322 THE KNTOMOLOGIST. 



July or in August. — Gervase F. Mathew ; Dovercourt, Essex, 

 November 17th, 1909. 



Scarcity of Vanessids. — One of the peculiarities of the past 

 remarkable season has been the dearth of the Vanessids. Hybernated 

 specimens of io were tolerably plentiful in the spring, and a fair 

 number of fresh examples appeared in August, but of the other 

 species I have not seen more than half a dozen atalanta, and about 

 a dozen urticce, either in this district or in the neighbourhood of 

 Instow, North Devon, where I spent the latter part of June and 

 most of July. Cardui or pohjdiloros I never saw at all, nor did I 

 observe any nests of larvae of either io or urticcB. — Gervase F. 

 Mathew. 



Note on Vanessa io. — With reference to Mr. F. W. Frohawk's 

 note {antca, p. 260), the recent abundance of Vanessa io, to which he 

 calls attention, must have been partial and not general throughout 

 the country. In thi^ neighbourhood the insect has, in my experi- 

 ence, been no commoner than usual this season, in explanation of 

 which statement it may be added that I rarely, if ever, set eyes on 

 half a dozen specimens, and sometimes see none at all, in the course 

 of a single year! — Eustace R. Bankes ; Norden, Corfe Castle, 

 November 17th, 1909. 



SiREX NOCTiLio AND S. GiGAs AT Chichester. — A female Sirex 

 noctilio was taken in the kitchen. of the Rev. R. Codrington, The 

 Close, Chichester, on September 14th of this year, where its intrusion 

 created some dismay amongst the domestics. The treatment to 

 which it was subjected in consequence had not improved its condi- 

 tion when it reached my hands. On the 26th of the same month a 

 Sirex gigas was captured in the neighbourhood. — Joseph Anderson. 



Char^as graminis in S. Wales, 1909. — There has been a plague 

 of graminis larvae on the hill pastures of this district this year. At 

 the end of May and the early part of June the nearly full-grown 

 larvae were crawling over the ground in thousands, and several 

 farmers complained to me of the damage they were doing to the 

 pastures. About the middle of July I found great flocks of crows 

 and other birds were frequenting the hills, attracted by the abundance 

 of pupae and full-fed larvae. The grass and other plants were pulled 

 up by the birds in their search, and after observing their modus 

 operandi I entered into competition with them, and in less than two 

 hours had obtained on a small area of ground over three hundred 

 pupEB. On pulling up a tuft of withered grass which showed signs 

 of having harboured the larvae, I sometimes shook out as many as 

 six, eight, or ten pupae at a time. When the date came for the moths 

 to emerge I found many had been ichneumoned, but I obtained a 

 very nice lot of insects. I understand that some parts of Glamorgan 

 had a similar visitation in 1884. — G. Fleming ; 9, Fairview Terrace, 

 Merthyr Tydfil, October 5th, 1909. 



Leucania l-album at Eastbourne. — On October 14th I took a 

 female example of the above-named species at ivy, which has since 

 laid a few ova. I have worked the same locality every suitable 



