266 THE entomologist's record. 



:^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Lepidoptera in Essex. — I have had a rather poor season, and I 

 do not know exactly to what cause to ascribe it, although ever- 

 decreasing time to devote to collecting is certainly a main factor. My 

 collecting, therefore, has had very few interesting features, but there 

 are one or two items — such as they are — that might, perhaps, be recorded. 

 Lithosia griseola : I found a larva of this species on an elm trunk at 

 Creeksea, June 16th. Buccalatrix frangulella was rather common at 

 Thundersley on June 19th. Elachista scirpi was flying freely over 

 rushes and reeds at Pitsea, on the evening of June 22nd. Orcjyia 

 gonostigma: A ? emerged July 16th; taken early on the 18th at 

 Thorndon Park, and suspended from the bough of an oak, she 

 attracted, within a quarter of an hour (10.15 a.m.), one 3-, who 

 dashed round her twice and vanished. She received no other visitor 

 during the four hours I watched her. Fuinea casta : A 2 exposed on 

 Thundersley Common was paired with a wild <y within five minutes 

 of my putting her down. Zenzera pyrina: A flattened out specimen, 

 that looked as if a cart wheel had been over it, was seen in Southend 

 on July 18th. Epiblema caecimaculana was netted at Benfleet on 

 July 28th. Olethrestes semifasciana : bred from sallow at Thundersley 

 on July 30th. Dichrorampha simpliciana : Bred August 20th out of 

 mugwort brought from Shoeburyness on April 1st. Trichiura 

 crataegi : A series commenced to emerge on September 2nd from 

 Shoeburyness larvae. Cochlidion limacodes {avellana) : Three larvse, 

 each on the underside of an oak leaf, in a wood near Hadleigh, on 

 September 9th. — F. G. Whittle, 7, Marine Avenue, Southend. 

 September 9th, 1906. 



Phryxus livornica and Laphygma exigua at Bournemouth. — I 

 was fortunate enough to take a nice specimen of Phryxus livornica 

 here last June. I also have a batch of larvse of Laphygma exigua, now 

 feeding, from ova obtained from a female taken by Mrs. Hooker, of 

 this town, in August.— Percy M. Bright, Chunar, Landsdowne Road, 

 Bournemouth. September 26th, 1906. 



Pyrameis cardui in north Devon. — I have never found this butterfly 

 in any numbers in this district during the ten summers I have been 

 here, but this year it has been more common than usual. I saw the first 

 on June 3rd, and several others for a few days afterwards, all wasted, 

 but from August 1st to the 20th I saw it every day, when there was 

 any sunshine, and, on the 2nd, at least a dozen flying in our garden, all 

 in good condition. Plusia gamma, which I have often found usually 

 abundant in cardui years, has been very scarce here this year, both 

 with the spring and autumn broods. — T. W. Briggs, M.A., F.E.S., 

 Rock House, Lynmouth, R.S.O., South Devon. Sejjtember 24:th, 1906. 



Acidalia marginepunctata in Lewisham. — It is remarkable how 

 this species still maintains itself in the wilderness of bricks and 

 mortar that has grown up in the southeast suburban districts of 

 London. On the afternoon of September 20th I picked up a male 

 in first class condition on the brick wall in front of one of the houses 

 in Gilmore Road, Lewisham, and in the evening saw two other speci- 

 mens on a lamp, within 200 yards of the same place. — J. W. Tutt. 

 September 22nd, 1906. 



Pyrameis cardui at Warkworth. — I would like to record the 



