CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 257 



One day I netted a specimen of L. dulna which had its left lower wing 

 rather crippled. This wing was crusted with the black, peaty mud of the 

 pools about. The pupa-case, then, is probably always in the water. 

 In the second of our ambitions we got on " gradely," as they say in 

 Lancashire. We found no less than four davus localities — and far be 

 it from me to say where they are — nay, far be it from me to say more 

 than that the numbers of the butterfly were satisfactory. There ought 

 to be five localities, but from the fifth davus has long since been 

 removed by over-collecting. Any indication of a similar process on 

 the remaining spots will probably result in a curtain between davus 

 and the public, and so history will repeat itself. For davus — at any 

 rate the Delamere form — -is a handsome insect, and variable. To the 

 entomologist who has a weakness for " spots " and " under sides " it 

 is unique. These eye-like markings vary from the size of a pin's head 

 to about a quarter of an inch across. As to shape, they are usually 

 circular ; but there is a form which has them oval, and there is another 

 where the spots are acutely pointed towards the wing-margins, and 

 remind one, in shape, of ears of oats or barley. Again, the ground- 

 colour of the under sides is sometimes ichite, and the large, basal, 

 brown area of the secondaries is divided into what look like a couple 

 of deeply-indented leaves. Still, the upper surface is frequently so 

 handsome and so well spotted that it is often puzzling which side to 

 show. If the upper surface be dark, the spots numerous and large, 

 and the lower wings almost black — a fine but infrequent form — then 

 there can be no doubt about the matter. Lycana aijon has been, on 

 certain Delamere heaths, in even greater numbers than last year. We 

 did not take one. But the splendid Xemeophila russula — aglow with 

 yellow and crimson — did not get ofl" so easily, even in the tropical heat, 

 when we could catch it, which was not always. At the electric lamps 

 there has been a marked falling-off in the numbers of certain species — 

 for examples, Amphidasys betidaria (I took a fine intermediate form on 

 the night of June 1st), Notodonta dicUea, N. dictaoides, Xylophasia 

 monoylypha [polyodon), Smerinthus ocellatus, and S. populi. On the 

 other hand, I have to report three species new to the lamps, as far as 

 I know — A. strataria [prodromaria], one, April 18th; A. derivata, one, 

 May 14th ; and Abraxas uhnata, one, July 3rd. Other occasional 

 visitors were — Drepana binaria [hamula), one, July 8th ; Leucoma 

 salicis, one, July 17th; and Zeuzera pyrina [cesculi), about a dozen in 

 July. The first brood of Plusia fesiucce appeared early in May, the 

 second on July 20th. The hot, sometimes tropical, weather from 

 June 20th to July 21st was no doubt responsible for the early appear- 

 ance of the second brood. — J. Akkle ; Chester. 



Odonata and Lepidoptera at Llandbindod (Radnorshire). — Mr. 

 J. Lyon Denson, of Chester, whilst staying at Llaudrindod Wells in 

 the first half of June, kindly sent me the following species which he 

 captured there. Odonata : Caloptenjx viryo, sixteen males, four females. 

 Lepidoptera : Pieris brassicm, P. rapai, Eitchlo'e cardamines, ten Aryynnis 

 euphrosyne, Pararge meycera, Cfcnonympha pamphihis, five Hesperia 

 sylvanus, Phytometra viridaria {cEnea), and a larva of Vanessa polychloros 

 which spun up, but unfortunately emerged a cripple. The fine weather 

 for insect-hunting broke up on the 12th, and people had to take to 

 overcoats again for a week. — J. Arkle ; Chester. 



