INSECTS 



PLUSIADJE (Plusiades) (continued) 



Plusia tripartita, Hufn. (urticae, Hb.). St. 

 Albans, Harpenden, Bricket Wood and 

 Rickmansworth (A. E. G.) ; Sand- 

 ridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Durrant) ; 

 Haileybury (Bowyer) ; Bushey (Cults) ; 

 Watford (Spencer, Heaton, Wigg) ; 

 Bushey Heath (Barraud) ; Tring 

 (Elliman) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) 

 Common at flowers and ' light ' 



triplasia, L. Hitchin (Durrant) ; Hailey- 



bury (Bowyer) ; Hertford (Stephens) ; 

 East Barnet (Gillum) ; Watford 

 (Cottam, Spencer) ; Bushey Heath 

 (Barraud) ; Tring (Elliman) ; Ches- 

 hunt (Boyd) 



This moth is described by the 

 last-named observer as common round 

 Cheshunt, but in other parts of the 

 county it is only occasionally met 

 with, chiefly at flowers at dusk. Mr. 

 Elliman speaks of it as very scarce at 

 honeysuckle, and Mr. Barraud has 

 taken several specimens 

 Catocala fraxini, L. Haileybury (Bowyer) ; 

 Waltham Cross (Boyd) 



Mr. Boyd says that this insect 

 has been seen at Waltham Cross, but 

 the only record of its actual capture 

 in Hertfordshire is that at Haileybury. 

 Mr. Bowyer thus describes the event 

 in a paper read before the members 

 of the Hertfordshire Natural History 

 Society at Hertford on February 

 28th, 1888 (Transactions, v. 29). 

 He says : ' Last autumn our porter 

 brought to me a large moth which 

 he had picked up in the quadrangle. 

 I thought at first it was the common 

 " red underwing," but it gave a flap 

 of its wings and I saw violet instead 

 of red, and I knew that I had a great 

 prize Catocala fraxini ' 



nupta, L. St. Albans (A. Lewis, 



A. E. G.) ; Hawkswick, Bamville 

 Wood Farm, Harpenden Common, and 

 Cross Farm, Wheathampstead (A. E. 

 G.) ; Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin 

 (Durrant) ; Grove Mill (F. Latch- 

 more) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; East 

 Barnet (Gillum) ; Nascot Wood, Bushey 

 and Oxhey Wood (Cutts) ; Watford 

 (Cottam, Spencer) ; Bushey Heath 

 (Barraud) ; Carpenders Park (H. Row- 

 land-Brown) ; Stevenage (Matthews) ; 

 Bishop Stanford (Taylor, Mellows) ; 

 Cheshunt (Boyd) ; Royston (A. H. 

 Kingston) 



Commoner in some years than 

 others ; in 1 900 especially abundant. 



PLUSIAD.S: (Plusiades) (continued) 



The late Mr. Frank Latchmore of 

 Hitchin reported in 1894 that this 

 insect was quite common by the 

 water side in that neighbourhood. 

 It is a hardy species and is often to 

 be taken in October even on cold 

 nights with a strong wind blowing. 

 At ' light,' ' sugar ' and on palings 

 Euclidia mi, Cl. Bricket Wood (A. E. G.) ; 

 Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Dur- 

 rant) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; East 

 Barnet (Gillum) ; Watford (Spencer, 

 Heaton, Wigg) ; Bushey Heath (Bar- 

 raud) ; Oxhey railway bank (H. Row- 

 land-Brown) ; Oxhey Wood (Cutts) ; 

 Tring (Cottam) ; Dancer's End and 

 Aldbury Owers (Le Quesne, Elliman) ; 

 Long Meadow, Bishop Stortford 

 (Mellows) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) 



Generally abundant where it oc- 

 curs. Scarce round Cheshunt 



glyphica, L. Hatfield Woodside (A. E. 



G.) ; Hitchin and Knebworth (Dur- 

 rant) ; Haileybury (Bowyer), ' Skipper 

 fields,' School List ; East Barnet (Gil- 

 lum) ; Oxhey Wood (Cutts) ; Oxhey 

 railway bank (H. Rowland-Brown) ; 

 Stortford (Mellows) 



Mr. Elliman finds this insect very 

 common in the Tring district, but 

 usually on the chalk downs. At 

 Bishop Stortford it is plentiful in 

 Long Meadow. In mid-Herts it is 

 occasionally met with in some abun- 

 dance in clover fields, the food plants 

 of the larvae being various species of 

 trifolium and other leguminous plants 

 Erastria fasciana, L. (fuscula, Bkh.). Bricket 

 Wood (A. E. G.) ; Knebworth (Dur- 

 rant) ; Haileybury (Bowyer), ' Roman 

 road, once,' School List 



Rare 



luctuosa, Esp. Hertford (Stephens, 



Illustrations of British Entomology, iii. 



. ."3) 



viridaria, Cl. (aenea, Hb.). Berkham- 



sted (A. Piffard, Entomologist for 

 1889, p. 77) ; Hertford (Stephens) ; 

 Tring (Elliman) ; Broxbourne Wood 

 (Boyd) 



Mr. Elliman finds this moth on 

 nearly all the chalk downs in the 

 neighbourhood of Tring. It appears 

 to be a local species 



Panemeria tenebrata, Sc. (arbuti, F.). Bricket 

 Wood (Spencer, A. E. G.) ; Sand- 

 ridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Durrant) ; 

 Haileybury (Bowyer), ' Orchis field? 

 School List ; Hertford (Stephens) ; 



129 



