THE ENTOMOLOGIST S EECOED. 



A SECOND SPECIMEN OF Bankesia douglasii, Stn. — In the Ent. Rec. 



{antea, p. 28), it is stated that " the unique specimen" of Bankesia 

 douf/lasii was sold at the recent disposal, at Stevens' auction rooms, 

 of the remaining portion of the Mason collection. This is not so, 

 since the type specimen, to which reference is undoubtedly made, was 

 not sold by auction, for, although it was standing in the " Mason " 

 collection shortly before the sale, I secured the transference of it, and 

 a few other specimens, to the " Douglas " collection of Tineina, etc., 

 to which they originally belonged, and which had already been privately 

 disposed of, in its supposed entirety, to Lord Walsingham. Moreover, 

 the type specimen, considered for nearly half a century to be unique, 

 can no longer be so regarded, for a second specimen, identified by Lord 

 Walsingham in 1900 as B. douplam, and doubtless British, was 

 recently sold among the Mason " Psychidae" ; the statement in the Knt. 

 Rec. {loc. cit.) would therefore have been correct, had " a specimen " 

 been substituted for " the unique specimen." — Eustace E. Bankes, 

 Norden, Corfe Castle. Jannnry 18th, 1906. 



Early Winter lepidoptkra. — Judging from the dates of the cap- 

 tures I have made at present, the coming season promises to be an 

 early one. Searching tree-trunks in a small wood near Abertillery, 

 during the last week or two, has produced the following : On January 

 17th, four Phiyalia pedaria ? s ; on the 22nd, nine more, all males; 

 whilst a day or two later they were abundant. All the specimens I 

 captured of this species in calm weather were, with two exceptions, 

 found at rest on beech-tranks, the two exceptions were on oak ; on 

 windy days, however, they were invariably found half-concealed under 

 the loose bark of pines. Not a single specimen on these windy days 

 was to be found on any tree but pine. On the 26th, several specimens 

 of Hybernia leticophaearia, all males, were found at rest on oak. On 

 the 30th, one Hybernia progemmaria $ , and one Animpteryx aescidaria 

 5 , together with several H. leucophaearia and Pldgalia pedaria. 

 January 30th seems to be a very early date for A. aeandaria. — W. 

 Rait-Smith, " Nenadd House," Abertillery, Monmouthshire. January 

 31s^, 1906. 



PoLYGONiA c-ALBUM IN EppiNG FoREST. — Referring to a note in the 

 Entomologist' >i Record, xvii., p. 338, by the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows, I 

 well remember seeing seven specimens of Polygonia c-album that were 

 taken by Mr. F. A. Sneyd in Epping Forest — Mr. Sneyd was an assistant 

 of mine at the time. I regret to say he died on August 16th, 189', 

 and, as well as I can remember, they were taken at the end of the season, 

 about September, 1888, in a part of the Forest near Wood Street 

 Station. I may add that I have never taken the species myself in 

 Epping Forest. — J. A. Clark, F.E.S., Weston Park, N. January 

 16th, 1906. 



Query re Foodplant of Melit^ea maturna. — May I ask if anj'^ of 

 your readers have reared Melitaea maturna from the egg ? I have 

 twice failed, though I took great pains. Plenty of larvae hatched in 

 1908 and 1904 ; but I could get them to eat nothing. I tried Plantago 

 of various species, Vi(da biflora and V. canina, Scabiosa [arvensis and 

 succisa), Spireae various, and the common ash. — W. H. St. Quintin, 

 Scampston Hall, Rillington, York. February 1th, 1906. 



