﻿364 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



are not common ornaments to a sea-side costume, and our hostess 

 viewed these auxiliaries in the art of fascination with some curiosity. 

 Every evening we sallied forth with these additions to our personal 

 appearance. We had two sugaring grounds, and they had the 

 advantage of being near at hand. No. 1 began at the large white 

 hotel, a few hundred yards away on the road to the railway- 

 station, and occupied some years ago by a religious community, 

 but since untenanted. The deep silent doorways of this lonely 

 building were convenient shelters in the rain, until we were 

 informed we were upon forbidden ground. Every succeeding 

 night a sentry was placed upon the premises, and the occasional 

 step we heard through the darkness showed — as they harmoniously 

 sing in ' The Yeoman of the Guard ' — " He kept his solemn 

 watch and ward." From this hotel, along the road at the base 

 of the hills, we sugared everything, — gates, posts, rocks and 

 plants. Our second ground was the sand-hills, only a couple of 

 hundred yards off, and near the sea. Here a line of posts in the 

 fence beyond the railway provided every accommodation for the 

 treacle. The sand-hills are not equal to those of Wallasey. A 

 suspicious-looking mark looks as if much of the ground lay 

 under water in the spring tides. Still there is plenty of vege- 

 tation,— the trefoils, the bedstraws, mullein, fennel, and maritime 

 grass. Farther away, a marsh lies between the sand-hills and 

 the road, with any amount of water-dock, sedge, and willow. 

 Flowers there were, and fit to adorn any garden : — the viper's 

 bugloss, with its host of purple and pink blossoms ; the sea 

 thistle, with its prickly, pale, pea-green leaves and sky-blue 

 flower-balls ; and groves of the tall evening primrose, with its 

 large yellow blooms open to the night. We triedVthe latter at 

 dusk to see if Deilephila galii would turn up, but we^ohlylietted 

 X. monoglypha and Miana bicoloria (furuncula). The night was 

 warm, dark, and threatening for rain. It was now time to examine 

 the sugar, and we found moths in swarms at it. I never saw 

 anything to equal our success. X. monoglypha, in hundreds, 

 showed several beautiful varieties, — the finest, a very light- 

 coloured example, with markings almost black, being now in the 

 collection of Mr. Kerr. The next insect in point of numbers 

 was Hadena oleracea, and it was equally conspicuous for varia- 

 tion. Triphcena pronuba, T. orbona, Leucania lithargyria, L. 

 conigera, X. lithoxylea, came next. We also took several speci- 

 mens of Mamestra albicolon and M. persicarice, Caradrina blanda, 

 Nonagria fulva, and light and dark varieties of Agrotis segetum. 

 The following are our additional lists at sugar : — 



July 18th. — Warm, wet day, with night showers. Thyatira 

 derasa, Cerigo matura (cytherea), M. bicoloria {furuncula), Agrotis 

 lunigera, A.corticea ; X. monoglypha and H. oleracea (nuisances); 

 L. conigera (fine varieties), L. lithargyria, L. pallens, Noctua 



