72 THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD. 
year. At Wimborne, Dorset, on March 14th, a single specimen of 
Hibernia marginaria {progemmaria), at rest on a lime trunk, was the 
only insect seen. On March 16th, at Bromley, Kent, 4 H. lewcophaearia 
(2 worn), 4 H. marginaria (progemmaria) (2 worn), and a 3 Phigalia 
pedaria (pilosaria), were found at rest on fences. On the Isle of Wight, 
during the nights of April 3rd and 4th, a heavy snowstorm came on, 
and the following morning snow was lying in drifts four feet and six 
feet deep in places, quite an unusual thing in the island, and conse- 
quently no entomological observations were possible. The scarcity of 
potatoes and other vegetables in London led to my trying my hand at 
a little gardening about this time, and enabled me to devote a little 
thought to economic entomology, and to wonder why some insects. 
were on the earth at all, they certainly would not be missed if it were 
possible to exterminate them, but the conclusion I eventually came to. 
was that, while they destroyed some of our food, they in turn fed the 
birds, whose songs were an ample compensation. On April 7th I 
dug up three hunting spiders, which were very lively, one larva of the 
beetle Ocypus olens, two millipedes, and a full fed larva of Triphaena 
pronuba. Unfortunately for the beetle larva I put it in the same tin 
as one of the millipedes, which immediately seized it behind the head 
with its mandibles and carried it off. I also turned up a centipede, 
and various batches of semi-transparent eggs, which I believe were 
those of a slug, but I failed to get them to hatch, as even when they 
were placed in a tin with damp earth, they shrivelled up. 
On April 18th I sawa 3 Apocheima (Biston) hirtaria at rest on a. 
fence at Kast Dulwich. On April 21st [ dug up a larva of Agrotis 
segetum, together with some 7’. pronuba larves, and a millipede half an 
inch long, and another two inches long. As showing the backward- 
ness of the season, almond blossom was only just coming out on April 
25th, whereas in some seasons it is out at the end of February, and I 
do not think I have ever been so pleased to see a swallow as | was on 
this day, when I saw four at Alton, Hants. 
On May Ist I was awakened by the twittering of swallows outside 
my bedroom window, at Petworth, Sussex, to find a glorious day, with 
a cloudless sky. On the way to the station Pieris brassicae, P. rapae, 
Gonepterya rhamnt (3), Aglais urticae, and Celastrina argiolus were seen, 
and I heard that six Hugonia polychloros were taken two days previously. 
IT went on to Midhurst, and in walking through a wood found one 
Taeniocampa pulverulenta (cruda) and two Tephrosia bistortata 2s at 
rest on tree trunks. Both the latter laid ova on the following day (May 
2nd), which hatched on the 15th. The ova and young larve from one ? 
(brown) were quite noticeably smaller than those from the other ? (dark 
grey), the ova of the former were pale cream colour with hardly 
any trace of green, and laid loose in the pillbox, whereas the latter 
were a rich green and laid in strings. I subsequently fed the larve on 
maple. The first pupated on June 18th and the last on June 29th, 
and contrary to my expectations one batch produced only a partial 
second brood, the first imago emerging July 6th, the other none, the 
remainder of the pup going over the winter, with the exception of 
one imago which emerged on December 18th, during a heavy frost, 
but failed to expand its wings. All the emergences were from the dark 
grey ?. During a walk on the Downs, near Brighton, on May 7th,. 
although birds were plentiful, the only insects seen were a few Pieris 
