MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 303 



NOTES— LEPIDOPTERA- 



Vanessa antiopa at Bracebridge near Lincoln,— This morning in the 



garden here I took a Camberwell Beauty near some plum trees, but basking 

 on the raspberries. — Guy M. Ellison, The Manse, Bracebridge, Lincoln, 

 September nth, 1896, 



Death's Head Hawk Moth near York and at Spurn.— On the 18th of 



August, I had a fine full fed larvae of Acherontia atropos brought me by a rural 

 postman who had picked it up on the high road near Copmanthorpe. I at once 

 placed it in a flower- pot three parts full of soil, and it ' went down ' the same 

 day, let us hope to ■ rise again ' in October as a fully developed moth. Several 

 larvae have also recently been obtained at Spurn Point, Yorkshire, and it seems to 

 be an atropos year, as correspondents from numerous parts of Britain and Ireland 

 record its occurrence in some instances in considerable numbers. — William 

 Hewett, Howard Street, York, Sept. 3rd, 1896. 



Nyssia hispidaria in Wheatley Wood, Doncaster. — Through the kindness 



of my friend Mr. H. H. Corbett, of Doncaster, I made my first acquaintance with 

 this species on March 7th, 1896. As the result of three hours' diligent search, 

 I obtained eight males and two females Nyssia hispidaria, all at rest on oak, 

 mostly about three feet from the ground, although two specimens were at an 

 altitude of five and seven feet respectively. I also obtained two Cymatophora 

 flavicomis, four Phigalia pilosaria males, and saw several Hybemia leiuoph&aria at 

 rest on the oaks, but these were all more or less worn. N. hispidaria, though 

 fairly common in the London parks and at Epping Forest, is an exceedingly 

 local insect in Yorkshire, the Doncaster district being its headquarters. — William 

 Hewett, Howard Street, York, Sept. 3rd, 1896. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Rev. H. A. Macpherson gives in the 'Zoologist 1 for August an interesting 

 account of the Museum at Carlisle, the property of the Corporation of that city, 

 mentioning a number of good local examples of birds, including one or two unique 

 examples. 



— -»co< 



We are pleased with the Record of Proceedings for 1895 which the Cleveland 

 Naturalists' Field Club have sent us for review. The report bears throughout 

 the marks of having been put together by competent members, who fully realize 

 what the work of a local natural history society really is, and unflinchingly restrict 

 themselves to their district. In the introductory remarks by the president of the 

 club (Rev. John Haweli, M.A.) the boundaries of Cleveland are pointed out, and 

 in the subsequent papers on Norman Architecture, the Geology of Runswick, and 

 notes of observations on birds, mammals, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera, contributed 

 by Messrs. R. Lofthouse, W. Y. Veitch, R. G. Clayton, T. Ashton Lofthouse, 

 W. C. Gribble and M. L. Thompson, these boundaries are respected. 



The following 



Scarborough, seer 

 18th 



incident, which occurred to Mr. Reginald H. Barker, of 

 ed to him very unusual : — He and two friends had on the 

 t after 'Iris' in the New Forest, and, knowing its love for 

 putrefying matter, had carefully prepared and laid out at three separate spot 

 dainty morsels, which were persistently watched for some hours, but though the 

 butterfly was seen once or twice in the near neighbourhood, always at consider- 

 able height, none ever approached the delectable preparations, and at last, despairing 

 of a catch, Mr. Barker left his friends and walked away down one of the rides on 

 his return, when after going (say) 250 yards he was suddenly conscious of an 

 insect settling on the breast of his coat. He immediately covered it with his net, 

 and discovered it to be a female Apatura iris, considerably worn, and having 

 voided her eggs, so it was sacrificed for the cabinet. No taint of the prepared 

 food could cling to him, as it had been carried in a metal bucket two or three 

 hours previously, and this had never come in contact with Mr. Barker's clothes. 

 The im ago seems to be fairly common there this year. 



Oct. 1896. 



