INSECTS 



actively by day about the trees, but the 

 females not till the evening. These 

 are not easily obtained, except by rear- 

 ing ; but this is facilitated by the ease 

 with which the pupa is found, in 

 plenty, under moss on the trunks and 

 roots of the beeches 



Platypteryx lacertinaria, Linn. ; lacertula, 

 Schiff. (Scalloped Hook-tip). Ha/ten, 

 Chalfont St. Peter, Chalfont Road; 

 not very common 



Cilix spinula, Schiff. ; glaucata, St.C. Buck- 

 ingham, Chesham, Chalfont St. Peter, 

 Ha/ton, High Wycombe ; probably gen- 

 erally distributed about hawthorn 

 hedges 



Cerura furcula, Linn. (Kitten). Buckingham, 

 Ha/ton ; not common, the larva on 

 sallow 



bifida, Hb. (Poplar Kitten). Halton, 



Chesham, Buckingham 



vinula, Linn. (Puss Moth). Generally 



distributed about willows and poplars 

 Stauropus fagi, Linn. (Lobster Moth). Halton, 

 Aylesbury, Mar low, Chesham, Chalfont St. 

 Peter, High Wycombe, Black Park. This 

 county is a portion of the central home 

 or metropolis in Great Britain of this 

 fine species, and here the rare black 

 variety has occurred. The larva is 

 most curious, having long legs, and a 

 body so strangely humped that, from 

 the time of its hatching from the egg, 

 it bears the most singular resemblance 

 to a lobster. It has been found here to 

 feed, not only on oak and beech, but 

 also on birch, hazel, hawthorn, apple 

 and wild rose, and spins up between 

 leaves or in moss before becoming a pupa. 

 The moth sits on the trunks of trees 

 often small trees in woods 

 Notodonta dictaea, Linn. (Swallow Promin- 

 ent). Halton, Marlow, Chesham, High 

 Wycombe ; among poplars 



dictaeoides, Esp. Marlow and Halton ; 



among birch, on which the larva feeds. 

 Difficult to rear except singly, since 

 the larvae are disposed to devour each 

 other. They have a habit of clinging 

 so closely to their food that it is difficult 

 to shake or beat them off 



ziczac, Linn. Chesham, Halton ; not rare, 



the larva feeding on sallow and poplar 



trepida, Esp. Marlow, Halton, Chesham, 



High Wycombe, Black Park ; not 

 common 



dromedarius, Linn. Black Park, Halton, 



Chesham ; not common 



Drymonia chaonia, Hb. Black Park, Stonor 

 Park, Burnham Beeches, Chesham, Hal- 



ton, Marlow ; rarely taken in the perfect 

 state. The Rev. Bernard Smith wrote 

 that at Marlow he found only larvas, 

 that they seemed to prefer isolated oak 

 trees of moderate size, and were to be 

 found, by the aid of a ladder, up to the 

 very summit of the tree, usually lying 

 along the midrib on the underside of 

 the leaf, the best time for searching 

 for it being from the middle to the end 

 of June 



Drymonia dodonaea, Schiff. ; trimacula, St.C. 

 Marlow, Halton, Chesham ; also about 

 oaks, but uncommon 



Lophopteryx carmelita, Esp. Two specimens 

 were taken in Black Park in the year 

 1857. This appears to be the only 

 record in the county 



camelina, Linn. (Coxcomb Prominent). 



Halton, Chesham, Black Park, woods of 

 the Chiltern district ; larvas found by 

 the Rev. J. Greene in profusion in 

 Beech Wood feeding upon beech, oak 

 and hazel ; also the pupae commonly 

 under moss on the tree trunks 



cucullina, Schiff. ; cuculla, St.C. Mar- 



low, Halton, Aylesbury, Chesham. The 

 county of Bucks seems to be, so far as 

 the United Kingdom is concerned, the 

 metropolis of this beautiful species. 

 The Rev. Joseph Greene says, ' At the 

 time I was at Halton, cucullina was 

 among the rarest British insects. Little 

 or nothing was known about it in any 

 stage. The first larva I found was 

 while examining a maple shrub. I 

 found these shrubs the most productive, 

 especially such as were situated in the 

 denser parts of the wood a very 

 unusual circumstance so far as my 

 experience goes I beat out about forty 

 fine larvas in the Beech Wood. When 

 my notice of my captures at Halton 

 appeared in the Zoologist (\\\. 4184) 

 a swarm of dealers hastened down to 

 the place, and would speedily have 

 exterminated the species, but were 

 happily warned off the ground by Sir 

 Anthony Rothschild's keepers for 

 damaging and destroying the trees and 

 shrubs." It is satisfactory to be able to 

 say that the species has not been 

 exterminated, nor indeed seriously re- 

 duced in numbers ; specimens in plenty 

 have also been reared by the Rev. 

 Bernard Smith of Marlow and others 

 from eggs obtained by pairing reared 

 specimens and thus continuing the 

 breed in confinement. The moth is 

 very rarely captured, but Dr. Churchill 



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