CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. Ill 



there was a warm, sunny day, as on the 9th, when, in Delamere 

 Forest, among other things I captured a worn Ephyra punctaria. 

 On the 10th a fine example of this moth emerged in a breeding-cage 

 from a larva beaten off an oak in the Forest, October 26th, 1905. 

 Lycarna agon was just appearing in its usual haunts at Delamere 

 on the 30th. On July 14th the butterfly was plentiful and in fine 

 condition. At sunset I could have taken scores as they rested, head 

 downwards, on an unusually prominent furze bush. Some of the 

 females were beautifully " shot " with blue, particularly on the lower 

 wings, the nervules marked out in black. A few of the females had 

 the marginal red spots almost obliterated, whilst one specimen is 

 a unicolorous black, relieved only by a few scanty blue hairs in the 

 region of the thorax. Five Ccenonympha typhon (davus)yax. philoxenus = 

 rothliebi were seen, June 30th, and eight only were counted on July 14th, 

 on the principal ground where the butterfly was plentiful a few years 

 ago. The diminished numbers are doubtless due to over- collecting, 

 and the time seems close at hand when typhon will cease to appear 

 among the records of Delamere. Hepialus hectus, fine and fresh, were 

 flying in numbers over isolated spots in the forest clad with bracken 

 (the food plant) on July 21st from 8.30 to 8.45 p.m. In some of the 

 specimens the silvery spots on the upper wings are unusually 

 numerous and conspicuously large. The captures included only one 

 female — a very sober- coloured moth in comparison with the males. 



It is remarkable that Coremia ferrugata should be common in 

 Denbighshire and comparatively scarce in the Chester district. The 

 Cheshire specimens are larger than those of Denbighshire, and the 

 transverse central reddish bar across the upper wings is dispropor- 

 tionately broader. Numeria pulveraria is a moth I have never taken 

 in Cheshire, but several specimens were captured in June in the 

 Wrexham-Llangollen district (Denbighshire) by Mr. B. Thompson. 

 Especially when reared from the egg, pulveraria, with its umber 

 ground (upper wings) crossed by a wide, transverse dark bar, is one of 

 the most striking of British geometers. In closing my notes on North 

 Wales I ought to mention that dingy skipper Nisoniades {Thanaos) tages, 

 which was fairly common in June in its Flint and Denbigh haunts. 

 Mr. B. Thompson found L. argiolus plentiful in May near Wrexham 

 (Denbighshire), but I failed to meet with a second brood in August. 

 The butterfly, therefore, appears here to be single-brooded. 



At the Chester electric lamps frequent windy nights and low tem- 

 peratures interfered with collecting in June and July. Still, a beginner 

 could have made some welcome captures. Among these, in June, were 

 Smerinthus ocellatus, S. populi, Dicranura bifida, Xotodonta ziczac, Miana 

 strigilis (melanic forms culminating in the var. athiops), Xylophasia 

 hepatica, Hadena thalassina, Habrostola triplasia, Amphidasys betularia 

 (plentiful, but including only a couple of types), and Schcenobius 

 forficellus ; in July, N. dictaa (N. dictaoides appeared as early as 

 May 27th), Acronycta leporina, Caradrina morpheas, C. alsines, C. blanda, 

 Plusia chrysitis, P. iota, P. pulchrina, another type betularia, and 

 melanic forms of Tortrix podana, the latter probably reared on the 

 elms near by. Spilosoma menthastri was unusually abundant in June 

 and July at the lamps. On the other hand, I found S. lubricipeda 

 much less in evidence. I took a female S. menthastri on the night of 



