CAPTURES AND FIELD RKPORT8. 



27 



counted seventy larvae of this species. There were old acquaintances : 

 S. populi (plenty of them), Or(jyia antiqun, Odonestis potatoria (eggs), 

 Porthesia similis [aurijiua) (larvffi, pnp^e, imagines and eggs all at the 

 same time), Acronycta alni off birch (only two, but possibly male and 

 female), Notodovta dictcBa (a few), Gonoptera libatrix, Nonagtia typlm, 

 and a caterpillar I have never before met with in the district, although 

 the moth is common enough at the electric lamps — A. mei;tacephala. 

 Both D. bifida and D. fnrcnla were scarce July to September, espe- 

 cially the first species. Three caterpillars of bifida and seven of furcula 

 were the totals for each. The biji<lawere all off poplar, while furcula 

 favoured both poplar and sallow. Tliere was a good deal of difference 

 between the caterpillars of each. Both have a pattern along the back 

 which looks like a purplish dorsal hood and mantle bordered with 

 yellow. In D. bifida the hood is separated from the mantle ; in 

 B. furcula the two are connected, but amost separated at segment 4. 

 Then the mantle in furcula is always ornamented with bright russet, 

 the same tint as on the i;pper wings of the moth G. libatrix. 



In September and October larvae of M. liturata, Bupalus piniaria, 

 and EUupia prosapiaria (fasciaria) were beaten from Scotch firs in 

 Delamere Forest. Liturata were not very common. One day, Oct. 

 4th, I got three, whilst a companion was lucky enough to get nine. 

 Fasciaria was a common caterpillar ; it looks, roughly speaking, very 

 like A. betularia. Some of the specimens were marbled with dark 

 green, others with red. Autumn imagines of Thera variata were on 

 the wing, and a good many of their little green pnpse were beaten out 

 of the Scotch firs. From these (Oct. 17th) I am getting some very 

 pretty moths. The only other Delamere Forest larvae worth referring 

 to were those of Aplecta nebulosa, captured on April nights, from which 

 were reared very representative series of moths, culminating in the 

 darkest forms. 



Among dragouflies I was agreeably surprised, in July, to get Plate- 

 trum depression in Delamere Forest. The most important observation 

 was a second and very general appearance of Ischnura elegans in the 

 beginning of August. — J. Arkle ; Chester, Oct. 17th, 1902. 



The Season of 1902. — With regard to rearing Lepidoptera I have 

 noticed two things during the past season : first, that larvae have, as a 

 rule, taken longer to feed up than usual; and, secondly, that a greater 

 percentage have died than is generally the case. To take the insects 

 in something like order, my first imago, from a brood of Sphinx 

 ligustri, appeared on June 7th, Hyloicus [S.) pinastri (bred from foreign 

 ova) having emerged on June 2nd. Ouly one out of seven pup^ of 

 Choirocampa elpenur came through, and that was not a very good speci- 

 men. It emerged on June 1st, which is three weeks earlier than my 

 entry for this species in 1901. I found two larvae early in September, 

 and the first of these went down to pupate on September 25th. 

 Smerinthus ocellatiis imagines began to appear on June 18th, which is 

 over a month later than the first entry for last year. Dilina, (S.) tiliiB 

 emerged on April 26th and following days, whereas in 1901 the first 

 did not come out till May 29th. That is all I have done with the 

 "hawks" this year. The larvae of Zyyana filipendnla were fairly 

 common at the beginning of July, and the first imago appeared in my 



