SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



299 



LEPIDOPTERA IN SOUTH-EAST ESSEX. 

 By F. G. Whittle. 



(Continued from page 268.) 



NOCTDAE. 



n^HE following list of 134 species of Noctuae is 

 not by any means to be regarded as full and 



complete. Indeed, a glance at it will satisfy any 



practical lepidopterist that there are species of 



general distribution omitted which must occur 



with us. . It will be noticed that not a single 



species of the Dianthoeciae is included ; neither 



is there one in Howard Vaughan's list, although 



doubtless one at least 



could be found among 



the " Sweet Williams " in 



many cottage gardens in 



the district. The Xan- 



thiae are well represented. 



All have occurred here 



with the exception of 



X. citrago, which I have 



seen in the garden of my 



kind friend, the Rev. 



C. R. N. Burrows, vicar 



of Mucking ; but it is 



omitted from the list for 



the reason that Mucking 



is outside the limit im- 

 posed by the terms of this 



article. 



Bryophila perla, a fre- 

 quent visitor at gas-lamps, 



Southend, is common at 



Benfleet and Leigh ; var. 

 flavescens not observed until 



1898, when a fine specimen 



was found in a rain-gully 

 on my house at Southend. 

 Demas coryli, scarce ; one 

 larva only at Hockley. 



Acronyctx psi, very com- 

 mon all over the district. 



A. aceris, once taken in Southend by the Rev. 

 C. R. N. Burrows. A. megacephala, one specimen 

 seen in a small collection of insects formed at 

 Shoeburyness. A. rumicis, a common insect on 

 tree trunks. 

 Diloba caeruleocephala, larvae very common. 

 Leucania conigera. Benfleet and Southend, com- 

 mon at sugared reeds. L. lithargvria, common all 

 over the district ; larvae on reeds. L. obsoleta, at 

 sugar, Benfleet ; but infrequent. Mr. Carrington 

 has taken it not uncommonly at rush flowers at 

 foot of cliffs east of Leigh. L. impudens, scarce at 

 Great Wakering. L. comma, Benfleet and Great 

 Wakering, frequent. L. stramiiiea, common and very 



a, Leucania stramiiiea; b, L. favicolor ; 

 c, Nonagria lutosa. These figures are about one- 

 quarter more than natural size, to show detail of 

 markings. 



variable at sugared reeds at Southend and Benfleet. 

 The elongate and very distinct larva is easily found 

 on reeds at night. In the cabinet the shape of the 

 forewings is very notable, but not so much so on the 

 sugar. Every Leucania that visits the sugar during 

 the stramiiiea season should be closely examined. L. 

 favicolor. This recent addition to the British fauna, 

 described in " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," 

 vol. xxxii. p. 100, has occurred at Great Wakering. 

 I have only taken one 

 specimen, but it looks very 

 distinct, as will be seen on 

 reference to the centre 

 moth in the accompanying 

 picture ; where L. favicolor 

 is figured for the first time. 

 The three moths are pho- 

 tographed a fourth larger 

 than natural size, so as to 

 bring out the detail of 

 markings. The portrait of 

 Nonagria lutosa is from a 

 small male, for easier com- 

 parison. The shape of its 

 superior wings is much as 

 in stramiiiea and N. lutosa, 

 with a curved, almost com- 

 plete line of black dots 

 from the costal to the 

 dorsal margin, and a faint 

 indication of the dotted 

 line on the hind wings, 

 usual in stramiiiea and N. 

 lutosa. The tone of the 

 fore-wings is very nearly 

 that of some reddish 

 ochreous specimens of 

 lutosa, quite different from 

 that of any other Leucania 

 I possess. The colour of the lower wings is as 

 in impura. L. impura, very common ; the form 

 punctilinea occurs ; larvae abundant on the river 

 wall at Benfleet in May. L. pallens very common 

 and variable. 



Calamia phragmitidis, common at sugared reeds; 

 quite unlike the red form I have received from 

 Wicken. 



Senta maritima, on sugared reeds at Benfleet, but 

 far from common ; type and var. bipunctata taken. 

 Howard Vaughan got, in addition to the type, the 

 varieties wismariensis and nigrostriata ; but not 

 bipunctata. 



Tapinostola fulva , once only, on a fence, Southend. 



L 4 



