C [January, 



with it to form any opinion on the matter. Mr. C. A. Briggs has 

 suggested, in the " Entomologist," xxii, p. 17, that S. cratcegeUa is, 

 perhaps, only a local cliaJk form of 5. mercurella, but it is difficult to 

 understand how such an idea could be seriously entertained, as these 

 two species, though nearly allied and so often confused together, are 

 in reality abundantly distinct, none of the numberless varieties of 

 mercureUa ever showing the peculiar characters of cratcdgella. 



The Rectory, Corfe Castle : 



November ZOth, 1889. 



Scoparia angustea. — With regard to the question raised in Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 xxii, pp. 42, 209, as to whether Scoparia angustea usually has one or two 

 broods in the year on the south coast, my experience tends to show that in this 

 district, as at Worthing, the species is, as a rule, only single-brooded, but occasion- 

 ally, under the most favourable conditions, it is, perhaps, partially double-brooded, 

 but only to a very limited extent. A single fresh-looking specimen taken on our 

 coast on June 2l8t of this year is the only example of a summer brood that I have 

 ever met with, and, though the insect is common at Portland, Mr. Nelson M. 

 Kichardson tells me that he has seen no sign of an early brood there. The regular 

 time of its appearance with us is about the middle of September, and from then till 

 the middle of October it is in full swing ; whereas, Mr. Porritt mentions the end of 

 July and beginning of August as the dates of its emergence at Iluddersfield ! Can 

 any one explain the mystery? — Id. 



[I met with this insect in 1879 at Tunbridge Wells, September 6th, 7th, and 

 Sth ; it was then just out.— H. T. S.] 



Opostega salaciella. — After liaving been on tlie look-out for several years, 

 during which time I had met with four solitary specimens, I, at length, in 

 the middle of last June, hit upon a good locality for O. salaciella, and took a long 

 and beautiful series. They fly among beds of Rumex acetoxella, from about 7 to 

 8 p.m., and arc very conspicuous, owing to their white colour. Even on the most 

 favourable evening one may work over the ground with great care for some minutes 

 without seeing a sign of the insect, when all in a moment one notices the males 

 hurrying up in the same direction by short flights through the grass-stems, and 

 becomes aware that a virgin female must be in the herbage at one's feet. For a 

 minute or two, as one kneels down, one fancies oneself in the thick of a miniature 

 snowstorm, and it is impossible to box the moths fast enough; but, as soon 

 as the fair lady has paired, the fun is over, and all the males disappear as 

 suddenly as they had appeared ! A fair proportion of those I took had the yellow 

 fascia towards the hind-margin of the fore-wings, which is given in Ent. Ann., 1868, 

 p. 131, as the characteristic distinction of Opostega reliquella, but I am fully con- 

 vinced that the so-called reliquella is simply a variety of salaciella. The yellow 

 fascia appears to gradually fade away after death, and some of my specimens seem 

 to have already lost almost all trace of it. I am in great hopes of meeting with the 

 long-sought-for larva of this species next season. — Id. 



