CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 46 



On May 2l8t an excursion to the habitat of Orgyia fasceUna resulted in 

 the finding of only three larvae, which, along with a cocoon of Arctiafaligi- 

 nosa and a single specimen of EucUdia mi, made up the bag for the day. 



In June things began to look more lively, and this was certainlv my 

 busiest month of the year. I frequently had as many as two hundred 

 specimens on my blocks at one time. About the beginning of the month 

 the imagines of Them variata were very plentiful dancing round the tops 

 of young pines at dusk. I succeeded in getting a very variable series of 

 this species. Other species taken at the same time were Sele7ila illunaria, 

 Odontopera bidentata, Cabera pusaria, Fklonia piniaria, Larentia pectini- 

 taria, Eupithecia lariciata, Melcmthia ocellata, Melanippe rivata, M. sub- 

 tristata,M. montanata, Rumiacrat<sffata, and Camptogramma, bilineata ; Hyp- 

 sipetes imjduv lata was obtained from the alders. On June 11th a ma]e Bombyx 

 rubi emerged from one of my two pupae, and on June 19th, to my great joy, 

 a female made her appearance. The following evening ray friend Mr. Lait 

 and myself visited the habitat of the species for the purpose of assembling 

 the males with her, and, to make sure that if we failed in one object we 

 might succeed in another, we took our sugaring kit with us. The ground 

 was reached about 7 p.m., and my friend volunteered to sugar the alders 

 while I made a reconnaissance across the heath with madame. Matters 

 looked rather serious ; having wandered about in every direction of the 

 compass for an hour and a half without seeing a trace of anything, I sug- 

 gested to my friend, who had again joined me, that we give it up. The 

 suggestion had hardly been made when a male B. rubi came sailing over a 

 clump of whins, and promptly settled down on the box containing the 

 female ; this made an easy capture. Then the fun grew fast and furious ; 

 there were sometimes four males dashing about at the same moment. It 

 was exactly 8.30 p.m. when the first capture was made, and by 9.15 there 

 were thirty specimens in the cyanide bottles, and every one of them in as 

 good condition as if bred. A soft undulating wind was blowing, and I 

 noticed that each time this wave of air occurred it was invariably followed 

 almost immediately by fresh arrivals, thus proving that the scent must be 

 carried a good distance by the wind. We lit up about 9.45 for the round 

 of the sugared trees, and 1 confess that I was fairly staggered by the swarms 

 of insects that were attracted by the sweets. On some trees where the 

 treacle had run down to the base as many as one hundred and fifty insects 

 were counted. Leucania comma took the lead in point of numbers, Agrotis 

 exclamationis making a good second; Hadena dentina was third, and 

 H. oleracea fourth. The following were also taken coramonlv where not 

 marked otherwise : — Noctua plecta, Mamestra brassica, N. c-idgrum (a few), 

 Triph(Bna pronuba, Xylophasia rurea var. alopecurus, X. lithoxylea, X. 

 polyodon var. infuscata, Miana slrigilis, M.fasciuncula, M. Jiterosa{a few), 

 Rusina tenebrosa, Hadena adusta (a few), H. thalassina (a few), H. pisi 

 (one), Apamea bas'dinea (a few), A. gemina (two; grey var. common), A. 

 oculea, Eupleoda lucipara (scarce), L. pallens, L. lithargyria ,(four), 

 Acronycta ligustri (this species was commoner in July), A. rumicis (a few), 

 A. psi (one seen on the sugar, but not secured). Mania typica (one), Dian- 

 thcecia cucubali (one), Agrotis sujfusa (in ribbons, three), making a grand total 

 of thirty species seen at sugar, and twenty nine taken. 



During June Macroglossa stellatarum created a flutter among entomolo- 

 gists in the district by its appearance in extraordinary numbers, attracted 

 principally to the blossom of wallflower and lilac. Up to the present 

 geason it has occurred here very sparingly — in gome years never beinf» 



