NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 209 



given to their extermination during the past seven years. On the 

 17th June, 1865, when I captured the above-named species, the 

 wild thyme was in full bloom ; the fragance of the flowers, and 

 the aromatic odour arising from running over the plants, made a 

 lasting impression on me. Many females I watched that day, and 

 since, flitting about depositing their eggs on the flowers of the 

 thyme. But now all is changed ; for on the 5th inst. I could have 

 cai'ried all the flowers of the thyme I saw at Bolthead in my 

 waistcoat pockets, and found no inconvenience from the quantity. 

 Although the eggs are laid on the flowers of the thyme, and the 

 larvae feed upon them until the first moult, it is quite certain that 

 it is not their food-plant; but what the food-plant is I am not 

 prepared to state, but I strongly suspect it is one of the small 

 trefoils or a vetch. I know L. avion has been on the wing this 

 year, for I have had the pleasure of seeing nine specimens, taken 

 during the first week in July by a gentleman who had visited 

 Bolthead, but gave it up in disgust. He will not give the locality, 

 for he says the place is so small that one greedy collector would 

 clear off the lot in a couple of seasons ; but if they should sprend 

 over the place in a year or two he may be induced to name 

 the locality, but not until then. — G. C. Bignell; Stonehouse, 

 July 25, 1884. 



Second Brood of Smerinthus populi. — Having procured 

 some larvae of Smerinthus populi, I fed them on poplar till about 

 the second week in June, when they should have pupated. Only 

 one, however, reached the chrysalis state ; the others, being 

 stung by ichneumons, died. Looking in my pupa-cage on July 

 2nd I was surprised to see a perfect specimen had emerged, being 

 only a chrysalis six weeks. Would some of your readers tell me 

 if this, with the Sphingidae, is of common occurrence, or only 

 exceptional? I should be much obliged. — A. E. Hall; Norbury, 

 Sheffield. 



[It is by no means uncommon to have second broods of 

 Smerinthus populi. By feeding larvae liberally in a warm green- 

 house some time ago I reared three broods in one year. — J. T. C] 



Acronycta alni. — I have had three larvae of this insect given 

 me in the last few days : one was sent by post from Grantham, 

 and two were picked up here in this village ; one on a gravel 

 path, the other at the entrance of a rabbit-hole. The first 



ENTOM. — SEPTi, 1884. 2E 



