86 ASH: LEP1BOPTERA AT SKIPWITH, 1S95. 



Directly the long frost broke up on March 7th, I set to work, 

 and found that the early geometers were well out, both Hybemia 

 rupicapraria and II progemmaria being plentiful along the hedge- 

 rows at dusk, a very fair proportion of dark forms occurring amongst 

 the latter. Sugaring was begun on. April 8th, and kept up pretty 

 constantly right through the season, except in June and July, when T 

 for reasons mentioned above, I was able to do little night work 

 except in very fine weather. Throughout the season sugar proved 

 fairly attractive, and scarcely a night was absolutely blank ; while 

 on some occasions, notably during the last week of May and th 

 first week of June, at the end of July and throughout the greater 

 part of September (an abnormally hot month, by the way), moth 

 swarmed at the trees in a way that I have not seen them do for 

 many a year. The sallows were not really well out till April 16th, 

 but a spell of favourable weather at that time enabled me to make 

 the most of them. All the commoner species of Tceniocampa were 

 in abundance, T. gracilis and T. instabilis being the most numerous, 

 but I was disappointed at not getting either P popuhti or T. leuco- 

 grapha, and only one T. opima turned up. Trachea piniperda 

 and Larentia multistrigaria were in some numbers, and a good 



appearance 





Calocampa exokta, from which ova were obtained, and the hand- 

 some larva reared. The weather that proved favourable for sallows 

 was also good for larva hunting, and a lot of hard work was done, 

 sweeping and searching on Skipwith Common, the results being 

 a few Scodiona belgiaria ; Agrotis porphyria, Noctua xanthographa, 



Triphana protmba, and T. orbona in abundance, and a good many 

 Agrotis agat/iina, these latter proving, as usual, most difficult to 

 rear. 



The fine hot weather at the end of May brought out the Rhodo- 

 dendron blossom, and, with it, Chcerocampa porcellus in unusual 

 abundance, and fully ten days earlier than last year. Two speci- 

 mens of C* elpenor also visited the flowers, and a host of other 

 species, especially Plusia gamma, Xylophasia rurea, and Mamestra 

 brassica'. Probably owing to the heat, the flowers were soon over, 

 but their place was taken by Garden Rocket and white Pinks, 

 which attracted numbers of C. porcellus, Plusia iota, P. T-aurauh 

 P. gamma, P. chrysitis, and Abrostola urtiar, though the latter was 

 much less abundant than last year. 



Owing to absence during August, and want of time for day work 

 during the first part of September, no autumnal larva-beating was 

 done, but an hour or two's work with the sweeping-net on the 

 Common showed Eupithecia nanata, £. mimttata, and Agrotis 



Natural 



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