178 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



on the second abdominal segment of X. pndnosa, is wholly 

 absent in X. citrullina, which also has the antennae unusually 

 long for a Xenoglossa. 



Boulder, Colorado : March 8th, 1912. 



NOTES FROM AN ESSEX LBPIDOPTERIST'S DIARY 

 FOR 1911. 



By Paymaster-in-Chief Gervase F. Mathew, R.N., F.E.S., &c. 



(Continued from p. 155.) 



June 12th was fine and hot, and I spent most of the day in 

 the woods, but did not secure anything of note. Parasemia {Nemeo- 

 phila) plantaginis was kicked up in small numbers : also Euclidia 

 glyphica, E. mi, and Hapalotis fasciana {Erastria fuscula) . The 

 leaves of the butter-bur had been riddled by the larvse of 

 Aciptilia galactodactyla, but although I turned over scores of 

 them I only found two pupae. Among St. John's wort the 

 pretty little Catoptria hypericana was flying in some numbers, 

 and the larvae of Depressaria hypericella were plentiful in screwed- 

 up leaves and terminal shoots. The first 2\ costana was bred 

 to-day from the pupae and larvae taken on the 8th. 



The 13th and 14th were rather cool days with occasional 

 showers. On the 13th I beat some fine fresh Endoplsa nebri- 

 tana from sloe and bramble ; on the 14th more pupae and larvae 

 of T. costana were found, and Melanthia procellata was beaten 

 from wild clematis ; on the 15th I returned to Dovercourt. On 

 the 17th there had been some rain during the night, followed by 

 a warm bright day with a fresh south-westerly breeze. I visited 

 the woods in the evening and tried sugar ; it was (apparently) a 

 very favourable night, but only one moth was attracted, a large 

 and very dark — almost black — Palimpsestis (Cymatophora) da- 

 plaris. I had hoped that the previous night's rain would have 

 washed off most of the honeydew, but it had not. Very few 

 things were flying at dusk, the only thing netted being Noctua 

 /estiva. Several Hypena prohoscidalis were bred. On the 18th 

 Acidalia marginipimcta was bred from a brood of larvae I got 

 through the winter ; one larva was still feeding. A very dark, 

 almost black, variety of T. costana was bred from Castor pupae ; 

 it is a very pretty insect — I have not seen one like it before. 

 The 20th was fine, with heavy showers in the middle of the day ; 

 warm south-westerly breeze. In a marshy field, below a small 

 wood, where there were some ditches overgrown with reeds, I 

 tied several reeds together and sugared them. Moths came in 

 abundance, and among others were the following : — Leucania 

 obsoleta (one, rather worn) ; L. comma, Apameabasilinea, Hadena 

 dentina, H. suasa, Euplexia lucipara, Noctua augur, Triphcena 



