NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 247 



in so short a time. This also establishes a new Reading locality for 

 C. pyralina. Last week, in company with Mr. Holland, I had two fairly 

 good nights ; we took between fifty and sixty Xanthia citrago by sugaring 

 limes, and also had the good fortune to add Charceas graminis to the already 

 long Reading list. Saturday I tried for X. aurago at Henley, but failed : 

 sugar did not draw. It was also full early for X. aurago. I, however, got 

 one Stauropus fagi larva by searching the beech after dark with my light. — 

 J. Clakke; Reading, Sept. 15, 1891. 



Ageotis bavida at Chinnok. — During the past season I have taken 

 six specimens of this species at sugar, five of them on the hill-slopes and 

 the other in my garden. In an entomological contemporary, the editor 

 has recently referred to this species as being " exceedingly rare " of late 

 years. Entomologists will therefore be probably interested in knowing that 

 in 1888 I caught about sixty specimens at sugar in Essex. Specimens 

 taken by me at that time have been distributed into many collections in the 

 country. — A. J. Spiller ; Chinnor. 



Larv^ at Chinnor. — On Aug. 10th, I took a full-fed larva of A. alni 

 in the High Street of Chinnor ; it spun up in a piece of raspberry-cane. 

 Subsequently I took a second specimen, which died. Of Stauropus fagi, I 

 found four examples by hard beating. I visited a locality for A^. cucuUina 

 at some distance, and took twenty-seven larvae during a short afternoon's 

 work. A. aceris larvae have been plentiful on horse-chestnut trees ; they 

 are brought to me by boys, who dislodge the larvse whilst throwing at the 

 chestnuts. Smerintlms ocellatus, S. jpopuli, S. tilicB, and Sphinx ligustri all 

 occurred as larvae in my garden. On the beech, D. coryli, H. prasinana, 

 E. trilinearia, A. hetularia, S. illustraria, and N. camelina were fairly 

 common ; 1 reared three broods of this latter insect on apple, B. con- 

 sonar ia on birch, and a large number of S. carpini on raspberry in the 

 garden. E. lanestris larv» have been plentiful in confinement ; they fed 

 well on plum. — A. J. Spiller ; Chinnor, Oxon. 



Argynnis paphia vak. valesina near Lynmouth. — While collecting 

 near Lynmouth, at the beginning of this month, I took a specimen of the 

 above variety. It was sadly battered, and was taken sunning itself on some 

 brambles. Is it usual to find it in this part of the country ? — Ernest B. 

 Charles; Glen Lyn, Lynmouth, North Devon, Sept. 22, 1891. 



A Day at Tuddenham. — On the 14th of August last I went, with 

 Mr. MacLachlan and Mr. Albert Houghton, to Tuddenham, where I 

 obtained between forty and fifty larvae of Dianthcecia irregularis in a very 

 short time. Full-grown larvae of Lithostege griseata were abundant. We 

 also secured five or six larvae of Heliothis dipsacea on Silene otites, when 

 looking for Dianthcecia, and a number of those of Hecatera serena. One 

 very small larva of Anticlea sinuata, found on bedstravv, since grown into a 

 beautiful creature, I was especially pleased to get, as I had not seen the 

 caterpillar of this species before. — Geo. T. Poreitx ; Greenfield House, 

 Huddersfield. [The very different experience Mr. Porritt and myself had 

 at Tuddenham (v/c/y Entom. 221) is, perhaps, only what might be expected, 

 seeing how diverse the conditions were under which we respectively 

 worked. Where such a course is practicable, it would be well to secure the 

 services of a local collector, when we have but a day to devote to any noted 

 locality, which, to us, may be terra incognita. — Ed.] 



