MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA OF THE BURGHCLERE DISTRICT. 65 



the time that the lantern first appeared in the window up to one 

 o'clock a.m. It was often almost impossible to read with 

 comfort, and I would lay down my book to listen to the babel of 

 undertones that filled the air. What differences of moth 

 temperament are revealed by the deep bass hum of the heavy 

 Agrotidfe, the vulgar bluster of HeliopJiobus j^opnlaris, and the 

 gentle, nervous fluttering of Rusina tenehrosa ! But to quit 

 sentiment and come to reality, I may say that under all these 

 various and superficial characteristics there seemed to lie a 

 general disposition to oblige, and very soon every available inch 

 of my setting-board was crowded with my nocturn-il visitors. 

 My first reception, so to speak, was held on March '29th, when 

 Tcsniocampa instahilis and 2\ cruda came in, quickly followed by 

 2\ stahilis, T. gothica, and some early Geometers. The moths 

 were capricious, but on most suitable nights there was a fair 

 show, and the muster was irregular in quality rather than in 

 quantity. The lantern generally filled the room with moths of 

 some sort, even if nine-tenths of them were of some one plebeian 

 species like Agrotis exclamationis or Arctia luhriciijeda. But on 

 occasional evenings it would be apparent from the very first that 

 variety was about to exercise its charm. Such pests as Agrotis 

 exclamationis and Xylophasia polyodon would retire, and the 

 first half-dozen arrivals would be of different species, some 

 of them, perhaps, new to me. Chiefly by the help of a few such 

 precious occasions I managed to put together the following list 

 of Noctuse : — 



Leiicania conigera, L. lithargyria. L. comma, L. pallens, 

 Tapinostola falva, Hydroecia nictitans, H. micacea, Xylophasia 

 lithoxylea, Neuria saponarice, Heliophobus popularis, Apamea 

 testacea, Luperina cespitis, Apamea gemina, A. ocidea, Miana 

 strigilis, M. fasciitncula, Grammesia trilinea, Caradrina morpheus,- 

 C. alsiiies, Riisina tenehrosa, Agrotis segetum, A. exclamationis, A. 

 cinerea, Tryphana orhona, Noctua augur, N. plecta, N. c-nigrum, 

 N. /estiva, N. dahlii, N. rubi, N. xanthographa, Anchocelis rujina, 

 A. pistacina, A. lunosa, Scopelosoma satellitia, Xantliia cerago, X. 

 silago, X. ferniginea, Tethea siibtusa, Dianthoecia carpophaga, D. 

 capsincola, D. cuciibali, Hecatera serena, Miselia oxyacantJice, 

 Phlogophora meticulosa, Hadena adusta, H. dentina, H. oleracea, 

 H. thalassina, Abrostola urticcs, Plusia chrysitis, Amphipyra 

 tragopogonis, and Catocala nupta. Besides these captures at 

 light, I extracted from the long grass under my windows plenty 

 of such day-flying Noctuae as Heliothis arbiiti, Phytometra cenea, 

 Euclidia glyphica, and E. mi. 



My best captures in this group were undoubtedly Agrotis 

 cinerea and Luperina cespitis. Of the former I only got two 

 early in June, but during the last week in August L. cespitis 

 began to come in such numbers that its visits were tolerated 



