NOTES ON COLLECTING. 165 
ABERRATION OF LAcHNEIS LANESTRIS.—The imagines of Lachneis 
lanestris that I have recently bred are, on the whole, most constant in 
their markings, the spots in some instances are not so well defined, 
but in every specimen they are present, as well as the lines, with one 
exception, viz., that of a female, in which the basal white spot on the 
left wing is conspicuous by its absence.—A. Russexn, I’.K.8., The 
Limes, Southend, nr. Catford, S.E. May 7th, 1900. 
Fj OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 
THE FOOD-PLANTS oF OxypriLus pistans, Z. (= LHtus, Z.).-—Mr. 
I. A. Atmore asks (ante., p. 135) whether the food-plant of Owyptilus 
distans 1s known. So far as I am aware, the only plant from which 
this species has been actually bred is Andryala sinuata, on the flowers 
of which the larvee were found by M. Milliére (cf. Hint. Mo. May., vi., 
p- 36, 1869). I have not Milliere’s description at hand, but Mr. J. H. 
Leech, in his british Pyralides, p. 57 (1886), gives the larva, on 
Milliére’s authority, as ‘“‘ bone-coloured, hairy, with a small blackish 
head and divided dorsal plate.” Andryala sinuata is unknown in 
Britain, and the larva in England, as well as in some of its continental 
localities, obviously feeds on one or more other plants. It is generally 
supposed that Hieracium is among the favoured genera, and such 
evidence as that of Mr. Sydney Webb, who says, in the Young 
Naturalist, x., p. 43 (1889), that the moth was “so evidently attached 
to Hieraciwn pilosella, occurring only where that plant was growing in 
patches on one hill slope,’ makes it almost certain that H. pilosella is 
its food-plant in some of its haunts. Sorhagen, Aleinschmett.-d.-M.- 
Brandenburg, 3 (1886), suggests, as another probable food-plant, Ononis 
spinosa, round which, be says, the imago flies in sandy spots in May 
(end), June, and August. I earnestly hope that Mr. Atmore will 
shortly discover the larva in his neighbourhood, and will let us know 
upon what plant it there feeds.—Eustacrk R. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S., 
Norden, Corfe Castle. May 18th, 1900. 
PoRTHESIA CHRYSORRHG@A IN NoRTH Hssex.—It may interest you to 
hear that I found a large brood of Porthesia chrysorrhoca at West 
Bergholt a few days ago. This is the first brood I have seen in the 
spring for many years, though I discovered a very small brood in the 
autumn of 1898 near Little Horkesley Church. These, unfortunately 
perished during the winter.—W. H. Harwoop, Station Road, Colchester. 
May 8th, 1900. 
TRIPHHNA PRONUBA IN Aprit.—While looking at some sallows at 
Streatham, on April 18th this year, I saw a Triphacna pronuba. Inthe 
Entomologist’s Tecord, 11., p. 16, Mr. Bond-Smith mentioned that he 
had observed a second brood of this species, and as it seems too early 
for the emergence of this insect I thought it might be a hybernated 
specimen of a second brood.—-R. C. Paron, Ormley, Glen Eldon Road, 
Streatham. Jay 8rd, 1900. [The larvee of many species of Noctuid 
moths that should normally hybernate in this state will, in confine- 
ment, feed up rapidly in autumn if exceedingly well placed, and pro- 
duce, or attempt to produce, a late autumnal or winter brood. Aplecta 
occulta and other species will occur to most lepidopterists. | Un- 
doubtedly this occasionally happens in nature, such go-ahead indivi- 
duals being, however, usually exterminated. One can readily imagine 
s 
