112 LMay, 



Abraxas ulmata. — As this insect is under discussion, I may remai'k that it 

 abounds in the neighbourhood of Bristol in a well-wooded rocky defile, named 

 Brockley Coombe. Here the larva may be seen in the autumn dangling everywhere 

 from the branches of the wych elm, but I have never obtained one from beech, 

 which tree also abounds there, although having frequently beaten the latter for other 

 species at the time when larvae of A. ulmata were plentiful. I have, however, taken 

 a few from hazel, and have subsequently proved that in captivity the larvse will feed 

 on it, although appearing to prefer the wych elm. In the early summer the perfect 

 insect may be seen in pi-ofusion upon the leaves of the dog-mercury in the wood, 

 with wings expanded flat, in which position they bear a very fair superficial resem- 

 blance to a splashed bird's dropping fallen from an overhanging tree. — E.. M. 

 Peideatjx, Ashtoad, Surrey : April IQtJi, 1893. 



Early appearance of spring Lepidoptera. — Satyrus JEgeria is not often to be 

 seen in March, so I take pleasure in recording a specimen that I met with on the 

 31st ulto. on the southern slope of a wooded hill side near Eanmore, Surrey. 

 Within a few yards of the same locality I saw a male AntJiocharis cardamines 

 yesterday (April 9th), and a specimen of Pieris brassicce near Leatherhead on the 

 same day. On March 26th I note Pieris napi, and a single SyricMhus alveolus on a 

 warm sandy back, also near Eanmore, on April 3rd. Tceniocampa stabilis and Cy- 

 matophora flavicornis were met with on March 4th, T. munda on the 6th, and a 

 specimen of Tephrosia crepusoularia on the 18th, near Esher. Yesterday a neigh- 

 bour showed me a specimen of Dicranura bifida, freshly emerged, which he had just 

 taken drying its wings on a poplar-trunk, a few inches from its cocoon, at 6 p.m. — Id. 



P.S. — Since writing the above notes I may add that on April 16th on some warm 

 sunny hill sides near Dorking, I was pleased to observe a specimen each of Argynnis 

 jEuphrosyne, Polyommatus Phlaeas, and Thanaos Tages, three Euchloe cardamines {S), 

 and one or two examples of JEuclidia mi and E. glyphica. On the evening of the 

 same day, Cucullia verbasci and Notodonta canielina were met with at light. In 

 the view of these forward emergencies, the incongruity of seeing Anisopteryx cbscu- 

 laria resting on the same gas lamps is striking. A lady informs me that she picked 

 up a specimen of Smerinthus populi in a road at Croydon on the 10th instant. — 

 Id. : April 19th. 



Arctia Caja feeding on Mercurialis perennis. — The " dog-mercury " is a plant 

 so remarkably exempt from larval attacks that I noted with interest, a few days ago, 

 a small larva of Arctia Caja feeding steadily upon a leaf of it, in the morning 

 sunshine. There were plenty of the more usual food-plants of the larva within its 

 reach. — Id. 



Abraxas ulmata. — J. am very much obliged to Mr. Holland for his hint 

 as to the wych elms among the beeches. In order to verify his suggestion I paid 

 our beech woods a visit on Easter Monday, with the result that a few wych elms 

 were found here and there, sufficient perhaps for Abraxas ulmata to feed upon. 

 This, however, does not alter the fact, that many ulmata larvse were found here on 

 beech last autumn. If it is thought that this was an exceptional circumstance, then 

 the curious deduction has to be drawn that ulmata has a predilection for wych elms 



