NOTES ON COLLECTING. 



183 



But so far I have heard of nothing very remarkable in the way of 

 aberration. — H.J.T. August 10th. 



Abundance of Agriades coridon. — I have never seen such huge 

 quantities of Af/riades coridon, and as for varieties, I have not seen the 

 like. The species was full out in mid-July, and no doubt could have 

 been taken at the end of June. Now (August 27th) they are worn to 

 shreds and practically all over. Ab. semisyngrapha was so common 

 that on one occasion I had three in my net at once. — C. P. Pickett. 



The Abundance of " Whites." — Many reports have come to hand 

 of the abundance of our three common Pierids, Pieris brassicae, P. 

 rapae and P. oictjn, in many parts of the south-east, of the country, 

 but further west the numbers do not appear to be above what is 

 normal for this time of year.* Even in the city streets one sees them. 

 A few days ago a specimen of,P. brassicae was careering about Holborn 

 in strong flight, and finally essayed to enter a shop, choosing, strange 

 to say, that of Messrs. Carter, the well-known nurserymen. In some 

 parts they have been very prone to drink, settling on patches of 

 moisture a dozen or twenty together, following the water-cart, congre- 

 gating on bare patches in the chalk downs, etc. — H.J.T. August 12f/i. 



Gortyna ochracba feeding in potato-stems.— -The larvaB of this 

 species, which generally lives in the stems of the thistle, have this year 

 been met with feeding in potato-stems. The late C. G. Barrett {Lep. 

 Brit. Isles) says that it had been reported as attacking potatoes. Query. 

 When and where are the ova laid ? — H.J.T. August 18th. 



A previously unnoted (?) aberration of Argynnis cydippe (adippe). 

 — A short time ago, while browsing in my duplicate boxes to see if 

 aught noteworthy could be found there, I came across a form of 

 aberration which I had not seen before and of which I could find no 

 mention in the various authorities I consulted. The aberration con- 

 sisted of the presence of silvery points in several of the large round 

 black spots which lie across the post-discal area of the underside of 

 the forewings. The character was present on both forewings. The 

 specimen came from Pre St. Didier, on the southern side of the Alps, 

 a place noted for brilliantly coloured races of several species besides 

 that of A. cydippe. When the specimen was shown at the South 

 London Entomological Society's Meeting on July 26th, no one there 

 had seen this aberration, but at the subsequent meeting on August 9th, 

 Mr. B. Adkin exhibited a British specimen, taken this year in Kent, 

 which showed similar aberration. — H.J.T. August 12tJi. 



The great abundance of Agriades coridon near Stroud. — Visiting 

 a habitat of this species on a hill overlooking this town on the after- 

 noon of August 4th, I met with the insect in the utmost profusion, 

 the males literally swarming nearly everywhere on the high ground, 

 but the most striking sight was the congregating of this sex in closely 

 packed bunches in places, not invariably the dampest, on the hill 

 paths, on the escarpment of the bank, occasionally in an overhanging 

 situation, and on the cattle droppings. These assemblies, in one or 

 two instances, must have numbered quite a hundred, probably more, 

 while smaller parties of forty or fifty were of frequent occurrence. As 

 the weather was cloudy and what is termed " close," much rain having 



* P. brassicae and P. rapae were in abnormal numbers at Guildford in late 

 July, and still more so at Camberley. — G.W. 



