THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 277 
my search. Whether they have been taken in any part of the 
forest, or whether L. quadra has turned up in the same 
locality, I am not prepared to say. It is true I have not had 
an abundance of leisure to devote to entomological pursuits, 
but I have spent sufficient time in the forest and elsewhere to 
prove that in this locality there has been a paucity of this 
particular class. There is a belt of tall fir trees skirting a 
young oak wood in one part of my forest hunting-ground, and 
in previous seasons | have seen L. rubricollis flying around 
the tops of those trees in countless numbers. This season, 
however, it has not been so; not that their occurrence in 
such a situation is at all a guarantee of a good day’s “ take,” 
even if they are common, for their capture is a difficult 
matter. Fortunately they fly in the daytime, and are more 
easily seen than they would be at dusk. It would be 
interesting to know if this class of moths—the majority of 
which are lichen feeders—have been scarce in other localities ; 
and, if such has been the case, what cause has effected it? 
Is it possible the continued drought in this neighbourhood 
has had anything to do with such a scarcity? Surely the 
heat has been sufficient to develope an unusual number of 
insects. However, lichens prefer a humid atmosphere and 
situation in which to grow; and the great heat and drought 
might have been detrimental to their growth. But even 
in this case [ am not so sure that a scarcity of food could 
have been the cause of a scarcity of moths this season, 
as many of them were full-fed larve before the drought 
began; still it seems extraordinary that in a season when 
some insects are so common others should be unusually 
scarce. This, be it understood, is only an observation made 
in this immediate locality; and my experience may differ 
considerably from that of others at a distance.—G. B. 
Corbin. ; 
Hybernia leucophearia.—Will any entomologist publish 
his geological experiences of Hybernia leucophearia? Here, 
on the lower greensand, it is about as common as Vanessa 
Antiopa or Deilephila livornica, yet generally it is considered 
as an insect more profuse than welcome. Within a few miles 
it occurs in plenty, ze. on the London clay north of the 
Downs (gravel and sand), and Wealden (clay) on the south. 
My captures in the immediate neighbourhood have been as 
