two DAYS At aeersoCh. 291 



out to be Z. trifolii, which I have had sent me from Abersoch. 

 These cocoons, however, all turned out Z.fdipendulce. On the 

 heaths Pseudoter'pna pruinata (cytisaria) and Euholia palumharia 

 were abundant, especiall}' the latter, and now and then a worn 

 Nemeophila russula would start up. Tanagra atrata {chcero- 

 phyllata) concluded the list of dayfliers. This little black 

 geometer was in splendid condition. 



On one evening only did we try sugar. Mr. Kerr and Mr. 

 Blagg went to try the sweets on a line of posts among the sand- 

 hills, whilst I was told off to watch some honeysuckle, a mile or 

 more away along the coast, where we had seen Choerocampa por- 

 cellus. I took charge of my post before dusk, and, like a careful 

 officer in command of a detachment, at once made such obser- 

 vations as would enable me to retire on the main body after dark. 

 In doing so I noticed lots of moths flying about the cliffs and 

 sandhills, which I put down as Leucania littoralis. There was a 

 strong breeze from the sea on the heated land, which blew the 

 honeysuckle about, so that I saw no C. porcelliis. I netted a few 

 common moths, the only species worth quoting being Boarmia 

 repandata, since the form here is quite as strongly marked as the 

 figure in Newman's ' British Moths,' page 63. With nothing to 

 disturb the quiet but the moan from the sea, I took the way to 

 my companions, whose lamp at length shone cheeril}^ between the 

 sandhills. I was accompanied by a pair of enormous owls, 

 which flapped close overhead against the darkened sky. The 

 luck at sugar turned out good — plenty of L. littoralis, Mamestra 

 alhicolon, with commoner insects. 



What struck me most on the heaths, by day, was the large 

 quantity of grasshoppers. There were grasshoppers red, grass- 

 hoppers green, and grasshoppers mottled and grey. One of 

 wainscot colour was ornamented with a white dorsal stripe, 

 strongly suggesting the colours of L. littoralis. 



Not only would the student in Orthoptera find plenty of 

 interest at Abersoch, but the lover of Neuroptera could hardly 

 be less fortunate. Hovering over pools we took the dragon-fly, 

 {Platetrum depressum), an addition to my list for the Chester 

 district. The male of this large species has a lavender-blue 

 body which, with the rich brown of the head and thorax, gives 

 it a very showy appearance when on the wing. The female looks 

 uniformly brown. The sexes are equal in size, and both have 

 broad and flattened bodies. The only other Odonata worth 

 mentioning — and it may be remarked we were not searching for 

 them, but only fell in with them by chance — were SympetriLm 

 vulgatum, and what I took to be Brachytron pratense, hovering 

 over a wide ditch. Beetles were also common on the wing by 

 day, over the heaths. There were Phyllopertha horticola, with its 

 green thorax ; Necrophorus mortuorum, the yellow-banded 

 burying-beetle ; Aphodius fimetarius, with red wing-covers ; and 



