NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 269 



various Crambites swarmed at the same time. Next day Auchmis 

 composita was taken at rest on palings, and larvae of Heliothis sp. ? 

 in thistle-heads ; and the following day I returned to my ship. 



From the Bluff we proceeded to visit several of the beautiful 

 Sounds on the west coast, where nothing was done in the wa}^ of 

 Entomology, my whole time being occupied in collecting ferns 

 and shooting birds ; and from thence, after brief stoppages at 

 Wellington and Auckland, where I saw Pyrantels itt>a flying 

 about the streets, we returned to Sydney. 

 H.M.S. fEspidgle,' Suva, Fiji, June, 1884. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &o. 



Thanaos tages. — It may be worth while to note, in con- 

 nection with Mr. F. W. Frohawk's account (Entom. xvii. 49) of 

 the sleeping position of Thanaos tages, that as long ago as June, 

 1857, I took two examples of that skipper under circumstances 

 almost precisely similar to those mentioned by Mr. Frohawk. I 

 subjoin the notice I then published of the observation, only 

 adding that, until Mr. Frohawk's account and excellent woodcut 

 came to my knowledge, I have never met with any confirmation 

 of what I recorded so many years ago. ' Entomologist's Weekly 

 Intelligencer,' vol. ii., p. 101, June 27, 1857 :— "In the 'Manual' 

 I see Thanaos tages mentioned as having ' wings in repose hori- 

 zontal;' and certainly when settling on flowers or on the ground, 

 in the sunshine, the wings are always kept so. But, on the 5th 

 inst , while collecting P. alsus in a chalk-pit, just at sunset 

 (which, by the way, is much the best time for collecting that 

 species, as they have then taken up their quarters for the night, 

 and are easily taken while sitting on the grass-stems), I saw what 

 I took to be a small Noctua resting on a thick stalk of grass. On 

 stooping to examine it I found, to my surprise, that it was a 

 specimen of T. tages, apparently fast asleep, as I tapped the grass 

 on which it rested several times without causing it to move. The 

 wings were folded so as to form a roof, as in most of the Bombyces 

 and Noctuae, with the upper side outwards ; thus further proving 

 the close affinity of the Hesperidse to the moths. I pinned the 

 Tages just as he was, and, after a slight flutter, he settled down into 

 the same position. I afterwards thought that this might be an 



