182 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 
EntomotoeicAL Notes From CuicHEesTeR.—Although the 
year was early heralded by the gay music of the song thrushes 
(Turdus musicus), the furze was bright with golden blossoms, and 
little twigs of whitethorn (Crategus oxyacanthe) were in full leaf 
in a sheltered spot as early as the first week in January, the pro- 
mise of an early spring and summer was not fulfilled; on the 
contrary, an exceedingly late season ensued, the hawthorn blossoms 
not being fully out till almost the last days of May. As with 
vegetation, so with insects; the few species that have hitherto 
appeared have been behind their usual time as much as a 
fortnight or three weeks; for instance, Hepialus humuli, which 
usually comes out about midsummer, was first seen by me on the 
5th of July; some of the females, which I have taken here in damp 
ditches, are of good size and brightly coloured, differing consider- 
ably in these respects from specimens captured in fields and 
pastures. For several seasons now the lepidopterist has had to 
tell a tale of great scarcity of butterflies and moths, and the 
present one seems to be worse even than the preceeding. However, 
it appears to be a rule that bad seasons should produce some 
particular insect in some abundance,—the more observed, it may 
be, on account of the paucity of others. At all events, during 
June, the pretty little clearwing, Sesta tipuliformis, was fairly 
common on currant and gooseberry bushes in most gardens, 
flitting in the sunshine lke a little gnat, and resting for a few 
seconds on the leaves. I found the best way of securing them 
was to box them when thus settled, which I found to be a not 
very difficult task. Amongst the Sphingide I may mention 
Sphina ligustri, Cherocampa elpenor, Smerinthus populi, S. ocel- 
latus, and S. tilie, as those I have taken and set, the last named 
being of very dissimilar tints. One especially is noteworthy for 
an exquisitely lovely olive-green, which was bred from a dark 
variety of the larva found in July, 1882. Larve of Lewcoma 
salicis, taken from poplars on June 29th, produced imagines 
in less than a month, the moths emerging on July 13th. All 
through May and June I was anxiously watching in my breeding- 
cage for Stauropus fagi: six eggs, laid by a melanic variety of the 
female, were’ sent me last year by a most kind friend. These in 
due time hatched and fed up, all six passing safely into the pupa 
