270 THE entomologist's record. 



dead thrift plants. As far as I could see healthy living plants 

 were quite untouched. The simplest way of amassing a quantity of 

 pupae is to pull up the dead thrift, and if traces are seen, i.e., with a 

 burrow iu the stem, to put the whole piece into a bag without further 

 examination. As the stuff is very light, a large bagful can be carried 

 without difhculty. This insect likes bare rocks and not grassy slopes, 

 and it prefers an almost perpendicular cliff. It only moves in bright 

 sunshine, and it is of no use to try to take it, if there be any wind. 

 On a still day it is very hard to see, and follow with the eye, as it flies 

 very quickly and is in colour and size like a gnat. I saw either the 

 insect itself, or traces of its presence wherever the thrift was growing 

 on the rocks. Sugaring up to the 9th on the sandhills produced only 

 tAVO Mamestra alhicolon, one or two Reliothis manjinatus and Leucania 

 littoralis, with plenty of Jhulena dentina, and on June 5th a Calo- 

 campa e.roleta, which, being supplied with cotton wool, laid during the 

 night a large batch of ova and then died. The ova were Avhite but in 

 two days became brown, and the larva? emerged on the 19th. Some 

 of them are now feeding on groundsel and sow-thistle. During the 

 next week Agrotis ripac came, but not in large numbers. The whole 

 week only produced about twenty-five. Unlike its congeners — 

 Peridroma mucia, P. suffnsa, and others — it does not come freely to 

 sugar in a wind, and when at all rough always comes to the sugar on 

 the lee side of a post, and generally low down, but I found it came 

 more freely to reed-heads sugared and stuck into the sand just above 

 high water mark, below the line of vegetation, in the least windy spots. 

 This species comes to sugar all through the night if not too windy, 

 and on one occasion I took four and saw two others between 1.30 a.m. 

 and 2.0 a.m. On other nights I obtained odd ones, several times, 

 between midnight and 1 a.m. ilamestra alhicolon, Leucania Uttorcdis and 

 Heliothis marj/inatiis later appeared in larger numbers, especially the 

 first. Two or three Hecatcra sereua appeared after the 16th. Bed and 

 white campion, and sea-campion flowers attracted Chocrocampa imrcellus 

 in some numbers, and about thirty were bagged, Dianthoecia coy^apersa 

 and Plmia festucae also came, but dusk work was on the whole disap- 

 pointing. In one spot Exipithccia venosata of an unusually large size 

 was common. On two or three evenings I visited the spot where I 

 had taken Dianthoecia var. harrettii, but saw no sign of it, and 

 altogether I took less than a dozen D. conspersa. The flowers seemed 

 to be not nearly so attractive to Dianthoecias this year as last, and I 

 think the want of heat prevented the flowers fully developing their 

 scent. I have noticed in some very hot seasons the flowers of Aira 

 caespitom covered with insects, whilst in some other years not an 

 insect seems to be attracted. One or perhaps two D. conspersa, and 

 one Choerocam2)a porcellus per evening were not very encouraging after 

 former experiences. This only refers to the sea-campion on the rocks. 

 In the meadows the red campion seemed very attractive, but chiefly to 

 Choerocampa porcellus, Plusia festucae and Dianthoecia capsincola. 

 During the first week of my visit, as there were very few other insects, 

 I caught and examined large numbers of Polyommatus icarus which 

 were swarming on the sandhills. I found no noteworthy variation in 

 any male specimen, but a few of the females Avere remarkable, 

 especially one w^hich had both primaries and secondaries entirely bright 

 blue, excepting a slender black band on the hind margin of the 



