NOTES ON COLLECTING. 1G5 



:i^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Endromis yersicolok in Reading district. — Kndromi^i versicolor 

 Avas first noticed on IMarch 81st, "when I took a male. On April 8rd I 

 secured another male. The males fly till 3.20 p.m., and will do so 

 without sun if the temperature be suital^le. The largest batch of ova 

 which has come under my notice numbered 188. — J. Clarke, 26, 

 Zinzan Street, Reading, May 2nd, 1899. 



CoLiAs EDUSA AT FOLKESTONE. — This momiug I saw a 3 Colias 

 eduaa flying in a meadow close to the town. — Stuakt (i. Hills, Pubhc 

 Library, Folkestone, INIay 5th, 1S99. 



Food-plants of Trichiura crataegi.- — Trichiiira crataci/i is only 

 found on the moors in Aberdeenshire. The larvii^ are essentially 

 heather feeders, but, like Satiirnia paroiia, Lasiorawjia caUunac, Oniyia 

 fasnliiia, and most other heather feeders, they Avander occasionally, 

 and are to be found on bilberry and low sallow bushes growing on the 

 moors. They readily take to hawthorn in confinement, l)ut I have 

 never known them to feed thereon in a wild state. — A. Horne, F.E.S., 

 Aberdeen, April 24th, 1899. 



Late appearance of sirring insects. — So far insects in this dis- 

 trict are quite a fortnight behind their usual time of appearance. 

 Micropterux .scniijnirpitrcUa is in good condition now (April l8th). Last 

 year it appeared here at the end of March and was quite over by the 

 middle of April. — E. A. Atmore, F.E.S., King's Lynn. 



There is little to report as to spring collecting ; the nights have 

 been so cold that I have only visited the sallows once this year, and 

 insects are generally very backward. Larvte of A(jrotin aijathitia are 

 very rare ; I have only obtained about a dozen by hard sweeping where 

 last year 1 took about 200, and could doubtless have taken numy more 

 had I wished. LaxiacaxijHi (jiierciis, too, are quite a month behind their 

 usual stage, and I have only met so far one larva of Harpipteryx 

 neNiorcUa, on honeysuckle. These should be fullfed, but this was so 

 small as to be hardly visible. So far I have seen only one Ctianiris 

 artjioliis. — E. F. C. Studd, M.A., Oxton, Exeter, May 4th, 1889. 



Spring Lepidoptera near Rennes. — As yet I have done but little 

 field work. On May 10th, however, I went to the forest of Rennes, a 

 locality for A(jlia tail and Vapilio poiJalirius. The latter is rare, and I 

 saw but five examples. I am disposed to think that this species is 

 inclined to disappear in Brittany, and although it is yet found a little 

 to the west of Rennes, it has not been observed in the dept. of Finis- 

 terre. I do not think it exists in the dept. of the C6tes-du-Nord. On 

 the same day ('/iri/sdiilunnis .vaiitJie was flying in the fields in the woods ; 

 of this species I was fortunate in obtaining a superb male, with the 

 spots of the underside united into large black lines or rays. This 

 aberration " punctis nigris confluentibus " occurs in ('. rhrijat'is very 

 frequently in the forest of Compiogne in the middle of June. Aiithro- 

 cera ]>alitstr{s has not yet put in an appearance. The season appears 

 late for lepidoptera in Brittany. In a few days, however, McUtiwa 

 diihjma and .V. partlienic ought to be on the wing. The latter gives 

 here some fine aberrations. I have been rearing a brood of red t'alli- 

 vinrp/ta hcra, which I took at Cancalc, in my garden. I have so far 

 29 larvae which appear to be fullfed. As C. hcra ab. Intcsccns and ab. 

 satiirnina, as well as the red form, fly together in the same locality. I 



