170 [August, 



sufficiently well defined to be " three above the pale lowest line, and 

 two below it on each segment," 



The caterpillars, when about half grown, of which I had a few 

 specimens, were of a more olive tint, which is stated to be a distinction 

 from those of L. cespitis, and the more general habit of not curling up 

 on annoyance, but throwing the head and about a third of the body 

 back towards the tail was very marked. 



The " Antler," or Grass " moth, is to be found in many parts of 

 England — as noted in Stainton's Manual, vol. i, p. 204 — where about 

 fomrteen localities of observation, ranging from Brighton to the lake 

 districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland are given, and also Edin- 

 burgh in N. B., but the remarkable point of its history is the vast 

 numbers, the myriads, and alsolutely devastating hordes, in which 

 from time to time we are visited in upland or mountainous ground or 

 pasturage, over an area of perhaps as much as ten miles, by an un- 

 foreseen invasion of these bronzy, pale-striped caterpillars. The first 

 outbreak which I was personally acquainted with was that of June, 

 1884, when the caterpillars swarmed over an area of about ten miles 

 diameter, running east and west, and not much less north and south, 

 in Glamorganshire. The details of this I gave in my Annual Report 

 for 1884, but it may be mentioned that the mountains of Tstrath-y- 

 Eodwg (about ten miles north of Bridgend) were then infested by 

 myriads of the caterpillars, devouring every green thing, leaving the 

 mountains brown behind them, and others (and numerous neighbouring 

 localities) specified were well-nigh overwhelmed. 



In the following year (1885) the " Antler " moth caterpillars 

 appeared in great numbers in Selkirkshire, destroying in their advance 

 some of the hill pastures in Ettrick and Yarrow, In this case the 

 extent of attacked country was shown by a line on a map enclosing 

 an area of about seven miles by five miles, in the west of Selkirkshire, 

 with Ettrick Water running down the middle. 



In the present attack the area, judging by the reports received, is 

 somewhat more extended, and there are one or two points about it 

 which may prove of interest for investigation. 



One of these is, the extent to which parasitism may be helping 

 us against recurrence of the attack. It has been mentioned to me by 

 one of my correspondents, writing from the area of infestation, that 

 on cutting open the G. graminis caterpillars he found as many as 

 " three or four hair worms within them, and in two cases maggots," 

 and that out of a hundred grubs he had only got three chrysalids. 

 This matter might be of considerable interest to follow up, and I am 



