LEPIDOPTERA IN WEST SUFFOLK. 219 



Lamellicornia are an older group than the Phytophaga. It is 

 possible, however, to hold this view without going so far as 

 Kolbe, who finds a relationship between the Lamellicornia and 

 the Staphylinoidea, and classes them together in the same first 

 division of the Polyphaga. He agrees with Ganglbauer that the 

 wing-venation of the Staphylinoidea has been derived directly 

 from the Adephagan type. He must, I think, be prepared to 

 maintain that the wing-venation of the Synteliidfe and Lamelli- 

 cornia has also been derived directly from that type, for other- 

 wise there would be a difficulty in accepting his classification. 



(To be continued.) 



LEPIDOPTERA IN WEST SUFFOLK. 

 By Lt.-Colonel C. G. Nurse, F.E.S. 



It is more than thirty-five years since I first, as a schoolboy, 

 began to collect Lepidoptera in this county, and it is only within 

 the last few years that, on the conclusion of my Indian service, 

 I have been able to return as a resident to my old collecting 

 ground. During the past five years, except for an interval of 

 about fifteen months spent in India, I have devoted the greater 

 part of my time to collecting insects in this neighbourhood. 

 I have paid attention more particularly to Lepidoptera and 

 Hymenoptera, but have also made collections of Diptera and a 

 few Neuroptera. In the present paper I propose to give some 

 account of the less common Lepidoptera I have met with, 

 together with a few remarks on the absence of some generally 

 common and conspicuous insects. 



This locality does not appear to be a good one for butterflies, 

 and although I am out almost every fine day, and my collecting 

 ground extends more or less for a radius of ten miles from my 

 house, I have come across only twenty-seven species, including 

 a specimen of Colias edusa, seen but not captured. I think this 

 is a very meagre total for about four seasons' collecting. The 

 absence of several more or less common species may be men- 

 tioned. I have not seen a specimen of Pararge egeria, Vanessa 

 polychloros, Pijrameis carclui, nor a single " fritillary," although 

 Argynnis euphrosyne used to occur in a wood where I have 

 recently sought for it in vain. 



Some of the larger moths also seem to be much less common 

 than they used to be. I have not recently come across Sphinx 

 ligustri, either in the larval or imago stage, though I used to 

 meet with it frequently thirty years ago. I have already, on 

 page 94 of the 'Entomologist' for the current year, given an 

 account of my experiences with the Sesiidfe; I may add, how- 

 ever, that although in some localities here Sesia respiformis and 

 S. culiciformis are common enough in the larval stage, I have 



