%])t moAlp^t gahtrdisfa^ Jirf^ fttot. 



NOTES ON COREMIA QUADRIFASCIATA AND MA- 

 CARIA LITU RATA— TWO LEPIDOPTERA NEW TO 

 THE COUNTY OF HEREFORD. 



By F. E. HAEAIAN, Esq. 



Gentlemen, — I have been requested to bring to your notice at this meeting, 

 the capture, during the past year, of two Lepidoptera new to this county, 

 namely, Cormia quadrifasciata and Macaria liturata. I look upon the occur- 

 rence of the former as extremely interesting, as I believe it is not only the first 

 time it has been taken in this county, but the first instance of its being found 

 on any older geological formation than the chalk. Stainton, in his " Manual 

 of British Butterflies and Moths," gives only three localities for this insect, 

 Guildford, Stowmarket, and Cambridge. Newman, in his " Natural History 

 of British Moths," says, " It was formerly so common about Godalming, in 

 Surrey, that it was turned out of the net when taken." It has since been 

 taken by the Cambridge collectors, and by Dr. Bee, at Stowmarket. These 

 localities give one the idea of a local chalk frequenting insect. The larva is 

 said to feed on low plants and hawthorn, but whether in its younger stages 

 it feeds on hawthorn and then descends and finishes its life on low plants, or 

 eats both at all periods of its existence there is no evidence to show. As only 

 one specimen, and that a male, was captured, I am at present unable to set 

 this point at rest by rearing from the egg, which would be the surest way to 

 get at its correct food plant. It would also be interesting to note whether it 

 throve more on food gathered from off limestone or marl, and whether the 

 food so given influenced the deepness of colour. I met with this insect by 

 beating a hawthorn hedge on the 26th of last Jime, just where a bed of lirae- 

 stone crops up and extends for about an acre just beneath the surface. The 

 soil over this patch is black and 'almost peaty, but fuU of small fragments of 

 the stone, and is of a different character to any land surrounding it. It super- 

 ficially resembles the wet patches that are met with here and there on the 

 chalk downs about Brighton, so that if the larva feeds on a particular 

 plant it is possible that it may occur here and nowhere else in the neighbour- 

 hood. I am not aware of any similar spot in this district. Quadrifasciata 

 is briefly described by Stainton in his "Manual of British Moths," as having, 

 when in its perfect state ' the four wings gray, posteriorly grayish, ochreous, 



