252 [November, 



COLIAS EDUSA, &c., IN THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY. 

 BY JAMES J. WALKER, E.N., P.L.S., &c. 



In this locality Oolias Edusa has been observed in sufficient 

 numbers to constitute 1898 at least a second-rate "Edusa year." The 

 first specimen of the season (si (^) was noticed by me in a busy part 

 of Chatham Dockyard on August 16th ; and on the 20th it appeared 

 in our Sheppey lucerne-fields, sparingly, it is true, but I find that 

 more than two dozen examples have been taken by the local collectors 

 up to the middle of September. Of those I have seen, some of the 

 females are remarkable as well for their size as for the width of the 

 dark border of the wings, which, in one instance, is almost devoid of 

 the usual pale spots. G. Hyale has not been seen this year, as far as 

 can be ascertained. 



Of the other species which are more or less irregular in their 

 occurrence in Britain, a few Pyrameis cardui were seen by me on our 

 cliffs on June 12th, their worn and travel-stained appearance bearing 

 eloquent testimony to a long flight from more sunny climes ; and, as 

 usual, they were accompanied by Plusia gamma, in equally worn con- 

 dition. The offspring of these immigrants appeared about the third 

 week of August in our lucerne-fields, in abundance and superb con- 

 dition ; and even now stragglers of both species may be seen on 

 bright days. 



Some half dozen specimens of Sphinx convolvuU have fallen 

 into the hands of the collectors here, and I have heard of several 

 having been taken at Chatham. Nearly all seem to have been picked 

 up casually at rest about the middle of September, and most of them 

 are in worn condition. Two fine larvae of Acherontia Atropos — 

 " 'tater-dorgs," as the Sheppey rustics invariably call them — have also 

 been obtained this autumn in the potato fields. 



The floods of last November have proved very disastrous to two 

 of our Sheppey specialities, CUsiocampa castrensis and Acidalia emu- 

 taria, both of which have been exceedingly scarce this year. The 

 eggs of the former species, which are laid in the same manner as those 

 of G. neustria on the stems of salt-marsh plants, were probably 

 washed away, in most cases, into situations quite unsuitable for the 

 larvse ; and the best locality for A. emutaria was totally destroyed by 

 the breaking down of the sea-wall, and its subsequent repair. 



Porthesia cJirysorrJioea has been fairly abundant in all its stages 

 in the locality where it was found last year, and I have seen several 



