12 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



mischief done near Keswick, and the mention of another out- 

 break in Sweden as late as 1892, by Dr. Sharp (Entom. xxvii. 

 3171, as well as the interesting article on the "hill grubs" 

 of Southern Scotland by Mr. Service (1. c, 278), we may con- 

 sider C. graminis one of the more destructive of the Nocture. 



Fortunately for the pastures of Devon, the insect is not as a 

 rule abundant there. Until August, 1893, I had never met with 

 it alive, and it was with considerable pleasure tbat I secured a 

 series resting on thistle-heads. 



The insect is supposed to fly only early in the morning and 

 again in the evening, and Newman gives an interesting account 

 of this habit, which I should never have dreamt of questioning 

 but for my experience this year. 



On August 30th, while walking over that portion of Dartmoor 

 between Classenwell Pool and Princestown, a distance of four or 

 live miles, C. graminis appeared in, I may safely say, thousands. 

 They were continually on the wing, flying low over the grass and 

 heather, and hardly a yard could be walked without putting one 

 up ; and they continued on the wing in the same numbers, flying 

 in the hottest sunshine, from 11.30 till I left the moor about 

 4 o'clock. The next day, and a very hot one it was, the insects 

 were again on the wing the whole distance between Princestown 

 and Siwards Cross, and during a long detour back again, a round 

 of nearly ten miles. 



If the moths were flying in the same large numbers all over 

 the moor as they were over that part I traversed — and I do not 

 see why they should not have been, as there is not the slightest 

 difference in the herbage — it would be almost impossible to 

 exaggerate the prodigious quantities of this insect. 



1 can fully endorse the statements of Mr. Dalglish (Entom. 

 xxvii. 317) as to the number of females ; from my own experience 

 they outnumbered the males by twenty to one. And also as to the 

 enormous quantity of ova laid by the moths ; from those cap- 

 tured I procured literally thousands of eggs. 



The largeness of the proportion of females is interesting ; 

 they were evidently taking advantage of the great heat to deposit 

 their ova. I am inclined to think that no males were on the 

 wing, except those that our movements disturbed from their 

 hiding-places amongst the heather. 



In the case of Neuronia popidaris and Luperina cesjntis, the 

 exception is to take a female by means of light ; nearly all are 

 males; perhaps the male C. graminis flies at the same time. 



I shall be glad to hear the opinion of others. 



Scottish Conservative Club, Edinburgh, Nov. 28th, 1894. 



