60 



usual, the former throughout the whole period, and the latter being 

 seen even so late as September 8th. A specimen of Niso)iia({es ta(jes 

 taken on August 13th suggested a second emergence. The 

 Vanessids were by no means common. In the course of a morning's 

 ramble one might see a couple of specimens of Pyraineis cardui and 

 three or four P. atalanta, but daring the whole stay only some 

 half-dozen examples of A<ilaU urtlcce were met with. 



The Pierids were interesting in that although Pierifi rapir was 

 fully as common as usual, numbers being on the wing wherever one 

 went, either on the downs or flitting about the gardens in the town, 

 P. bransicd' was positively scarce ; daring a morning's walk on the 

 downs one might see two or three examples at the most, and in the 

 town gardens a similar state of things existed, even the cottage 

 gardens, which in some years are swarming with the species, 

 appeared to be practically free from its attentions. No Colias were 

 seen, and enquiries from others who had collected in the neighbour- 

 hood failed to produce any records of either species having been 

 met with. Another notable case of unusual rarity was that of 

 Pliisia (jaiiniia.. Usually during August and September examples 

 are continually on the move from morning till night, but this 

 Autumn the species was not noticed until September 7th, on which 

 day one was seen, and not more than two were met with on any 

 one day, the last on September 25th. Nomophila noctndla (hy- 

 hfi(Ialis), a species that is often abundant at the same time as P. 

 ffamiiia, was also exceedingly rare, the only records being single 

 specimens on September 14th, 21st, and 23rd respectively. 



A very worn example of Ayrins [Sphinx) convolciili was found at 

 rest on a fence near the sea on the morning of September 18th, and 

 inquiry elicited the information that at least fifteen specimens had 

 been taken in the neighbourhood during the latter part of the 

 summer, and that two larvfe also had been found, one crawling 

 upon a road a mile or so inland, and the other by searching the 

 food plant in the vicinity. Both had pupated since. Macroijlossa 

 stdlataram was fairly common, the last noted being on 

 October 4th. 



AKpilatea ochrearia, Melanippe galiata, and such like species that 

 haunt the lower slopes of the downs and broken ground near the 

 sea, appeared to be scarcer than usual, but it may be interesting to 

 note that the winter nests of Porthesia chn/soniid'a were found in 

 some numbers on the stunted blackthorn bushes ; so many were 

 there, indeed, that should all the larvae they contain survive the 

 winter, the food supply in the immediate vicinity would surely 

 prove insufficient to support them until the time for pupation. 



