94 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



preceding years. Three females, as already recorded, were taken, two on 

 the 11th and one on the 12th. This species with us makes no headway ; it 

 must be put down as one of our rarest insects. E. versicolor is holding on 

 precariously ; slightly more adverse conditions obtaining, it would as cer- 

 tainly disappear from its Keading station as it did from Tilgate, from 

 well-known causes. Leucophasia sinapis appeared on May 4.th, was at its 

 height on the 12th, and contiuued here on the wing till June 3rd, though 

 in West Dorset it lingered on till the 15th. Stauropus fagi and Dasychira 

 pudibunda were out by May 7th, and Argynnis euphrosyne by the 12th. 

 On the 27th Minoa euphorhiata and A. seleiie were out and in fine 

 condition, while on the 30th Bapta taminaia, B, temerata, Eupithecia 

 venosata, and Anticlea sinuata appeared. Comraon spring Noctuse came 

 freely to sugar ou June 1st, and on the 3rd Epione advenaria, E.plum- 

 beolata, M. euphorhiata, and Boarmia consortaria were to be had more or 

 less plentifully in their special haunts. On the 9th I had the pleasure, 

 with my friends Messrs. Harraer and Holdway, of witnessing the assembling 

 oiSeda sphegiformis ; on the same date I saw Thecla rubi for the last time. 

 On the 10th, with the wind at N.E., a few Aplecta nehulosa and Dlpterygia 

 scabriiiscula came to sugar. Ephyra omlcronaria. Abraxas ulinata, and 

 Asthena blomeri were out on the 11th, and Melanippe hastata on the 12th. 

 In West Dorset, on the 17th, Tanagra atrata was in fine condition, while 

 Emmelesia affinitata was worn ; by the 20th A. aglaia had appeared 

 and Zygmia triJ'oUi was flying freely. Melanargia galatea first appeared 

 on the 26th, but on this day Toxocam/ia pastinum and Lyccena minima 

 were worn. At Keading by July 3rd T. w-aibum had appeared, and 

 A. blomeri was still m fine condition. L. corydon was out ou the 10th. 

 On the lt)th Calymnia pyralina appeared at sugar; twos and threes of this 

 insect were taken most evenings for the following fortnight. On the 17th 

 Noctua stigmatica appeared, and continued on the wing till Aug. 20ih. 

 C. ajinis was out in some numbers, and C. dijinis sparingly during the 

 week commencing the 2l8t. Amongst the junipers Eupithecia sobrinata 

 was well out on Aug. 5th, and an occasional Hesperia comma was seen. 

 On the 20th Hadena protea first visited sugar. The second brood of 

 A. selene was out on Sept. 3rd, on the 5th XantJiia citrago, the 6th Asphalia 

 diluta, and on the 14th the first X. aurago was taken. This last insect 

 came to sugar more or less freely till the second week in October. X. gilvago 

 appeared in limited numbers during the first three weeks of the month. 

 Epunda lutulenta was first taken on the 18th, two or three others being 

 subsequently captured. One Xylina semibnmnea was taken on the 28th 

 and a few more were secured during the next ten days. A second brood of 

 N. stigmatica, fed up in doors, began to emerge on Dec. 22nd. — J. Clarke ; 

 Beading, Jan. 1896. 



Larym of Chcerocampa porcellus. — In Mr. Theobald's remarks 

 concerning the appearance of Sphingidai in East Kent [ante, p. 65), he 

 states that he failed to find the larvse of Chcerocampa porcellus. Few 

 larvae that are not internal feeders are harder to find in the daytime. The 

 collector has to encounter two difficulties. The first lies in the nature of 

 the food-plant. On a casual observation, it is not easy to detect where a 

 larva has been at woik. Its habit is to strip the spray of bedstraw, leaving 

 the bare stem. If, in a cluster of bedstraw, stems appear thus denuded, the 

 C. porcellus larva has been at work. The second difficulty lies in the habits 

 of the larva itself. During the day it hides among the roots of grass 

 tiod bedstraw, and as close to the ground as possible, Here its sombre 



