99 



Mr. Robert Adkin exhibited a female specimen of Ocncria 

 dispar, taken at rest on the trunk of an ehn tree at East- 

 bourne, and gave the following account of its capture : 



" During the greater part of the past summer I was staying 

 in Eastbourne, and on the evening of August 30th, when on 

 my way home from the train, I noticed a large moth resting 

 on the stem of one of the elm trees, with which the road, 

 along which I was walking, was bordered. At the moment 

 I felt some uncertainty as to what species it was referable ; 

 it certainly looked like Ocneria dhpar, but the situation 

 appeared to be so unlikely for that species, and it looked so 

 much larger than any specimens that I had seen, that I 

 thought it must be some other species with which I was not 

 familiar. However, I had a large pill-box with me, into 

 which I had no difficulty in getting it, as it was in a very 

 sleepy condition ; and on reaching home and making a 

 thorough examination of it there was no doubt that it was 

 referable to 0. dispar. For several days it was kept alive 

 in the hope that it might deposit some ova, but as it showed 

 no signs of returning activit}^ it was killed. The capture 

 seems to be so unusual that I should like to make a few 

 remarks upon it. It must now be considerably more than 

 fifty years since Ocncria dispar was recorded as breeding wild 

 in this country ; during that time at rare intervals odd speci- 

 mens have been found, usually under circumstances that 

 pointed to the conclusion that they were either escapes from 

 the large numbers that have been continuoush' reared in 

 confinement, or that they resulted from attempts that had 

 been made to re-introduce the species ; and I am not aware 

 of any special circumstances that would refute such con- 

 clusions in those cases. In the present instance there are 

 some points that do not appear to be quite on all fours with 

 them. First as to locality : Although the spot where the 

 moth was taken is now laid out in roads bordered by houses, 

 many of them with large gardens around them, it is really a 

 lower slope of the chalk downs, a most unlikely spot for 

 the species to select as a natural breeding-place, or for it to 

 be put down by anyone with a view to its re-introduction. 

 Then as to its size : the largest bred specimen I possess 

 measures 63 mm. in expanse, and the larger of two that I 

 have from the late J. Jenner Weir's collection (said to be 

 the ' old fen form ') 67 mm., while of some half dozen of 

 our more recent authors that I have consulted none gives the 

 maximum size of the species as more than 67 mm., whereas 

 this Eastbourne specimen measures just 74 mm. in expanse. 



