NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 117 



Thorpeness, Suffolk, I obtained five specimens of H. pinastri in the 

 pine-woods between Aldeburgh and Leiston. There were two males 

 and three females. I secured the first one on July 21st and the last 

 was taken about August 20th. All of them were captured during the 

 daytime resting on the bark of Pinus pinaster. — G. M. Spooner; 

 Slieve Bloom, Yelverton, S. Devon. 



Asthenia fimbriana. — The drawback to Mr. Thurnall's method 

 of obtaining this species {antea, p. 91) is that the type of weather 

 just at the period of emergence does not run in the direction of 

 "bright sunny mornings" — which I presume should also be without a 

 cold wind, or the moth would not fly when disturbed — but towards 

 dull grey skies and chilly weather. A. fimhriana can, however, be 

 obtained under these conditions in some numbers. The method I 

 adopt is to tap the oak branches, holding an umbrella or beating-tray 

 underneath ; into this the moth usually drops, fluttering a little on 

 arrival, and then sitting quietly and allowing itself to be boxed 

 without difficulty. In my hunting-grounds — oak woods in Surrey 

 and Sussex — from half a dozen to a dozen examples can usually be 

 obtained in a morning. On the 6th inst. I visited the Three Bridges 

 district with the object of obtaining the larvae of some alder-feeding 

 Tortrices, and after attaining my object I beat the oaks around the 

 well-known tile-yard in Worth Forest. The result in about two hours 

 was nine A. fimhriana-, two of which, males, were knocked out of one 

 tree.— W. W. Sheldon ; April 13th, 1919. 



Lepidoptera Noted in St. Helena and Sierra Leone. — 

 During a passage home from South Africa at this time last year I had 

 two days ashore at St. Helena (March 13th-15th), but the only 

 Lepidoptera seen were Lampides baticus and a small day-moth, Psara 

 licarsisalis, Walker, both in fair numbers at a few isolated spots 

 inland, half a dozen Pyrameis cardui, one Danais chrysippus, and 

 one A. atropos, the latter in a dark shed in the enclosure around 

 Napoleon's tomb — a singularly appropriate place. During a few days 

 ashore at Sierra Leone (March 23rd-28th), at the end of the dry 

 season, I took within a few miles of Freetown Byblia vulgaris, Precis 

 sesamus, P. leodice, P. terea, P. clelia, Neptis agatha, N. nemetes, 

 N. melicerta, Pseudoneptis ccenohita, Papilio cenea, Mylothris aspho- 

 delus, Teracolus evippe (variable forms), Appias bisinuata, Ypthima 

 doleta, Mycalesis nebulosa, D. chrysippus (all of the white y^x.alcippus), 

 H. misippus, Acraa quirina, A. natalica, A. egina, Gitrinophila 

 serena, Kirby, Tarucus telicanus, Lyccenesthes larydas. Cram., L. 

 heiuitsoni, Auriv., Castalius isis, Drury, Everes micyclus. Cram., 

 Deudorix deritas. Hew., Oxylides antif annus, Dbl. & Hew., and 

 several day-flying moths, etc. The most conspicuous of the butter- 

 flies are the beautiful metallic blue D. deritas, flitting in twos and 

 threes with such rapidity as to render capture extremely difiicult ; 

 A. egina, often confining its flight to tree-tops ; and the small blue 

 0. antifaunus, with its slow flight and singular feathery tails, which 

 immediately attract attention. In the streets of Freetown the only 

 butterflies seen were a few D. chrysippus, and in only two or three 

 spots in the vicinity were butterflies at all numerous, the commonest 

 species being the first two on my list. A small patch on the very 



