290 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



know whether the insect has modified its habits since the 

 time that our winters have mitigated their severity, but I 

 have never succeeded in detecting such a colony in autumn, 

 winter, or spring. In the- breeding-cage each individual 

 spins a solitary cocoon ; and, when beating during Septem- 

 ber, I have never found that a number fell into the net from 

 one bush. If our climate was more equable, no doubt these 

 autumn larvae would feed up and produce a second brood of 

 moths, the species then wintering in the egg-state, as is 

 stated to occur in some parts of the Continent. Perhaps 

 some of the readers of the 'Entomologist' in northern dis- 

 tricts may have found L. auriflua in winter living in society. 

 —J. B. S. Clifford. 



Acosmetia caliginosa: liow to Capture it. — As I have had 

 an opportunity of catching this insect during the past season 

 in the New Forest, some account of the mode I found most 

 successful in its capture may be useful. The enclosure in 

 which I captured it was about a mile and a half from Lynd- 

 hurst, on the Brockenhurst Road : the growth was young, 

 consisting principally of fir, and the grass was very long in 

 the rides. I always caught these moths in the rides ; and the 

 following is the manner I found most effectual in disturbing 

 them from the long grass. I walked slowly along the ride, 

 holding my net by the ring, and stirring the grass in front of 

 me, by sweeping with the end of the stick like a scythe. The 

 longer the stick, and the slower you go, the better; for you 

 lose a great many through their rising behind you. Unless 

 experienced, you are sure to mistake them for the common 

 grass-moth, flying in much the same manner: both rise and 

 only remain on the wing for a short time, soon returning to 

 the grass, where they are very difficult to see. I never saw 

 one fly until disturbed. A friend, who also hunted for them, 

 had more luck on a rainy day than on any other. Paraphilus, 

 Icarus, and Gamma, were always rising from the grass, and 

 more than once we disturbed Chrysitis. The time I caught 

 them was the first two weeks in August. — E. B. Poulton ; 

 Victoria Villa, Reading, November 30, 1872. 



Tinea fallescentella. — Passing through the goods'-yard of 

 the Great Northern Kailway, at Leeds, a few days ago, I 

 noticed a number of small moths on the walls, and, although 

 they appeared to be only " clothes'- moths," anything in the 



