398 



FIELD NOTES. 



LBP1DOPTERA. 



Sphinx convolvuli in the Scarborough District in 

 the Autumn of 19 17. — During the autumn there was an 

 immigration of Convolvulus Hawk Moths in this district. 

 I have seen specimens procured at Scarborough on August 

 22nd, and on September, 3rd, 10th, 12th, and two others 

 obtained during September, but the exact date of capture is 

 lacking. Also one specimen from Scalby on August 31st. 



In connection with the occurrence on September 3rd, an 

 interesting episode happened. I was attending the funeral of 

 an old friend at the Cemetery on that date, and an old lady 

 in the company suddenly made a furious onslaught with her 

 umbrella upon some object in the grass. Presently one of the 

 grave diggers went to her help, and assisted in hammering, 

 with his spade, the object of her attentions. After the funeral 

 was over, I went to the spot to see what they had been killing, 

 expecting to find a frog or toad, but instead I found the battered 

 remains of a Convolvulus Hawk Moth. The gravedigger was 

 standing by contemplating the corpse of the fearful beast, 

 and when I scooped to pick it up, he hastily exclaimed : 

 ' Deaen't touch it, it's a hoss-teng.' * I had some difficulty in 

 persuading the man that the object of his attentions was after 

 all but a harmless moth. This reminds me of a somewhat 

 similar incident which occurred in the autumn of last year. 

 A Death's Head Moth had flown upon the deck of a Scarborough 

 fishing boat while out at sea. The crew viewed the intruder 

 with great dread, and turned the hose on it, washing it into 

 a corner, where half dead, it was transfixed to the deck by a 

 daring member of the crew, armed with a hammer and big 

 whe nail. To make it additionally secure a fish box. was 

 turned over it, and so it arrived in port where I saw it shortly 

 afterwards, still alive in spite of its ill usage. — W. J. Clarke. 



ARCHAEOLOGY. 



Prehistoric Remains in Doncaster. — In the November 

 number of The 'Naturalist appears an article by Mr. A. Jordan 

 recording the finding of flint flakes on Doncaster Race Common ; 

 the great numbers of worked flakes appear to denote either a 

 much larger early Neolithic population in Yorkshire than is 

 generally admitted, or, which is perhaps more probable, a 

 long period during which these stone implements were being 



* Hoss-teng = horse sting, a name often applied to the Dragon fly in 

 Yorkshire. 



Naturalist 



