NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 305 



a second capture this year at the identical spot where it was found ia 

 1887. Among Heterocera the novelties communicated by Mr. Sydney 

 Webb, the possessor of the late Mr. Bond's collection, as taken within 

 the radius of Harrow, are Hepialus sylvanus and Brephos notha. Those 

 mentioned in Mr. Melvill's book are Anarta myrtUli and Aventia flexula ; 

 while Col. Hanbury-Barclay is responsible for Catcena haworthu, Xylina 

 soda, and Hecatera chrysozona. Of modern interest are l^ola confusalis, 

 Lithusia )nesomella, Asphalia ridens, and Ayrotis aquilina, which have 

 fallen to the share of Mr. Rhoades- Smith during the past year or two; 

 PcecUocampa populi (not uncommon), and, most remarkable of all, a 

 single Bryophila muralis, taken by Mr. Bonhote on the School Chapel 

 in July, 1892. The first volume ends with the Noctuffi; but a second, 

 dealing with the Geometrte and the rest of the macros, as well as 

 micros, is, I understand, shortly to be issued. Altogether the number 

 of butterflies recorded is forty-one, a very respectable total when it is 

 considered that the localities worked are nowhere more than fourteen 

 or fifteen miles from the Marble Arch. The older entomologists are 

 agreed that Middlesex, entomologically speaking, was once a happy 

 hunting-ground indeed for the London collector. The more ancient 

 of the notices in Newman and elsewhere would appear to support the 

 tradition. But after all our insect fauna to-day compares very well 

 with that of many a county which the jerry-builder and the speculative 

 contractor have not yet converted to the uses of modern civilization. 

 Above all it is most satisfactory to read that insects long since believed 

 to be extinct so far as the north metropolitan area is concerned, still 

 linger with us, and contrive to hold their own. — H. Rowland-Brown ; 

 Oxhey Grove, Harrow Weald, Oct. 12th, 1895, 



Larv^ of Acronycta psi. — With reference to Mr. AUworthy's note 

 on early larvffi of A. psi [ante, pp. 229-230], I should like to state that 

 I came across full-fed larvse of this species on July 4th (one) and July 

 6th (two). Of these, two pupated the day after I took them, and the 

 other was " stung." On August 15th, 1894, and on August 28th, 1895, 

 I took freshly-emerged imagines of ^. psi, and a few days ago I saw 

 several larvae not yet full-fed. These facts would certainly seem to 

 suggest that there is a partial second brood of A. psi; I say partial 

 because, firstly, the August imagines are not so common as in May; 

 and secondly, the pupae from my July larvae, though perfectly healthy, 

 have not emerged, and are evidently lying over till the spring. — T. B. 

 Fletcher; 78, Thornlaw Road, W. Norwood, S.E., Oct. 20th, 1895. 



Autumnal Feeding of the Larva or Argynnis paphia. — In the 

 autumn of 1893 I recorded (Entom. xxvi. 320j the occurrence of the 

 autumnal emergence of A. paphia. I am again able to report upon 

 this unusual habit of the species. A large number of ova from a nor- 

 mal female hatched the beginning of last August, and all the larvae 

 excepting one entered into hybernation immediately, and remain in 

 that state, which is natural to the species. Examining the plant 

 of Viola (upon which the brood are confined) on the 13th inst., I was 

 surprised to find a larva in its last stage almost fully-grown, while all 

 the others were hybernatmg, and the majority close to the shells of 

 the ova. It seems remarkable that certain individuals should divert 

 from the general habit of the species in this way. Are these instances 



