CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 299 



even in the rain. Thei'e are very few oaks in the vicinity of St. 

 Martin, and these are all young trees. I have never seen it Hying 

 round oaks, but this is no proof that the larva selects any other food 

 plant. Papilio aleranor was very much commoner at St. Martin than 

 I have ever noticed on previous visits to that place, but nothing 

 approaching in abundance to its appearance near Digne two years ago. 

 With the exception of (JEneis alio, fairly common at the Madone 

 Fenestro, I took nothing remarkable besides a well marked and freshly 

 emerged hermaphodite of Melitaa didyma, and, at BoUene, a curious 

 aberration of Lycmia arion, with a very light ground colour and broad 

 black marginal borders. At Bastia, in Corsica, I was struck with the 

 abundance of Argynnis imndora and Papilio machann on waste ground 

 immediately outside the town. I have rarely noticed butterflies so 

 abundant within a few moments' walk of busy town streets. The 

 railway strikes prevented my intended visit to the interior. — Henry C. 

 Lang ; All Saints Vicarage, Southend-on-Sea. 



Notes on Lepidoptera from Wiltshire. — During part of the summer 

 I was staying near Devizes, and the following is a list of some of my 

 captures whilst there. May : — -Severiil specimens of Scotoda certata, 

 caught at dusk Hying round Berberis vulgai-is ; Lyccena anjiolns, the first 

 brood was very plentiful. June : — Lycmna alsn^;, generally distributed 

 along the foot of the Downs. L. adonis and Frocris yeri/ou, both m 

 profusion on the slopes of the Downs. Ayrotis cinerea, one female 

 specimen at rest on wild thyme. Enryjiiene dulohraria, one specimen 

 in perfect condition on the top of the Downs far from trees of any 

 kind. Chcerocampa elpenor and C. porcdlus and Sphinx liyiistri, all 

 taken at honeysuckle towards the end of the month, the former in 

 some numbers. July : — I was so fortunate as to capture two speci- 

 mens of Plmia mnneta on the wing at dusk — a female on 15th, and a 

 male on 19th. There is plenty of larkspur {Delphiniuiii) in the garden, 

 but no monkshood [Acomtnin). I have seen records of the capture of 

 P. moneta this year from Berks and Hants, but this is, I think, the 

 first recorded occurrence of the species in Wilts. This addition to our 

 British Lepidoptera seems to be spreading rapidly through the country. 

 August : — LyccBua corydon began to appear in its usual profusion over 

 the Downs at the end of July, and on August 9th I caught my first 

 two specimens of the season of var. synyraplia (the female variety of 

 L. corydon with the blue colouring of the male). The commonest 

 form of this variety here has a black discoidal spot in the centre of the 

 fore wings ; some are without this spot ; and I caught one this year 

 with the spot on both fore and hind wuigs. Another not uncommon 

 variety of L. corydon (female) has white discoidal spots, with or with- 

 out black centres, on fore or hind wings, and sometimes on both. I 

 also caught one female specimen with blue fore wings and brown hind 

 wings. L. aUm was taken in perfect condition this month, and must, 

 I should think, have been a second brood. Emergence of the second 

 brood of L. argiolm and L. adonis was interrupted by bad weather, and 

 they occuiTed in small numbers only. — -(Rev.) C. A. Sladen ; Burton 

 Vicarage, Chester. 



