NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 189 



busy to be able to do much insect-hunting in tlie daytime, but I am 

 sure I should have seen them had there been more specimens about. 

 Macroglossa stcUaturum: I saw a specimen on June liitli flying 

 round flowers on the cliffs. From the place where I saw it, added to 

 the facts that the moth was somewhat worn and that yesterday's 

 thunderstorm came up here with a strong wind off the sea, I rather 

 think that this occurrence supports the theory that some of our 

 earlier stcUaturuvi are immigrants. Lobophora virctata : I took a 

 specimen at Kamsgate on May 12th. I do not know whether this is 

 worth recording, but I have not previously met with this species either 

 in this neighbourhood or on the immediate coast in south-east Essex. 

 Abraxas grossnlariata: This always abundant moth is tlying here at 

 present in greater numbers than usual at this time of the year. No 

 doubt this is due to the warm spell in March. On the 2nd of that 

 month I found larvae about half grown, frequently on Euonymus. 

 The first specimen emerged in my breeding-cages on May 17th, which 

 appears to me to be a singularly early date. Another point I have 

 noticed is that, though, one way and another, I have already seen 

 some scores of this moth here this season, I have not seen a single 

 specimen which even approached a variety. It has occurred to me 

 that either time of year or food may have something to do with this. 

 All the Euonymus bushes here have been covered with larvae, but I 

 only saw one larva (on plum) which was feeding on any other 

 pabulum, although there are plenty of fruit trees and bushes about. — 

 N. 0. K. Serjeant ; Cholmeley Hotel, Broadstairs, June 13th. 



Pyrameis atalanta and p. cardui. — On June 10th I took a 

 very dilapidated P. atalanta in the Churnet Valley and since that 

 date have met with three more : a very fresh 9 vvhich remained 

 some time near my home on the 15th ult., and two more near 

 Dovedale on the 19th ult. I saw a P. cardui here at Whiston on the 

 15th ult. I have never before seen four atalanta in a single spring, 

 and usually this species is uncommon even in autumn in my own 

 district. Insects have been generally much scarcer than usual this 

 spring, and the only really good capture I have made so far was a 

 N. chaonia on May 8th — the first recorded for N. Staffs since 1875 at 

 least. The moth was a $ and in good condition. — Thomas Smith ; 

 Whiston Eaves, Froghall, N. Staffs. 



Migration op Pyrameis atalanta, etc. — Last year, for the first 

 time during forty years' observation, not a single example of Pyrameis 

 atalanta occurred in our garden. The unusually abundant flights to 

 our shores recorded in the June number of the ' Entomologist ' lead 

 me to hope that history will not repeat itself, for on May 23rd I was 

 pleased to note several females. It was interesting, too, to see that 

 one of them came regularly for two or three nights in succession to 

 roost on the same arbutus, this tree having a western aspect. On 

 the 22nd P. cardui was in possession of the railway banks on the 

 Chalfont-Road side of Amersham, Bucks, and a visit on the 23rd to 

 the L. & N. W.E. bridge, where I recovered Parargc megcera in Middle- 

 sex two years ago, was rewarded by the sight of some freshly-emerged 

 males. — H. Rowland-Brown ; Harrow Weald, June 19th, 1920. 



