CAPTUEES AND FIELD REPORTS. 36? 



male and a female, of Thamnotrizon cinereus, L., a somewhat singular-looking, 

 almost wingless grasshopper, hut saw no more than the two. During 

 October I have been receiving considerable numbers of Perlplaneta 

 aiistralasicB, Fabr., the latest of the cockroach tribe to establish itself in 

 these islands. Thej came from Kew Gardens and from Bishop's Waltham 

 in Hants, and since the consignment consisted of insects, both male and 

 female, in all stages of development, it is clear that they are holding their 

 own in both localities. I noticed that the females are somewhat larger 

 than the males; and have the yellow border to the pronotum more pro- 

 nounced than in the latter sex. On Nov. 7th I received from the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick a finely-grown specimen of the 

 handsome cockroach, Periplaneta americana, L. As I received no memo- 

 randum with it, I cannot say whether it is thoroughly established there. — 

 W. J. Lucas. 



Bryophila muralts from S. Devon. — This pretty moth has been 

 fairly plentiful this season on the walls around Dawlish and Starcross. 

 Mr. Bignell informed me that he took it in that locality on July 1st, but I 

 found them still in splendid condition up to the end of August. Just ten 

 years ago I took a long series of tiie dark brown form, which I exhibited at 

 the South London Entomological and Natural History Society. They 

 were confined to an old wall skirting a market-garden at Dawlish. The 

 following year this wall had disappeared, in order to make room for lodging- 

 houses, and I have never met with the same form since, although I have 

 repeatedly looked for them. My specimens of this season are all dark 

 green with a bluish tint. — J. Jager; 180, Kensington Park Road, W., 

 November, 1896. 



Scarcity of Insects in August. — From Aug. 12th to 19th I was in 

 North Devon, and from the 20th to the 31st in the New Forest, keeping a 

 very keen look-out for insects during the whole time, but never before have 

 I seen so httle in that way. Butterfly life was almost entirely absent; 

 even the commonest species, such as LyccBna icarus and Vanessa atalanta, 

 hardly putting in an appearance. Pararge egeria alone showed up in 

 anything like its usual numbers. In the New Forest, where I was staying 

 with an entomological brother, Canterton being our headquarters, we 

 really worked hard, sugaring laboriously every night, the result being a 

 good series of Amphipyra pyramidea, and a few still commoner Noctuse. 

 In desperation we turned at last to pupa-digging, where luck was not quite 

 so dead against us, a comparatively few hours' work producing over two 

 hundred pupae of various species. I believe there is usually little to be 

 done in the way of collecting in the New Forest at the end of August, and 

 the early season probably accounts for any scarcity of insects beyond the 

 average; but the remark does not apply to Devonshire, or the west 

 country generally, an area with which I have had a long entomological 

 acquaintance. The phenomenon most difficult to explain was the utter 

 absence of the larger Vanessse. Since leaving the New Forest I have 

 been in Yorkshire (Wharfedale) and Scotland (east coast), but entomological 

 work has been quite out of the question. — Harold Hodge; 6, Grown 

 Office Row, Temple. 



AcHERONTiA ATROPOs IN Devon. — From the records in the * Entomo- 

 logist,' larvse of this ppecies seem to have occurred abundantly in many 

 parts of the country. As Devonshire has not been mentioned, I may say 

 that during my stay at Starcross in August and September this year, 



