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CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE LIFE HISTORY OF 

 DASYPOUA TEMPLL* 



B. MORLEY. 



Skelmanthorpe, HmUleisfiehl. 



The lepidopteron Dasypolia templi is one of my earliest memories. 

 As a child I clearly remember the late James Varley spending 

 week-ends at our home, and along with my father going out 

 in search of this insect. Amongst others, besides Mr. Varley. 

 the names of the late Rev. J. Johnson, of Denby, and the late 

 J. Harrison, of Barnsley, were familiar to me, when quite 

 a youngster. The visits these gentlemen paid to our village 

 were mostly on account of the species in question being fre- 

 quently found there. 



It naturally became tixed on my mind that templi mus 

 be a very pretty insect, so eagerly was it sought after. Ex 

 perience has taught me, however, that its rarity was its charm, 

 for surely it ranks amongst our most sombre species, and its 

 great liability to become greasy, makes it a nuisance to the 

 collector. Its outline is not graceful, and its colours are dingy 

 and unattractive. 



In the old days collecting this species was no child's play, 

 owing to its habit of hiding in dry stone walls, quarries, or 

 amongst stone heaps. All these features abound in our neigh- 

 bourhood, consequently there is plenty of scope for the collector 

 who has to rely on stone turning for his templi. Formerly this 

 method was largely practiced, and tons of old rubble were 

 carefully turned over, the undersides of the stones being 

 closely searched for the hybernating moths. I have myself 

 worked in this way hour after hour without finding a single 

 moth. At other times one was more fortunate. An average 

 of one per hour would be considered very good indeed, but, 

 personally, such good results were never experienced by me. 



Another way of collecting the species, is by examining the 

 street lamps. In the villages, within the area of its occurrence, 

 the males ^•isit the lamps on fine nights during October, but 

 the manner in which they dash repeatedly at a street lamp, 

 before they settle down and crawl under the dark edges of its 

 frame, certainly does not add beauty to their condition. 



* A paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Section 

 of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, held at Leeds, October 29th, 1910. 



igio Dec. i. *" 



