112 . [October, 



Deilephila galii at Deal. — From August 11th to September let last, I spent at 

 Deal, the first fortnight in company with Mr. G. C. Dennis, of York ; and during 

 the three weeks the Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, and Orthoptera received a consider- 

 able share of attention. Mr. J. W. Tutt was also there during our first week, and 

 to his kindness in showing us all the localities for the various species of Lepidoptera 

 we were greatly indebted. But it was not until August 29th, when Mr. W. H. 

 Tugwell came down with the intelligence that a number of Deilephila galii had been 

 taken in the neighbourhood during July, and tbat he intended to search for the 

 larvae, that it had occurred to me it might be worth while to look for them. During 

 the afternoon of next day we made a search, when I had the satisfaction of finding 

 four larvse of galii, though on that occasion only those of Choerocampa porcellus 

 and Macroglossa stellatarum fell to my friend's lot. Next day, the 31st, we made 

 a closer search, and before evening had taken between us nineteen more galii larvse, 

 nine of which occurred to myself, and ten to Mr. Tugwell. I was very sorry to have 

 to leave Deal early next morning, but Mr. Tugwell intended to remain for some 

 time, and he no doubt will have a satisfactory " reckoning " with galii! 



Other Lepidopterists were also at Deal, and since my return home I have learnt 

 that fully 170 larvse were taken among us during my stay. The larvse varied very 

 much in size and appearance, some being apparently full-fed, others quite small. 

 They seemed equally at home on both the white and yellow bedstraws, and were 

 almost invariably found quite exposed on the top of the (usually) more isolated 

 plants. My thirteen larvse are so far doing well, and I hope next summer to breed 

 from them a nice series of this beautiful moth. 



The ordinary Lepidopterous fauna of Deal is so well known that nothing need 

 be added about it ; beyond allusion to the vast hordes of Plusia gamma which 

 occurred, and anything approaching which, as seen in St. Margaret's Bay, I had 

 never before experienced : they were in thousands, and on disturbing the flowers at 

 dusk, they flew up, as Mr. Dennis remarked, "like flies from a piece of meat ;" their 

 larvse appeared also to be still feeding on everything, so that they are likely to be on 

 the wing for some time yet. 



Vanessa cardui was just getting out when we left, but we did not see indica- 

 tions of the larvse having been as plentiful as the abundance of the hibernated 

 spring specimens of the butterfly had led us to anticipate. 



A few notes on the Neuroptera and Orthoptera I will reserve for a future 

 number. — Geo. T. Poebitt, Huddersfield : September 6th, 1888. 



Deilephila galii larvce on the South-East coast of Kent. — The imagines of this 

 beautiful and generally rare species in this country have tdiis year been reported 

 from many of our English counties, at Co. Dublin, Ireland, and from Dundee, 

 Scotland, so that I hoped the larvse might probably be found in the autumn on some 

 of its old haunts, viz., Deal sandhills, where, some thirty years since, the late 

 Dr. Boswell (John T. Boswell Syme) found them pretty freely. I have just returned 

 from Deal, where I spent three weeks, and have given a lot of time to the search for 

 this larva. My hunting extended from St. Margaret's Bay on the West, to Pegwell 

 Bay on the North, a coast line of some 22 miles. Deilephila galii larva? were found 

 over the whole area, comprising as well inland four or five miles from the sea. Given 



