A VISIT TO FRESHWATER. 297 



the season being late, I netted a good series in remarkably fine 

 condition — most of the females being allowed to go. In the same 

 locality later on I found Acontia luctuosa sparingly, but this 

 species seems to have disappeared from the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Freshwater, where it was formerly plentiful. Lyccena 

 alstis swarmed almost everywhere during the whole of my visit. 



Towards the end of June I visited the reputed haunts of 

 Acidalia emutaria, but either it was a bad year or it has been 

 cleared out, for two specimens only rewarded more than a week 

 of wearisome evening tramps in the moist and odoriferous 

 swamps of the Yar. N.B. — Don't forget your fishing-boots. 



During this time sugaring in the woods yielded Acronycta 

 tridens, Leucania pallens, L. comma, Xylophasia rarea, X. litho- 

 xijlca, X. suhlusti'is, X. polyodon, X. hepatica, Mamestra anceps, 

 Apamea gemina, Miana strigilis (in endless Y&viety ), M. fur luicida, 

 Grammesia trigrammica, Agrotis segetum, A. exclamationis, Noctua 

 triangidum, N. f estiva, Eaplexia liicipara, Hadena dentina, Cidaria 

 truncata, &c. 



On June 26th one of my boys brought in a specimen of 

 Setina irrorella from the downs ; so, fired by the glowing accounts 

 which appeared some years ago in one of the entomological 

 papers, I got Rogers to call me one morning before four o'clock, 

 and away we rowed for the desired spot, some miles along the 

 cliffs. It was absolutely calm, and nothing could exceed the 

 beauty of the morning and the scene; but, alas! after a rough 

 scramble up the cliffs, a thorough search of the locality revealed 

 not a single irrorella. For some reason or other it has entirely 

 ceased to frequent the spot ; whether some change in the set of 

 the tide has caused the lichens on which it feeds to fail, or 

 whether having been so recklessly hunted it has been extermi- 

 nated, I am not able to say; possibly the former, as I was told 

 that no one had visited this particular spot for at least five 

 years. 



However, I subsequently became well acquainted with S. 

 irrorella and its habits in other localities along the cliffs, and 

 came to the conclusion that it is not the early bird that 

 catches the worm — irrorella. It emerges from 6 to 7 a.m. on- 

 wards, and the newly emerged imagines do not, so far as I 

 know, fly that morning, but sit quietly on the short grass 

 stems; consequently a visit from 8 to 9 a.m., by which time 

 their wings are dry, results in the boxing of absolutely perfect 

 and unfaded specimens, while those taken on the wing are 

 imagines of the previous day and are generally somewhat faded 

 and worn. I was fortunate in taking several well-marked 

 specimens of the ivi variety, and others showing part of the 

 letters — mostly males, as usual — for, though I made a most ex- 

 haustive search, I only found one female which showed any 

 tendency towards this variety. 



