128 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES ON COLLECTING DUKING 1906. 

 By the Eev. W. G. Whittingham. 



Though the advantages which a parson frequently possesses 

 as an entomologist are obvious in the freedom with which he can 

 in many cases arrange his hours of work, a town parson gener- 

 ally has his hands far too full to allow of anything like systematic 

 collecting. His expeditions are largely a matter of his settled 

 holidays, with an occasional Monday or summer evening, and 

 with a more constant eye to the possibilities of his own garden, 

 if he is fortunate enough to possess one. Last year I spent ten 

 days at the end of June and beginning of July in North Corn- 

 wall, and a good deal of the month of August in Cumberland, 

 apparently the only part of England wherein one read the daily 

 report of glorious weather to the frequent accompaniment of 

 drenching rain. I give some rather desultory notes of most of 

 my captures. 



To deal first with the home insects in Leicester and neigh- 

 bourhood — the mild January and February brought out the first 

 spring Geometers very early ; Phigalia pedaria and Hybernia 

 rupicapraria were out in January, and a series of Lobophora 

 polycommata, bred from Northamptonshire larvae, commenced to 

 emerge on February 26th, and were all out by March 17th. 

 Dark forms of Hybemia marginalia were frequent, and were 

 several times observed, with dusky suffusion in disk, dark hind 

 marginal area, and uniformly dusky. Then came the long spell 

 of cold weather which produced little or nothing for weeks. A 

 Biston hirtaria (female), bred by a friend, laid a batch of eggs 

 early in April, which hatched on May 29th and 30th, and 

 resulted in considerably over three hundred and fifty larva?, two- 

 thirds of which were let loose on plum trees in the garden, 

 where they were seen feeding week after week till August. 

 Tephrosia crepuscularia was plentiful during May and early 

 June, the fuscous form apparently rather in excess of the light 

 form. The earlier April race was not noticed, but this was per- 

 haps due to the absence of opportunity for observation. 



In May Eupithecia abbreviata and Gelechia scalella were taken 

 at rest in Charnwood Forest ; the larvae of Eupithecia debiliata 

 and Phoxopteryx myrtillana, and Micropteryx aureatella were 

 plentiful there. A single specimen of Eupithecia albipunctata 

 emerged from a pupa, the larva of which was found feeding there 

 on Angelica last year. 



At the end of May (30th and 31st) a visit to Northants pro- 

 duced Carter ocephalus palcemon in small numbers, and Argynnis 

 euphrosyne and Nemeobius lucina were only just appearing. 

 'Tephrosia jiunctidaria and Zonosoma punctaria were almost the 

 only Geometers seen. 



