208 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
of our friends in the South have been crowned with such little 
success. It sometimes occurs to me that there is a great deal 
more collecting now than there was some years ago, and that the 
great number of captures made causes a paucity in the succeeding 
years; but when I look at such species as Triphena pronuba, 
Xylophasia polyodon, and many others which we do not trouble 
to capture, and find them in decreased numbers, it seems to 
annihilate the idea. The early part of the season I cannot say 
was so profitable as the previous year, for although many common 
species appeared in their normal numbers, yet others were quite 
absent: for instance, last year where I took Tephrosia punctulata 
and 7’. biundularia in plenty, this year, after several searchings at 
different periods, I did not even find a solitary specimen. But as 
time passed along prospects began to appear a little brighter ; 
and at the beginning of June we found, at Askham Bog, the 
pretty little Noctua, Hydrelia unca, fairly common, also Phiba- 
lapteryx lignata ; we also took Procris statices ; and by the middle 
of July insect-life seemed to be thoroughly on the move. As an 
example of our collecting here I have selected the night of the 
24th of July as a fair representative out of several evenings upon 
which we worked during that month. Along with Mr. 8. Walker, we 
arrived at our collecting-ground, viz., Sandburn, about 8.30 p.m.; 
and our departure took place about 12.30 a.m. During that time 
we captured and observed over sixty different species of our 
Macro-Lepidoptera. To enumerate them all would, I am afraid, 
occupy too much space; and I will therefore select a portion 
which will, I trust, convey a fair idea of what we, in our 
estimation, considered a tolerably good evening’s work. Lithosia 
mesomella we found sitting calmly on the stems of grasses, and 
therefore a very easy capture. ‘his insect was more common in 
the earlier part of the month, it being a matter of no difficulty to 
obtain two or three dozen in one night. Among my captures was 
a variety of this species; instead of the fore wings being dingy 
white they were of an orange tint, somewhat resembling the 
colour of Lithosia quadra. Huthemonia russula were fairly 
common. LHpione vespertaria was not so plentiful as in previous 
years; the usual time for the flight of the males is in the early 
morning, from 6 to 9 o’clock, the female being very rarely taken 
on the wing, but is occasionally found at rest. We also took 
E. apiciaria, Hepialus hectus, Metrocampa margaritata (common), 
