1890.] 215 



captures for me anything that comes in liis way, brought in a specimen of dodoneata, 

 which he had found on a hawthorn trunk, and he and I subsequently found several 

 more. No oaks were to be seen in the neighbourliood : low marshy or arable ground 

 and meadows, and far from woods. Last spring, specimens again occurred both at 

 Weymouth and at Lynn, and a few have been sent on to me this season. All these 

 were from hawthorn. I searched thoroughly among oaks at a few miles from Lynn 

 last spring, and took one worn specimen, but the moth appeai'ed to be far more rare 

 there than among the hawthorns. 



The colour of all these hawthorn specimens is a shade greyer than that of those 

 usually taken among oak, and I have repeatedly examined them closely in the hope 

 of finding some reliable characteristic distinction, but without success, and I think 

 that this is also Mr. Richardson's experience. Moreover, I can find no record that 

 any species allied to dodoneata but attached to hawthorn has ever been described ; 

 but on the other hand, I find that in the " Entomologist's Annual," for 1862, p. 41, 

 the Rev. H. Harpur-Crewe mentions that the Rev. Joseph Greene had frequently 

 taken the pupa of dodoneata under the bark of hawthorn. 



Being resolved, if possible, to clear up the point, Mr. Richardson this year con- 

 trived to induce a female to deposit her eggs, and sent me some of the larvae for 

 comparison, if possible, with living larvae from oak. This I was unable to effect, 

 but Lord Walsingham most kindly sent up the series of duplicate drawings of 

 larvae of Eiipithecia, which Mr. Buckler had long ago given to Mr. Harpur-Ci-ewe, 

 and which had passed into his lordship's possession, and from the drawings of 

 dodoneata larvae in this series the question was satisfactorily settled. It was 

 known that Mr. Buckler's larvae were from eggs obtained by Mr. McLachlan from 

 oak-frequenting moths, and the agreement was too close to admit of any specific 

 distinction. Moreover, having no hawthorn at hand, I gave Mr. Richardson's larvae 

 oak-leaves, upon which they readily fed up. 



It certainly seems to me curious that this insect should have so long been 

 supposed to be exclusively attached to oak. — Chas. Gt. Baeeett.] 



Oncocera ahenella in RoxhurghsMre. — I find it on the grassy banks on which 

 L. Artaxerxes occurs, in June or the beginning of July. Tliere are spots on these 

 banks covered with beds of wild thyme, and with young firs gi'owing here and there, 

 and I think I noticed it mostly in those places, but it appears to be scarce, as I have 

 not seen more than perhaps half a dozen specimens in any one season, although I 

 have never missed seeing it every year. The moth is very shy, and extremely difii- 

 cult to net. It seldom allows one neai-er than three or four yards, when it rises 

 quickly and abruptly, with a kind of gyrating flight, and in the same abrupt manner 

 drops into the grass from ten to twenty yards in advance. — Adam Elliot, Caverton, 

 Roxburgh, N.B. : June 23rd, 1890. 



P.S. — I went up to the banks yesterday, and saw several L. Artaxerxes, and 

 boxed a few, apparently newly emerged. I took also among the thyme a few female 

 Oncocera ahenella. Thev have quite a difl:erent habit of flight from the males, being 

 more sluggish, and resembling in their flight Crambus tristellus, rising near one and 

 settling at a short distance, usually on a grass stalk. — Jxine llth, 1890. 



