44 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 



Macro-Lepidoptera of the Galashiels District in 1899. — The 

 entomological year of 1899 has now almost drawn to a close, and it has not 

 been without its surprises as well as its disappointments. The chief features 

 of the season in this district may be summed up as follows : — 1st, the abso- 

 lute failure of sallowing in spring ; 2nd, the extraordinary abundance of 

 Macroglossa stellatarum in June; 3rd, the great attractiveness of sugar to 

 the summer noctuids in June and the first half of July ; 4th, the exceeding 

 commonness of Vanessa atalanta in August and September ; 5th, the 

 unusual paucity of noctuids at sugar from the middle of July up to date. 



The first captures of the season were made on Feb. 19th. when I took 

 Hyhernia progemmaria and H. leucophcBaria at rest on a paling. On the 

 22nd, searching a whitethorn hedge in the evening produced a quantity of 

 H. rupicapraria males, but no females were found. Cucullia verbasci 

 began to emerge in my breeding-cage on Feb. 27th, and continued to do so 

 until March 12th. My breeding-cage was kept in a room in which there 

 wa8 always a fire burning, and the pupae were damped in open weather only 

 during the winter. 



March 12th was a bright sunny day, and I ventured to go in search of 

 the hybernated larvae of Bombyx rubi, which I thought might be enticed 

 from their winter quarters by the warmth of the sun ; in this I was not 

 disappointed, and had the satisfaction. of picking up eight larvae, six of which 

 subsequently proved to have been ichneumoned ; the other two pupated suc- 

 cessfully after having wandered about in my breeding-cage for more than a 

 fortnight. A few cocoons of Arctia fuUginosa were picked up from amongst 

 the heather. 



On March 13th, searching the undergrowth on the outskirts of a wood 

 with a lantern, about 8 p.m., was productive of Larentia multistrigaria 

 males in any quantity ; females much scarcer. From March 28th to 

 April 4th Acronycta menyanthidis emerged in my breeding-cage, all fine 

 perfect specimens. 



Sallowing was tried for the first time on March 30th, and several times 

 afterwards up to April 29th, but proved quite a failure. The only species 

 obtained were one each of the following: — Cidaria niiata, Calocampa exo- 

 leta, TcBniocampa gothica, T. rubricosa, T. instabilis, and T. crada. 



On April Ist I obtained the larvae of Thera variata by beating Scotch 

 fir ; these did well in confinement, and the imagines emerged about the 

 beginning of June. Towards the end of the month the imagines of 

 Cidaria suffumata and var. piceata, also C. silaceata, were netted at dusk. 

 Larvae collecting was also indulged in about this time after dark, and the 

 following species were bred from them in June and July : — Boarmia 

 repandata, Noctua tnangulum, N. brunnea, N. baia, Triphmia fimbria 

 (few this year), T. ianthina, T. orbona. One lovely specimen of T. subsequa 

 emerged about the beginning of July, and a correspondent to whom I sent 

 some pupae of T. orbona told me that he had bred a specimen of subsequa 

 from amongst them. 



On May 13th Anarta myrtilli, Phytometra miea, Eupithecia nanata, 

 Fidonia atomaria were taken. One night during the end of the month I 

 sugared the posts of a wire fence crossing a moor, and captured about sixteen 

 specimens of a moth which I took to be small examples of the grey var. of 

 gemina. It was the only visitor to sugar that night. I was rather pleasantly 

 surprised the other day when I was told by an undoubted authority that my 

 gemina were Mamestra furva. 



