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{ 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 101 
a favourable night, for these damp, warm evenings are inva- 
riably the best. On reaching the first sallow (the one growing 
in the small clearing in the oak wood), lighting my lantern, 
and throwing its gleams on the bush, a sight met my gaze 
which I have never before experienced during the whole 
course of my entomological career. The .blossoms were 
actually swarming with moths, and hundreds of others fluttered 
round struggling for a meal! On nearly every flower there 
were at least three moths; and the fresh arrivals, crowding on 
to those who had already partaken too freely, dislodged them, 
and they fell helplessly to the ground below, but appeared 
soon to recover, for I noticed them in numbers crawling up 
the branches in quest of another meal. This host of moths 
was composed chiefly of Teniocampa cruda, although 
T. miniosa, T. munda, T’.. rubricosa, T. gothica, and T. stabilis, 
were present; besides Hoporina croceago, Xylocampa litho- 
riza, Cerastis Vaccinii, Eupithecia abbreviata, EK. exiguata, 
E. pumilata, and Hybernia progemmaria. I took one of 
Mr. Bignell’s beating-trays with me (not the patent improved 
pattern, described in the last number of the ‘ Entomologist,’ 
p- 89); but having forgotten the tin-holder for the outriggers 
and handle it was, comparatively speaking, useless, although 
1 used it, after a fashion, as a small sheet. Upon beating the 
bush the effect was perfectly marvellous, the sheet and 
ground around it being literally covered with moths; and in 
addition to this a plentiful supply of them were deposited on 
my head, shoulders, &c. As soon as they began to recover 
they flew in such crowds round my lantern as almost to 
obscure it, and once or twice they actually succeeded in 
getting inside, through the ventilating aperture at the top, 
and extinguished the light. 
Bats were in great force, and so bold that they often took 
moths from the flowers right under my nose; and once or 
twice I fancy, from the vibrations of their wings close to my 
ears, that they must have selected a victim from my hat or 
shoulders. 
Coleoptera were represented by numerous specimens of 
Dryops femorata, a species which, I believe, was formerly 
considered rare. Hymenoptera were not absent, for Bombus 
terrestris, too lazy or too tipsy to return home, had taken up 
its quarters for the night, deeply and snugly buried amidst 
the downy anthers of the flowers. 
