CAPTIRES ANn FIELD RKPORTS. 'i< 



counted seventy larvie of this species. There were old acquaintHnces : 

 S. populi (plenty of them). Onjyia antiqua, Oiiyn^stis potatoria (eggs), 

 Porthesia similis {auridna) (larvfe, pnpa?, imagines and eggs all at the 

 same time), Aerotnicta alni off birch (only two. but possibly male and 

 female). Notodonta dictiea lafew), (Tayiopt^ra lihatiij.-, Xonaijna typha, 

 and a caterpillar I have never before met with in the district, although 

 the moth is common enough at the electric lamps — A. meuacephnla. 

 Both D. bifida and D. fnrcnla were scarce July to September, espe- 

 cially the first species. Three caterpillars of hijida and seven of furciila 

 were the totals for each. The bi/iiti were all off poplar, while furcula 

 favoured both poplar and sallow. There was a good deal of difference 

 between the caterpilhirs of each. Both have a pattern along the back 

 which looks like a purplish dorsal hood and mantle bordered with 

 yellow. In D. bifida the hood is separated from the mantle; in 

 D. f'lircnia the two are connected, but amost separated at segment 4. 

 Then the mantle in furcuia is always ornamented with bright russet, 

 the same tint as on the upper wings of the moth O. libatrix. 



In September and October larvje of M. lituntta, Bupalus piniaria, 

 and Ellopia prosapiaria (fasciaiia) were beaten from Scotch firs in 

 Delamere Forest. Liturata were not very common. One day, Oct. 

 4th, I got three, whilst a companion was lucky enough to get nine. 

 Fasciaria was a common caterpillar ; it looks, roughly speaking, very 

 like A. bt'tulana. Some of the specimens were marbled with dark 

 green, others with red. Autumn imagines of Thera i-ariata were on 

 the wing, and a good many of their little green pupje were beaten out 

 of the Scotch firs. From these (Oct. 17th) I am getting some very 

 pretty moths. The only other Pelamere Forest larvae worth referring 

 to were those of Aplecta nebidosa, captured on April nights, from which 

 were reared very representative series of moths, culmiuatiug in the 

 darkest forms. 



Among dragouflies I was agreeably surprised, in July, to get Plate- 

 tium depitsmm in Delainere Forest. The most important observation 

 was a second and very general appearance of hchnura deijans in the 

 beginning of August. — J. Akkle ; Chester, Oct. 17th, 1902. 



The Season of 1902. — With regard to rearing Lepidoptera I have 

 noticed two things during the past season : first, that larvtv have, as a 

 rule, taken longer to feed up than usual; and, secondly, that a greater 

 percentage have died than is generally the case. To take the nisects 

 in something like order, my first imago, from a brood of Sphinje 

 ligustii, appeared on June 7th, Hyloicus (S.) fdnastri (bred from foreign 

 ova) having emerged on June 2nd. Only one out of seven pupa? of 

 Chicrocauipa elpmor came through, and that was not a very good speci- 

 men. It emerged on June 1st, which is three weeks earlier than my 

 entry for this species in 1901. I found two larvte early in September, 

 and the first of these went down to pupate on September 25th. 

 Stneiinthus ocdiatus imagines began to appear on June 18th, which is 

 over a month later than the first entry for last year. Diliua {S.) tiliie 

 emerged on April 20th and following days, whereas in 1901 the first 

 did not come out till May 29th. That is all I have done with the 

 *' hawks " this year. The larvte of Zy<jiena filipnuiulic were fairly 

 common at the beginning of July, and the first imago appeared in my 



