260 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



remember rightly, Miss Ormerod prescribed this, long ago, in her 

 admirable book on Injurious Insects). 



(2). The crop should be destroyed (ploughed in) upon the 

 first appearance of the caterpillar. 



(3). Insecticides, whether in liquid or powdered form, appear 

 to be, in this case, of very doubtful value ; they are expensive, 

 and liable to be washed off by the first shower of rain. Besides, 

 the caterpillars are often on the under sides of the leaves. In 

 short, while Nature's battalions may be depended upon to make 

 the attack in force, man's part would seem to lie more in the 

 cutting off of supplies. 



Chester, October 12, 1891. 



CAPTUEES AT THE ELECTBIO LIGHT. 



By Eobekt Adkin, F.E.S. 



On the 8 th of September last I visited the Koyal Naval 

 Exhibition at Chelsea. The day was hot, and the evening one 

 of the few that we have been favoured with during the past 

 summer, when one could sit out-of-doors with impunity. By 

 eight o'clock darkness had set in, and the powerful electric arc- 

 lamps, by which the grounds are illuminated, having been turned 

 on, I fully expected to see moths circling round them in some 

 numbers ; but to my surprise they were conspicuous by their 

 absence, and during an hour that I was walking about the grounds 

 only some two or three were seen. About nine o'clock I ascended 

 the lighthouse, and on reaching the outer gallery surrounding the 

 light my eye at once fell upon a moth sitting upon the glass, then 

 another, and another, until upon further examination the place 

 seemed alive with them ; numbers were circling round in the air, 

 others lay trampled under the feet of the crowd of people that 

 were walking about the gallery, while others rested, apparently 

 asleep, upon the glass ; and this, too, undermost adverse circum- 

 stances, for, although it appeared to be quite calm while walking 

 on the ground, a gentle breeze was blowing at this elevation, and 

 setting in a direct line from the chimneys of the tier of boilers 

 used for driving the electric machinery, brought with it hot 

 sulphurous fumes that made the air almost unbearable. The 

 species that appeared to be most common were, as one might 

 expect in such a locality, Triphana pronuha and Plusia gamma, 

 but, not being prepared with the necessary paraphernalia for an 

 entomological expedition, I was unable to make any large number 

 of captures. As, however, I happened to have three small boxes 

 in my pocket, I filled them at random from the moths that were 

 sitting on the glass ; these, upon subsequent examination, proved 

 to be Drepana hinaria, Plusia gamma, and Pionea forficalis. One 



