NOTES ON COLLECTINCi. 



91 



Jg^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Melanio Arctia caja. — In the first week in May, 1918, my friend 

 Mr. Cliarles Oliver, linesman on the Midland Railway, who collects 

 the large and more showy British Lepidoptera and the large foreign 

 Silk-worm Moths, found a fine batch of A. caja larvfe about full fed 

 and they all pupated a few days after they were taken. He kindly 

 gave me about a dozen pupfe ; the first imago emerged on June 6th, 

 and they continued to emerge until June 20th, and all were normal 

 specimens. I got one small batch of ova from a 2 that paired up. 

 These proved fertile, part of the larvae fed up quickly and pupated. 

 On looking into my breeding cage at mid-day on October 11th there 

 were no imagines out, but on looking into the cage in the evening I 

 found that two had emerged, both types, and one melanic specimen, 

 but I am sorry to say that this last one had not got clear from the 

 pupa case with the points of the forewings which has somewhat 

 crippled it. However;, by spending some time over it, I have made it 

 worth keeping for my collection. The remainder continued to emerge 

 until October 23rd. Part of the larvae are hibernating. I also ob- 

 tained a batch of ova from the second brood which produced the 

 melanic specimen, and I hope to get some of the third brood through 

 until breeding time in spring. — William Daws, 89, Wood Street, 

 Mansfield, NoUs. 



The Dragon-fly season, 1918. — For several years I have been 

 ■ trying to form a collection of Dragon-fiies as a side line ; I have at 

 times had fair luck with them when Lepidoptera were not much in 

 evidence, but I think that 1918 was the worst season that I have ex- 

 perienced since I collected Dragon-flies. I have traversed more likely 

 places this season, 1918, both in the County of Notts and in that of 

 Derby than I have done in previous years, but with less luck, I 

 walked miles along stream sides and ponds in Derbyshire but neve* 

 saw traces of a single specimen, either large or small. In Notts I 

 only saw one species and that was jJ^scluia juncea. I saw one on two 

 different days on the freshly watered street, but whether they were 

 different specimens or the same insect I cannot of course say for cer- 

 'tain. My son brought me another specimen oi JE. jancea caught in 

 the moulding shop of a local foundry, another specimen boarded a 

 tram-car without paying his fare, to the fright of the passengers, but 

 the conductor knowing it could not harm him, quickly made him a 

 prisoner and he has now got his ticket in my collection. My son says 

 that on his fishing excursions to the Trent at Fiskerton during 1918 

 Calo/iteryx ftplendevs occurred in hundreds along the river side; they 

 could be easily taken with their fluttering feeble flight, but he did not 

 trouble to take any, my series being complete of Nottinghamshire 

 "^specimens. — William Daws. Febmary llth, 1919. 



Notes from Bexley. — Here the lateness of the spring has been a 

 record. The weather for the last fortnight was characterised by rain, 

 hail, snow and frost, with hardly any sun. The first blackthorn in 

 bloom was seen on April 30th. Dimorpha veraicolora is still emerging 

 in my cages. As yet I have seen no sign of Celastrina argioltis on the 

 wing. The only butterfly (not hibernated) so far seen was one Fieris 



