NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 



369 



during the afternoon of that day they separated, and the female deposited a 

 few ova. I placed the box on one side, intending to take out the insects 

 when a few more ova were laid. On Wednesday I looked at them, and was 

 very much surprised to find that they had coupled again. Since the second 

 coupling the female has laid about 150 to 200 eggs. Is it not unusual for 

 the same pair of insects to coplulate twice ? — J. N. Young ; 85, Fitzwilliam 

 Road, Rotherham. 



Larva of Odontoptera bidentata. — I should like to suggest that 

 the larva mentioned by Mr. Christy (Entom. 246) is probably that of 

 Odontoptera bidentata, as I have known larvae of this species vary much in 

 the direction of that which he describes. It is certainly a disappointment 

 to breed nothing but a typical 0. bidentata from such a striking creature. — 

 R. M. Pkideaux. 



Note on Hesperta thaumas. — Newman, in his ' Natural History of 

 Bvitish BntterQies,' speaking of Hesperia thaumas {linea), says: — "It . . . 

 has mysteriously disappeared from many places where it was formerly 

 common." A particularly striking instance of this has come under my 

 notice lately. I discovered H. thaumas in a field here in 1888 ; it was 

 then extremely abundant ; it was equally common at the end of June and 

 the beginning of July in 1889, but for the last two years I have not turned 

 up a solitary specimen, although I have frequently visited the locality. I 

 have caught .H. sylvanus, which I discovered there at the same time, every 

 year. This disappearance of H. thaumas is to me quite unaccountable ; 

 I certainly have not exterminated it, as I did not take more than thirty or 

 forty specimens altogether. — Henry D. Stkes : The Cedars, Enfield, 

 Middlesex, Sept. 14, 1891. 



Larva of Hadena pist. — I have had two larvse of Hadena pisi, which 

 were found feeding on the common bracken in South Wales ; they will also 

 feed on Aspidium filix-mas, and I have seen this larva also on dwarf 

 sallows, but cannot certify they feed thereon. — T. B. Jefferys. 



Notes on some Lepidoptera. in York District. — Nudaria senex. — 

 This insect, like Phibalapteryx lignata, has not been so numerous with us 

 of late years (and doubtless from the same cause). The evenings on which 

 I have found it most abundant are those ushered in by a good shower of 

 rain, especially if there be a slight mist rising from the ground. It is 

 easily taken, as it flies slowly over the tops of the reeds, grasses, &c., or 

 ascending the grass-stems. It does not long remain in good condition, 

 and unfortunately, like many other species, flies most abundantly when 

 getting worn. After its flight, which lasts but a short time, it may be 

 taken not uncommonly at rest on the sedges. On a favourable evening 

 from 40 to 50 or 00 specimens may be taken before dark by one collector. 



Orthosia suspecta at York, season 1891. — This local species (which was 

 first discovered at York by Mr. T. H. Allis in 1855) has been taken here 

 this season in considerable numbers, and has been unusually common, as 

 many as 1000 specimens having been taken on one night. In fact, T can 

 without hesitation affirm that, during the eleven years I have collected 

 Lepidoptera, I have never seen any species to equal it in numbers, as it 

 even exceeded such species as Xylophasia polyodon, Apamea oculea, Agrotis 

 exclamationis, A. segetum, Cahjmina Irapezina, or Triphcena pronuba, which 

 in favourable seasons are about the commonest Noctuae at sugar. From 



ENTOM. — NOV. 1891, 2 A 



