214 [September, 



ziella to a place in the British list rested solely and entirely on the single moth in 

 Mr. Stainton's cabinet. Having again examined it just recently, I can confidently 

 state that it is a genuine G. celerella, Doug., and quite distinct from the true 

 strelitziella, H.-S., of which there is a beautiful series in the Stainton collection of 

 continental Tineina. As Lita strelitziella seems never to have occurred in Britain, 

 the name must now disappear from our lists. Lord Walsingham fully agrees with 

 me in the matter. — Id. : July 25th, 1893. 



Ifote on Hesperia Actfeon. — As Mr. C. W. Dale, on p. 164 of the current volume 

 of this Magazine, refers to " the second brood " of H. Actceon, it would be very 

 interesting to know if there is any proof of the existence of a second brood in this 

 country. As my whole life (with the exception of the intervals due to temporary 

 absence from home) has been spent within a five minutes' walk of one of the haunts 

 of the "Lulworth Skipper," and in the very centre of the best district for it, T can 

 claim a very close acquaintance with it ; and yet, although I have taken it on May 

 31st (and know that it was out several days earlier!) in an exceptionally early year 

 (1893) and locality, as well as on September 8th in a very backward season (1888) 

 and later spot, all my experience tends to show that there is onli/ one long brood. 

 If there are two, it is strange that there is no diminution of their numbers in the 

 middle of the summer, still more strange that neither I, nor any one else whom I 

 know, can, in spite of repeated efforts, find any trace whatever of the larvae of the 

 second brood, although those of the first brood may be collected freely, and of very 

 various sizes, at any time in the latter part of the spring and in early summer ! 

 The sketch of the life-history as given by Mr. Dale on p. 218 of his " History of our 

 British Butterflies" (recently published as a supplement to the " Young Naturalist"), 

 is rather difiicult to follow, for he thinks (1) that there are two broods, one in June 

 the other in August ; (2) that from the eggs laid in June the larvse feed up before 

 ■winter, and hibernate in the chrysalis state ; and (3) that from the eggs laid in July 

 and August the larvae hibernate small, feed up in spring, being full-fed in the middle 

 or end of June, and remain about a fortnight in the chrysalis state. But, if the 

 June eggs produce butterflies in the following June, and the July and August eggs 

 uppeav &s imagines in the first half of the following July, how can there be any 

 second brood, and what is the history of the August butterflies ? I cannot believe 

 that with us the species ever " hibernates in the chrysalis state," and know of no 

 facts that support the idea of the larvae hibernating as such. 



As regards the food of the larvae, in his " History of our British Butterflies," 

 Mr. Dale, while naming three other grasses, makes no mention of Brachypodium 

 pinnatum, which is the one and only known food-plant of S. Actceon in Britain. 

 Those that he gives are (1) Brachypodium sylvaticum, but Mr. Buckler's error in at 

 first identifying B. pinnatum as its ally was pointed out in Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xxv, 

 p. 283 ; (2) Triticum repens, upon which Mr. Buckler fed it in confinement ; and (3) 

 Calamagrostis epigejos, on which Professor Zeller found the larvae in Austria. — Id. : 

 July 19th, 1893. 



The Plague of Wasps. — From the accounts given in the newspapers it appears 

 that wasps are very numerous in many counties this season, but I should doubt 

 whether they can anywhere be more abundant than in this district. By the end of 



