270 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



amongst a great number that I have had to select from, I have picked out 

 some very beautiful, and in many instances striking, varieties, of which 

 about fifty of the best now adorn my collection. These vary from light and 

 dark grey to various shades of brown, and to a very dark form, almost black. 

 To fully and accurately define the many different shades of red met with 

 in a large selected series of this species would tax the ability of a speciaHst in 

 colours ; a few examples are beautifully mottled. It would have been possible 

 for anyone to have taken a fair number each evening from off the trees which 

 had been sugared the previous night. I frequently counted three or four 

 on the trees when renewing the sugar; some of these found their way into 

 the treacle-pot, and helped to thicken the mixture. It was a difficult 

 matter to box a single specimen at a patch, as two, three, or more would 

 drop in at the same time. As a rule, those specimens which dropped 

 into the net from off the patches, unless specialities (by which I mean 

 varieties'), were set at liberty, as I found it best and quickest to select them 

 from off the trees. I am glad to state that, after sacrificing many female 

 specimens, I succeeded in obtaining fertile ova from two, viz., sixty from 

 one, and twenty from the other, and that next year I hope to see a full and 

 detailed description of the larva (which I understand has not, so far, been 

 described) in the pages of the * Entomologist.' 



Plusia festuccB. — This handsome species occurs pretty freely at York, 

 and may be taken, in company with P. chrysitls, P. iota, and P. pulchrina, 

 flying over the flowers of the ragged robin, to which it seems especially 

 partial. I have found the chrysalis attached to the sedges and to the leaves 

 of the gale ; it requires a smart, quick stroke with the net to catch P. 

 festuca, as, if once missed, it does not often give its would-be captor another 

 chance. The females are darker, smaller, and usually quieter, when in the 

 net, than the males. The second brood does not occur with us at York. 

 It is not unusual for a collector to take from 30 to 25 specimens before dark. 

 Geometra papilionaria. — This remarkably fine species occurs with us 

 some seasons not uncommonly. It is generally taken in the imago state, 

 and flies some eight feet from the ground ; it is not a difficult species to 

 net, and a very pleasant one to box. With regard to the question now on 

 the tapis as to its hour of flight : from my experience with this species, and 

 as the result of conversation with other entomologists who have taken it in 

 greater numbers than myself (and I have taken a good many), I unhesitatingly 

 affirm that the best time to catch G. papilionaria is about 11 p.m., or from 

 that to midnight, and then again just before dawn, at both of which times 

 it occurs more commonly than at dusk, although of course I have taken 

 odd specimens then, and indeed all through the night. When at rest upon 

 a birch-leaf or grass-stalk, it requires a practised eye to detect it. The 

 larvae, too, bear a wonderful resemblance to the stalk of the birch-leaves on 

 which they feed ; the young larvse seem to prefer the buds to the open 

 leaves, and thus kill the twig on which they feed. 



Collix sparsata has never been known to occur here in anything like 

 the numbers that it appeared this season. It simply swarmed. I never 

 remember having seen any Geometrag so common before ; the only species that 

 vie with it in number are Ypsipetes elutata, Melanippe subtristata, Larentia 

 didymata, Melanthia rubiginata, and Epione vespertaria: some of the 

 specimens taken were almost black. It would have been possible for a 

 collector to have taken 100 specimens, or even more, before dark. It 

 usually flies low in the rides of the wood in which it occurs. The flowers 

 of the buckthorn seem to be especially attractive to it. Its flight does not 



