1S93.] 



191 



found it common, and it wants a deal of finding, as it hides itself in the cracks of 

 the bark, where I have no doubt the larvae feed.— Samukl Stevens, Loanda, 61, 

 Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood : July 8tk, 1893. 



Coccyx Ochsenheimeriana at Waltham Cross— On my return from town (May 1st) 

 my little boy Alfred showed me a moth which he had taken during the day in the 

 garden. It has since been identified by Mr. Barrett as Coccyx Ochsenheimeriana. 

 So far as I know there is not a spruce fir within a quarter of a mile, but there was 

 a plant of Ficea pinsapo within a few yards. The wings were hardly dry when the 

 insect was caught, so that it must have fed close at hand.— W. C. Boyd, The Grange, 

 Waltham Cross : July, 1893. 



The food-plant of Argyrolepia Baumanniana.— In reference to Mr. A. H. 

 Hamm's note on page 166, I think it may be regarded, not only as " probable," but 

 as almost certain, that Scabiosa succisa is the ordinary food-plant of the larva of A. 

 Baumanniana in this country, for, in addition to the fact that the insect seems only 

 to occur with us where that plant is abundant, Sorhagen, in his " Kleinschmetter- 

 linge der Mark Brandenburg," states, on the authority of A. Stange, that the larva 

 is to be found in the rootstock of Scabiosa ochroleuca from autumn till spring. In 

 fact, so sure have I felt for the last few years that the larva in Britain must feed in 

 the rootstock of Scabiosa succisa, that, with so many other " fish to fry," I have 

 never given up the time required for proving it, though it would be advisable to do 

 so. — Eustace K. Bankes, The Keclory, Corfe Castle : July \Oth, 1893. 



Early Lepidoptera.— In an exceptionally early season like the present, one is 

 natuially prepared for surprises, but I hardly expected to meet with all of the 

 following when collecting on a warm and sheltered piece of undercliff on our Purbeck 

 coast on May 31st :— one Vanessa urticce, evidently fresh from the pupa ; Melanargia 

 Galatea, a few males in splendid condition ; three or four Epinephele Janira ; Hes- 

 peria ActcBon, plentiful (from their numbers and the already worn condition of some 

 of them, it seemed probable that the imagines must have begun to emerge about 

 ten days previously !) ; one Acidalia marginepunctata ; two or three Eubolia bi- 

 punctaria ; one Odontia dentalis ; Ebulea crocealis, not uncommon ; Scoparia 

 dubitalis ; Platytes cerussellus ; one Homceosoma nimhella ; one Penthina gentiana ; 

 one Aspis Udmanniana ; Ephippiphora cirsiana, not uncommon ; two Dichro- 

 rhampha acuminatana ; four D. senectana, taken amongst Chrysanthemum leucanthe- 

 mum, in the roots of which the larvae evidently feed in that locality ; one Eupoecilia 

 atricapitana ; Ptocheuusa inopella, not uncommon ; one Pt. subocellea ; Anacampsis 

 anthyllidella ; one Coleophora discordella ; two C. conyzcB ; one C. troglodytella ; 

 Elachista pollinariella ; three Oxyptilus teucrii ; one Aciptilia baliodactyla ; and 

 one A. pentadactyla. No doubt many more might have been added, but as my 

 whole time and attention were devoted to working for D. senectana, I only netted 

 such other insects as crossed my path. — Id. : July Wth, 1893. 



Hemiptera near Oxford. — I have to record the following Hemiptera from Bagley 

 Wood, in the immediate neighbourhood of Oxford, during the present year. Centro- 

 tus cornutus, Linn., common, by beating young oaks in the evening ; I have taken this 



R 1! 



