NOTES ON COLLECTING, 



165 



Aberkation OF Lachneis lanestris. — The imagines of Lachneis 

 lanc^tri^ that I have recently bred are, on the whole, most constant in 

 their markings, the spots in some instances are not so well defined, 

 but in every specimen they are present, as well as the lines, with one 

 exception, viz., that of a female, in which the basal Avhite spot on the 

 left wing is conspicuous by its absence. — A. Eussell, F.E.S., The 

 Limes, Southend, nr. Catford, S.E. Maij 1th, 1900. 



;:^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



The food-plants of Oxyptilus distans, Z. (= l^.tus, Z.). — Mr. 

 E. A. Atmore asks {ante., p. 135) whether the food-plant of Oxuptilm 

 distans is known. So far as I am aware, the only plant from which 

 this species has been actually bred is Andri/ala sinuata, on the flowers 

 of which the larvae were found by M. Milliere (cf. Ent. Mo. Ma;/., vi., 

 p. 36, 1869). I have not Milliere's description at hand, but Mr. J. H. 

 Leech, in his Jhitish Pyralides, p. 57 (1886), gives the larva, on 

 Milliere's authority, as " bone-coloured, hairy, with a small blackish 

 head and divided dorsal plate." Andri/ala sinnata is unknown in 

 Britain, and the larva in England, as well as in some of its continental 

 localities, obviously feeds on one or more other plants. It is generally 

 supposed that Hieraciam is among the favoured genera, and such 

 evidence as that of Mr. Sydney Webb, who says, in the Voiin;/ 

 Naturalist, x., p. 48 (1889), that the moth Avas " so evidently attached 

 to llicracium pilosella, occurring only where that plant was growing in 

 patches on one hill slope," makes it almost certain that H. pilosella is. 

 its food-plant in some of its haunts. Sorhagen, Kleinschmett.-d.-M.- 

 Brandenbtor/, 3 (1886), suggests, as another probable food-plant, Ononis 

 spinosa, round which, be says, the imago flies in sandy spots in May 

 (end), June, and August. I earnestly Jiope that Mr. Atmore will 

 shortly discover the larva in his neighbourhood, and will let us know 

 upon what plant it there feeds. — Eustace K. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S., 

 Norden, Corfe Castle. May 18th, 1900. 



PoRTHEsiA OHRYSORRHCEA IN NORTH EssEx. — It may interest you to 

 hear that I found a large brood of Porthesia chri/sorrhoca at West 

 Bergholt a few days ago. This is the first brood I have seen in the 

 spring for many years, though I discovered a very small brood in the 

 autumn of 1898 near Little Horkesley Church. These, unfortunately 

 perished during the winter. — W. H. Harwood, Station Eoad, Colchester, 

 il/fl// 8tJi, 1900. 



Triph^ena pronuba in April. — While looking at some sallows at 

 Streatham, on April 18th this year, I saw a Triphacna pronnha. In the 

 Entiniioloi/isfs Record, iii., p. 16, Mr. Bond-Smith mentioned that he 

 had observed a second brood of this species, and as it seems too early 

 for the emergence of this insect I thought it might be a hybernated 

 specimen of a second brood. — R. C. Paton, Ormley, Glen Eldon Road, 

 Streatham. J^rtv/ 3/v/, 1900. [The larvae of many species of Noctuid 

 moths that should normally hybernate in this state will, in confine- 

 ment, feed up rapidly in autumn if exceedingly well placed, and pro- 

 duce, or attempt to produce, a late autumnal or winter brood. Aplccta 

 occulta and other species will occur to most lepidopterists. • Un- 

 doubtedly this occasionally happens in nature, such go-ahead indivi- 

 duals being, however, usually exterminated. One can readily imagine 



