25 



along about one third of the wall I secured no less than sixty. The 

 next morning I elected to get sixty more, and I did so easily. They, 

 too, occurred at all heights above the ground line. I believe that with 

 a really thorough search, and the aid of a ladder for the upper regions, 

 I could have got 500. They are delicate pup^e, and want gentle 

 handling. They lie at all angles, with the wall often placed end- 

 ways, in the defective joints of the stones. They are enclosed in a 

 tough cocoon spun in the hoUow^ed-out bunches of moss, which 

 grows on the wall in abundance, and which has become the colour 

 of the stone by the accumulation of dust. To this cocoon there is 

 invariably an antechamber containing more or less frass, and which 

 is often open to the ingress of beetles, although the orifice is very 

 small and difficult to notice. In several I noticed a small Bembidiuni 

 (I believe), but in no instance did I find that the tough inner cocoon 

 had been assailed successfully to destroy the pupa. I presume that the 

 larvse fed on the moss as well as the lichen, for I found numerous single 

 chambers in the moss untenanted bypupa;, not even containing frass. 

 There were also a very large number of small pockets in the lichen, 

 all open and untenanted, evidently the resorts of the larvae when 

 young. Does the larvae feed on the moss as well as the lichen, or 

 are the single chambers only day hiding-places for the larger larvae, 

 as the patches of lichen would not be sufficient cover for any but the 

 small larvae ? 



With regard to the variation in the imagines, I feel quite incom- 

 petent to deal. Speaking generally, the whole of those taken and 

 exhibited, some 160 in number, are very dark. There is not a 

 typical specimen among them. In nearly all of them the black 

 markings are much intensified and increased in number, and one or 

 two examples are extremely suffused with black. There are a con- 

 siderable number of a very rich dark green suffusion, while a large pro- 

 portion are of a very deep yellow or olive colour with black markings. 

 Only a very few show any trace of the delicate dove-colour which 

 characterises so many of the more eastern forms of the south of 

 England. The dwarf specimens all emerged late in September or 

 in early October, and I suggest that the larvag of those were feeding 

 during the excessively dry and hot spell which occurred in the 

 summer, and the imagines in consequence suffered. It will be 

 noticed that these small ones are all characterised by a greater 

 amount of black covered area. I had almost forgotten to mention 

 that not a single pupa was tenanted by an ichneumon. 



Leucaniid/e. 



Leucama a/bipuncta, L. vitillina, and L. putrescens are notable 

 inhabitants of the district, but none fell to my share, nor were they 

 looked for. In fact, my list contains notes on very few Noctuae, as 

 the group was not collected even in a desultory fashion. No doubt 

 at some future holiday I shall specially attempt this group, and. 



