SOME aiACEDONIAN MOTHS. 203- 



was sitting on a hillside at Kukus one evening and within a 

 foot of my head there was a large thistle, to whicli a stellataruvi 

 kept coming and going for half an hour, quite heedless of my 

 presence. Its remarkable penchant for exploring dark holes in 

 cliffs and excavations came particularly under notice. It seems 

 hard to account for this habit, sicce neither Howers nor food- 

 plant can possibly be found there. In the garden of a house I 

 occupied at Armutci in the spring of 1918 I often saw these 

 insects going into the pigeon-holes in the mud walls. Has it 

 been suggested that the object of these visits may be the nests 

 of bees ? Numerous solitary bees occupy such places, and I have 

 found even the hive-bee, Apis mellijica, inhabiting quite an open 

 cave of this sort. Adierontia atropos, as is well known, enters 

 and robs bee-hives. Why not stellatarum ? 



Acherontia atropos. — I found several larvae of this on the 

 Datura stramonium in November, 1917, but did not succeed in 

 rearing them. One was the remarkable white variety with sepia 

 dots in two shades. I saw two or three specimens of another 

 Sphinuid during July, 1918, at Gerbazel, but did not succeed in 

 capturing them, nor can I be sure of their identity. The species 

 was either a Chaerocampa or Deiliphila. The remarkable feature 

 was that it was flying freely in full sunshine. Perhaps someone 

 knows of a species with this habit, which was new to me ? 



Satarnia pavonia major. — I took a larva of this great insect on 

 a willow at Yenikeuy in July, 1917, but it got out of the some- 

 what crazy box and spun up in my mackintosh cape. I tried 

 not to disturb it, but ultimately it was unavoidable and the thing 

 went under. A specimen of the moth was brought to me for 

 determination in the spring of the following year. 



S. spini. — Several taken at Kukus and Janes in April. 



Odonestis potatoria. — One found at Doiran, September, 1918. 



Crateronijx taraxaci. — On Janes plain I used to find many of 

 these at rest on the herbage in the early morning (November), 



Cossus cossus. — I saw a number of Turkey oaks with the 

 characteristic borings in January, 1917 (Sarigueul). 



Hepialus hipidiniis. — Fairly common on the hillsides at Janes 

 in April and May. 



^ Evergestis frumentaUs. — A few found flying amongst rough 

 herbage at Kukus at the end of May. 



Dianthoecia alhimacida. — One or two flying round fennel at 

 Janes (September). 



Pliisia gamma. — Common at Armutci from the beginning of 

 May through the summer. 



CJtariclea delphinii. — One or two at Armutci (May). 



"Janthineafrivaldskyi. — I took two specimens of this exquisite 

 little insect, which does not appear to have been recorded from 

 Europe before, flying round the ^owevs, oi Famaria, which was an 

 extraordinarily abundant weed in some potato-fields at Armutci. 



