156 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
THE LEPIDOPTERA OF EAST SUSSEX IN EARLY JUNE. 
By W. H. Tueweu. 
On the 2nd of June, Mr. G. T. Porritt and myself started for 
a ten days’ collecting trip in the Abbott’s Wood district, East 
Sussex. Hailsham was selected for head-quarters, where we had 
secured suitable rooms. We arrived at our destination by a 
Victoria train at 5.6 p.m., and, after dining and unpacking, we 
set out, at 7.30, for the woods, to try the alluring power of sugar. 
The spot chosen for our operations was a ride in a wood, where, 
eighteen years before, I had obtained a specimen of the rare 
Ophiodes lunaris, and where, too, a few days afterwards, Mr. 
William Borrer had captured the still rarer Catephia alchymista. 
We hardly hoped to see these rarities again, but as we knew by 
previous experience that the locality was a rich one, we anticipated 
a good harvest of interesting species. After applying our sugar 
we plied the net on the numerous Geometridz that were on the 
wing, and secured several fairly good ones. Our fellow moth- 
catcher, the goatsucker, was evidently busy, so we lighted our 
lamps, and from the first tree it was clear we were in for a good 
night of it; moths simply swarmed on every tree, not by twos 
and threes, but by the score and even hundreds. In the early 
twilight the most numerous species was Tephrosia extersaria ; 
twenty to thirty on a tree was the general thing. Perhaps the 
next most common feaster was Hrastria fuscula ; a little later 
Grammesia trilinea were in profusion, interspersed pretty freely 
with Cymatophora or; Aplecta nebulosa and A. herbida, both 
evidently just out, and in splendid form and condition. Diphthera 
orion from time to time turned up, as did Acronycta ligustri, 
Cymatophora fluctuosa, Thyatira batis, and Heliothis marginata ; 
whilst Mr. Porritt netted Cherocampa elpenor as it buzzed at his 
sugar. Apamea unanimis, A. basilinea, A. gemina, and A. oculea 
were all more or less abundant, some pretty forms amongst 
them; Xylophasia rurea, and some very rich examples of the 
form combusta, too, X. hepatica, and several Agrotis. From this 
truly vast assemblage of moths, selecting a good form here and a 
well-marked specimen there, with uncommon things fairly thick, 
we soon came to an end of our pretty large supply of boxes, and 
we were forced to leave heaps of interesting insects still feasting 
on our spread banquet of sweets. We left the wood, walking 
home on the best of terms with ourselves, with some hours’ work 
of setting on hand. We continued to sugar this round each night 
of our stay (Sunday excepted), and every night moths were in the 
greatest profusion. It was most interesting to watch from night 
to night the waning of one species and the increase in numbers 
of others; each day we added some new insects to our list. The 
most striking phenomena of our eight nights’ sugaring was that 
