112 THE ENTOMOLOGIST, 



June 11th. She laid a large number of eggs, which hatched in a 

 fairly warm kitchen on the 18th. The larvae — fed on plantain, and 

 from which I hoped to get melanic forms — all began, unexpectedly, to 

 pupate on July 14th, when I happened to be from home ; and, as they 

 suffered in the change from want of space, they died in the pupa state, 

 except a solitary crippled and typical imago which emerged July 31st. 

 Other forcing operations, in the same room, with Xemeophila plantaginis 

 were more successful. Mr. J. Thompson kindly gave me about seventy 

 eggs from the usual May- June brood. The parents were reared from 

 larvae taken in 1905 on Minera Mountain, Denbighshire. The eggs 

 given me hatched June 29th and 30th, and the larvae, fed on plantain, 

 spun up on various dates in August. The first imago — a fine female — 

 appeared August 21st and the last on December 8th. Every egg, I 

 believe, resulted in a moth at some time or other between these dates. 

 There was only a single departure from the typical insect — a male, in 

 which the black markings were unusually and largely developed. I 

 noticed, in forcing this second brood of plantaginis, that, as the outside 

 temperature of the season fell, the emergence from the pupae became 

 less frequent and the larvae were slower in spinning up. Larvae, pupae, 

 and perfect insects, consequently, occurred together, even in November. 

 I have seen the same results when forcing second broods of Arctia caia. 

 Before leaving my captures at the electric lamps, I may mention a 

 melanic specimen of Phibalapteryx lignata = vittata (August 23rd), 

 Anchocelis lunosa (plentiful at the end of August and beginning of 

 September), Xanthia xerampelina (August 31st), and, in September, 

 Epunda lutulenta, Tapinostola fulva (with red forms), X. silago, X. 

 gilvago, Eugonia (Ennomos) tiliaria, and E. fuscantaria. Among the 

 numerous males a solitary female E. tiliaria turned up on the night of 

 September 12th, from which I obtained a lot of fertile eggs. 



Fine sunny days marked the beginning of August until the 8th, 

 when I went for a fortnight's stay to Lancaster. The temperature 

 began to drop until the 10th, when, as I have so frequently observed, 

 there is — or about that date, and on towards the middle of the month — 

 an unmistakable break-up of the weather. In this case, stormy 

 south-west winds, with frequent heavy rains, continued until the 14th, 

 when, the sun shining once more, I went for a day's collecting on 

 Arnside Knott. The following butterflies were observed : — Argynnis 

 aglaia (in good condition), A. adippe (so battered as to be hardly 

 recognizable), Erebia athiops ~ blandina (chiefly worn and chipped by 

 the recent weather), Satyrus semele, Epinephele ianira, Thecla quercus, 

 Ccenonymplia pamphilus, Lycama astrarche var. salmacis, but nearly all 

 bearing traces of age or of stormy weather. Other captures were 

 Cosmia trapezina (at rest, and including the reddish form), one green 

 and one almost black Hypsipetes elutata, Crambus hortuellus, and 

 C. inquinatellus. Larvae of Cucullia asteris — a species new to Mr. 

 Forsythe's district list (Entom., xxxviii., p. 86) — were taken off flower- 

 heads of golden-rod. Seeing a thunderstorm coming up from the 

 south-west about midday, my companion and I worked on until we 

 barely gave ourselves time to reach the foot of the knott, or hill, 

 where, in some friendly stables, we spent the time until the storm was 

 over in admiring the carriage-horses, &c. — things getting rarer and 

 rarer in these days of motor cars ! The storm over — and a fierce one 



