1898] 199 



BIANTHCECIA LUTE AGO, vak. BARRETTII, and FOLIA 

 XANTHOMISTA IN COENWALL. 



BY ALFEED FICKLIN. 



In the early summer of 189V I was sketcliing in one of the many fishmg coves 

 of the Land's End District, when my interest was aroused on seeing the luxuriant 

 growth of the Silene maritima, which hung in masses of flowers from every crevice 

 in the rocky wall of the garden of my lodgings. As much time as can be spared 

 from Art I devote on these occasions to Entomology, and as dusk fell and the brush 

 was laid aside, the net was unfolded, and I stood, motionless and expectant, before 

 the breadth of blossom which exhaled its delicate perfume on the evening air. I 

 took amongst many of the commoner species four specimens of a moth that was new 

 to me, and which proved, on being referred to Mr. Barrett, to be identical with the 

 Noctua which bears his name, but of a brown-grey form not previously observed in 

 this country. 



Early in June of this year I again visited the locality, and although I worked 

 the flowers diligently evei'y evening during my stay, I took but four worn specimens, 

 the first on June 10th (a week after my arrival), and the last on the 27th, this speci- 

 men being the most perfect of the four. All were taken between 10 and 11 p.m., at 

 which last hour I usually " turned in." " Early to bed and early to rise " being the 

 invariable custom of the fisher-folk of this district, I was unwilling to disturb the 

 household, or I might possibly, by working through the night, have taken more 

 specimens. D. conspersa was on the wing quite early enough in the evening for me 

 to observe the markings on its wings, but I never caught sight of D. Barrettii until 

 it was too dark to identify it without the use of the lantern. Of course, on this 

 wild coast, many nights, even in June, were unproductive, the high wind, which is 

 rarely still in this rough quarter of the land, lashes the blossom to such an extent 

 that the eye can with difficulty follow the movements of any moth hurrying past or 

 entangled amongst the flowers. One's patience is sorely tried also by the swarm of 

 P. gamma passing over the bloom from daylight until far into the night ; the later 

 arrivals must in almost every instance be taken, lest Barrettii should be amongst 

 them. It is, however, not necessary to bestow more than a glance at the long-legged 

 gamma scrambling up the net before freeing it, the rarer moth always hanging 

 motionless with folded wings. There is, to my mind, a fascination in standing before 

 a sheet of the starlike white blossom in the growing darkness, not knowing what the 

 next moment may reveal to one's gaze, which all who have tried this mode of capture 

 will have felt ; but in dangerous localities I confess to a somewhat eerie sensation 

 when alone on the cliff side with the distant thunder of the surf beating in measured 

 cadences against the granite promontories of the Land's End, and in calm weather 

 when the dreaded sea fog is rolling landwards, and the boom of the warning signal 

 from the " Longships " heard at intervals adds to the mysterious noises of the night. 



Before leaving the District in 1897 I gathered and took home with me a quantity 

 of Silene flowers in the hope of finding young larvae in the capsules, and I was not 

 disappointed, for a number of young D. conspersa larvae matured and became pupae 

 in due course. Moths began to emerge from these about the middle of last June, 

 and have continued to do so until a fortnight ago, the last emergence being on July 

 31st; a number of these pupae are still alive in the cage, and side by side with these 



