NOTES ON COLLECTING. 75 



:ig^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



ToRTRIX VIRIDANA AND HiBERNIA DEFOLTARIA AT LeATHERHEAD. In 



May, 1918, most of the oak trees around Leatherhead, and all the way 

 down to Brighton, were defoliated by Tortrix viridana and IJibernia 

 defoliaria larvfe, and the latter were also abundant on hazel and other 

 trees. A friend who was with me in the wood at Box Hill thought it 

 was beginning to rain, and it was not until I held out my net that I 

 could convince him that the sound was only the excreta of the larvae 

 falling on leaves of the undergrowth. 



I have just come across Dr. Chapman's note [Ent. Record, Vol. XXX., 

 pp. 136-7) with regard to the larvjs of T. viridana pupating in the 

 crevices of the bark of a single tree, and I am wondering if what I 

 observed at a wood near Leatherhead will account for it. 



About 30 yards from the edge of the wood on the N.E. corner was 

 a solitary oak, which was feeling the full force of a stiff S.W. wind 

 down two sides of the wood. The tree was quite bare of leaves, and 

 from the branches were hanging large numbers of T. viridana larvae on 

 their silken threads, which were blown backward and forward by the 

 wind, so that quite a number were getting a foothold on the bark, 

 some however reached the ground. Whether these eventually crawled 

 back to the trunk or spun up in the undergrowth I cannot say, but on 

 visiting the tree a few days later the trunk was a mass of cocoons, and 

 I took a few home to make sure of my identification. 



It has always puzzled me why in certain years we get this 

 abundance of a particular species all over the S.E. counties. Has it 

 anything to do with the weather. In the Spring of 1918 we had a 

 remarkably long spell of dry weather, which possibly may account for 

 it, a wet season being notoriously fatal to iarvte. — C. W. Colthrup. 

 Februanj, 1919. 



Paired Lepidoptera in flight, 1918. — At last I get an opportunity 

 to give a list of observations made last year of the carrying habits of 

 butterflies when paired. 



Ariciai)iedon{astrarche)... June 1st, 1 pair, ^ carrying J , Leatherhead. 

 Epinephele jurtina ... July 6th, 3 pairs, 5 carrj-ing ^. 

 „ „ ... July 6th, 3 pairs, ? carrying g- . 



„ „ ... July 7th, 2 pairs, ? carrying <?, Mickleham. 



Epinephele tithonus , ... July 27th, 1 pair, 2 carrying ^, Bourne- 

 mouth. 

 „ „ ... July 29th, 1 pair, 2 carrying ^ , Swanage. 



Agriades coridon ... August 3rd, 1 pair, g- carrying 2 , Swanage. 



Polyommatus icarus ... August 7th, 1 pair, g carrying 2 , Bourne- 

 mouth. 

 „ „ ... September 1st, 1 pair, ^ carrying 2j 



Leatherhead. 

 Hipparchia semele ... August 7th, 1 pair, 2 carrying (^ , Bourne- 



mouth. 

 I have just come across the following in my old notebooks, and 

 not previously recorded. 



Agriades coridon ... September 8th, 1909,1 pair, <? carrying 2 • 



„ „ ... September 11th, 1909,1 pair, (^ carrying 2- 



„ „ ... September 24th, 1909, 1 pair, J" carrying 2 • 



