NOTES ON COLLECTING. 235 



Etidoria {S.) frequentella, and S. avibigualis, but the Torticina and 

 Tineina have not decorated the bark as they do some years. 

 Lithocolletids were quite scarce both in May and August, but their 

 mines are now abundant. On the 7th Aphomia sociella was found on 

 an oak. It was resting on the bark with its head raised, looking Hke 

 a gigantic Howaeosoma. The only species which appeared in its usual 

 number was Batrachedra ijracancjusta .on the trunks of poplars. On 

 the 10th two fresh specimens of Argyresthia semitestacella were obtained 

 from a hedge, just where a large beech stands, near Combe Down. 

 A. nitidella has been abundant, A. albistria common, and I have taken 

 a few A. semifusca. Here, as in my experience elsewhere, the last 

 species always occurs on whitethorn and I believe this to be its food- 

 plant. The next few days were more or less wet, some of them very 

 wet,' but the 16th was fine and Pier is brassicae, Vanessa io and an 

 V occasional Aglais urticae were revelling in the sunshine while sucking 

 the lilac blossoms of a Buddlea bush in Victoria Park. Later in the 

 month Aglais urticae was a more frequent visitor and one or two 

 Pyrameis atalanta joined in the feast. On this day I saw the first 

 Teras contariiinana, the herald of a multitude. Not liking the look of 

 the sky the next day, I took a walk through some woods near 

 Bathampton and met with'a larva of Acronicta. aim on a beech trunk. 

 It was seeking a place in which to spin up. When later I gave it a 

 Tvine cork in which I had made a large hole it took to it at once. 

 On this occasion I saw little else but beat out a few Crambiis geniculeus 

 from whitethorn. I have often noticed that this species differs from 

 most other Crambi in its habit of resting in bushes rather thanamong 

 grasses. The next day we went for a delightful walk through some 

 very picturesque fields which lead from Glasshouse to Midford. 

 There are some damp spots and the fields look just the places to work 

 in May and June. In the last field there is a stream and a sallow tree and 

 alders on the adjoining Midland Eailway bank. Here I took the first 

 Grapholitha nisella, a grey form with a black dorsal mark. On the 

 worn out sleepers which guard the railway were a few old cases of 

 Fuinea casta, and this is the only place where I have seen them here. 

 The only other Psychid noticed here is Narycia monilifera, a few old 

 cases in two or three localities. On the 20th I was horrified to see 

 some children with a small green net catching the V. io ofl' the Budd- 

 lea, already mentioned. They told me they had caught some "peacocks," 

 and a smaller thing. This was Polygonia c-alhian, which I obtained 

 by "exchange." These children came every fine morning, so F. io be- 

 came a rarity on that bush. The next day I went through the fields 

 again to the G. nisella spot, and obtained two more. One of these 

 was the ab. decorana, and other ab. rhoinbifasciana. liecurvaria citier- 

 ella was also found, settled on long grass. At Bathford, on the 22nd, 

 Platyptilia gonodactyla occurred, and a larva of Nisoniades tages, firmly 

 spun up on the edge of a coltsfoot leaf, evidently intended passing the 

 winter in this retreat, when I unfortunately disturbed it. The moth 

 of that afternoon was Ortholitha (Eubolia) limitata, which flew 

 abundantly out of the herbage. On the 27th, Pyralis farinalis and 

 Hepialus s^/lvinus were noticed in Bath. — Alfred Sich. September 

 28th, 1917.' 



Dates and Kecokds. — In a garden at Putney I noted the following 

 species first on the dates mentioned. Fieris rapae, May 2nd ; Celas- 



