-frequenting species. 



C. paniphiliis was less numerous than usual ; P. icarus was 

 almost scarce. None of the day-flying Noctuids were plentiful ; 

 some of the commoner species I did not see at all. Of the 

 Crambids only C. peiielhis had appeared in normal numbers up 

 to July 14th, and of the Pterophori I saw only pentadactylus. 

 On the other hand, getting an opportunity for a little sugaring, 

 I found abundance of common Noctuce, with a sprinkling of better 

 things, and the woods produced the usual number of moths of all 

 families. 



The destructive hosts of cockchafers that I saw on the Somme 

 in 1916 did not reappear this year in Pas-de-Calais. 



My beat has been more restricted this year, extending only 

 from Arras to the neighbourhood of Messines. The portion of 



