17 



NOTES ON LEPIDOPTERA. 



.„», ^°"^*|?«^ i* '8 due in a great measure to the little time at my disposal, that after such a fine 

 Bummer and autumn my captures and observations should be so few. Still there are thinss which 

 huZ^i^^^'^n^^^\^^J'°'^ ^^'^ neighbourhood more or less, for years-notably. with some of the 

 butterflies. The Purple Emperor. Apitura Iris, for instance, must have been fairly numerous in the 

 woods round here fifty years afro, for it is on record that one of these fine butterflies was seen flyin- 

 over the tops of the houses in the centre of this town in July, 1856. " 



At that time this butterfly occurred in a wood less than a mile from the town. Now one must so 

 BIX or seven miles away to see it and then only occasionally. I did not hear of one being seen last July 



Ihe large tortoise shell Vanessa polychloros is another that seems much less common than 

 inTugnst ^^'^ ^^^"^ '^"°^ ^"^^ *"'^«'"°*^i°°' ^"'^ scarcely any of the resulting butterflies 



Thanks to the migratory habit of the Painted Lady V. cordine, we occasionally get swarms of 

 this species in the early summer, as was the case last June, when one day four or five would settle 

 witbin a yard or two. 



«» K ^^''^l"^ ^°' ^^^ l*['a '° July they were found on three different species of thistle, but the number 



of buttei flies seen on the wiDg in September was very small. 



«* tx.^A P""'"°:P*1 °b>ct in the wood where I saw the swarm of V. cardine in June was to getspecimena 



T *rJ."°y'"^ sphinx, Sesia bnmhyUformis, being in want of eggs of this last tor further study 

 t^A ^ .o,^^ ^"^ successful, though I have several times taken the larva there in July on its 

 food plant. Scab.osa succrsa. Of its congener, S.fuci/osmis. I found four larva last July on honeysuckle 

 which pupated amongst moss the following month. J^ " 



Enrly in July four CucuUia gnaphaUi emerged in my breeding cages ; in all cases about Sam 

 «fj.» r"''\ l.u°** interesting moth bred this yenr was Nonagria sjmvyardi. not but what many 

 Others have bred the species from the larva and pupa before, but because I reared them from the ess 

 Biace right through. °^ 



The eggs hatched 10-1 2th May and the larva were watched as closely as their internal habits 

 W^ K "" » ^ ?" ''^ '^^'"^ appearing end of Auj^u^t A few visitors, such as Deilephil , licornica. 

 have been reported from other parts of the country, but they do not seem to have come in May 

 <5o^J K *=°^'"^° HummiDg-bnd Sphinx was teen on the wing in the early Summer acd agam in 

 beptember. two moths being bied in the latter month from laiva found in Galium vemm in August. 



^^^^'^^^^ W. R. JEFFREY. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES. 



The most important change in i elation to coast erosion this year occurred on the 13th January, 

 when a slip of mHcy thousand tons of chalk took place from the eastern side of Shakespeare Cliff near 

 the entrance of the South. Ea^ern Railway tunnel. The fall took place suddenly and without the 

 Bligbest warning. This happened after several weeks of wet weather, and there having been little or 

 no trost. " 



The chalk at this part of the cliff consists of the lower bed of the middle chalk zone of 

 terebratuLina gracilis. Hhynchonella curreri 



-J''? "P^" be-i of the lower chalk, four feet in thickness, being only a few feet above the beach, 



ooQtamiBg Belemnitella plena. 



^°'®'^- J. GORDON McDAKIN. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES FOR 1906. 



■4.i^^t^°^^ remarkable meteorological feature of the past year was the great abundance of sunshine 

 with which we were favoured. As will be seen from the accompany tables Eamsgate had as much as 

 A027 hours, and Broadstairs 2,004, being about 350 hours above the average. The greatest amount 

 of sunshine in the British Isles was 2,050 hours at Eastbourne, Rimsgate being a good second with 

 2,02/ hours, followed closely by Torquay with 2,025 hours. It is a pity that every part of these 

 Islands is not 80 well furnished with sunshine recorders as East Kent. The most brilliant months were 

 April, June July and September ; February also being greatly in excess of the normal. May, and 

 especially November, vvere very dull months. 



V J|^«.P*st year was about an average one for rainfall. Tunbridge Wells and Dungeness being 

 slightly m excess but at Folkestone and Margate a slight deficiency being recorded. M )3t rain fell 

 nnn^.°''?,?, "' Z^^"" ^"^ ™,"°'' *^ ^^''''° '^''^^^ ""^^ measured at Tunbridge Wells. The Christmas of 

 190b will long be remembered because of the widespread snowstorms. Snow began to fall in East 

 Kent during Christmas night, and continued at irregular intervals for three or four days reaching 

 a depth ot fave or six inches. The snowstorm was almost universal over the British Isles, and was the 

 °*^^tT°\u ''^>!"'^y collision, attended by much loss of life, at Arbroath. The elevated pirts of Durhtm 

 and JNortbumberland were covered to a depth of eighteen inches. 



The afternoon of February 8th. 1906, was remarkable, owing to the violent thunderstorm, accom- 

 panied by a heavy fall of hail and sleet, such a storm being very unusual so early in the year. Many 



