NOTRS AND OUSIORV.VTIONS. 21 



lepidoptera during several weeks spent in the Rannoch district last 

 siunmer was a single example of Boannia repandata, var. nujricata, 

 which turned up at sugar. I mention this because the usual form is 

 at present the grey one, var. sodorensium, and assuming the increase of 

 the black form var. nigricata, it may be interesting to note the date of 

 its genesis as Rannoch. The only good Noctuid at sugar was Aplecta 

 occulta, which turned up in some numbers. — W. G. Sheldon. 



Perizoma t^niata in South Devon. — On August 1st last year 

 I captured a specimen of P. tceniata on the coast of Torbay. It Hew 

 out of a thick hedge which was being beaten for Geometridtc. The 

 insect is in good condition, but the left fore wing is slightly crumpled. 

 The species has been previously recorded from Lynton in North 

 Devon, but so far as I know not from South Devon. — P. C. Wood- 

 FORDE ; 19, Friars' Entry, Oxford. 



Lepidoptera in the Highlands. — In the course of six weeks' 

 holiday in August and September, 1919, in the neighbourhood of 

 Aviemore and Nethybridge, I found Lepidoptera very scarce indeed ; 

 but I took one specimen of Depressaria (Pinaris) hepatariella, Zell., 

 at Kingussie on August 28th. Mr. J. Hartley Durrant, who kindly 

 determined it for me, informs me that only one or two other British 

 captures of this species are recorded. The only common species 

 were Eupithecia sobrinata, Padisca solandriana and Sleganoptycha 

 gcminana, all of which were to be seen in large numbers. Of 

 E. sobrinata I took a number of striking grey and black varieties 

 (the relative proportions and depth of the two colours showing the 

 widest variation), as well as a few specimens of the browner southern 

 form, which occurs not uncommonly in the Isle of Purbeck and 

 elsewhere. P. solandriana also presented every variety, one of the 

 commonest being var. cespitana. One specimen of .S'. geminana, 

 light grey in ground-colour, showed no trace of a basal patch, but 

 a bold, lozenge- shaped black marking in the centre of tlie wing. — 

 A. W. Pickabd-Cambridge ; Balliol College, Oxford. 



Sph^rceca obscurana, Steph. = ravulana, H.S., at Tilgate. 

 — Tilgate Forest is an old locality for this rare species, but I am not 

 aware that it has been taken there for many years, probably because 

 it has not been systematically worked for. I gather that but few 

 specimens were taken altogether, and that most of them fell to the 

 net of that particularly energetic collector, E. G. Meek. I had long 

 thought I would like to try my luck with this difficult to obtain 

 species, and last June I did actually capture half-a-dozen examples there 

 — one on my first attempt and five on my second. — W. G. Sheldon. 



Notes on a Holiday in Essex. — On August 2nd myself and 

 family went to spend a holiday at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, with 

 the intention (my eldest boy and self) of miking as much, entomolo- 

 gically, of the holiday as we could. The weather was all that could 

 be desired, with brilliant sunshine, and whilst out on the rough 

 heathland adjacent to the town we saw what at first sight appeared 

 to be a large fritillary flashing past in the sunshine. Our first 

 attempts at capture were hopeless failures, the insect possessing 

 astonishing speed. A lucky stroke, however, at length stopped its 

 flight, and we found our capture to be Lasiocavipa quercus in fine 



