MlCROPTERYX THUNBERGELLA. 156 



resting on the blossoms and flying by day. Richardson says that the 

 insect is common in many places on the downs near Worthing, 

 flitting about near the ground. Cambridge notes it at Wareham, as 

 being abundant on oak trees and underwood in May ; and Butterfield 

 as being common in Scotch fir woods at Wilsden. Holland notes 

 that the species flies around birch, nut, and other trees, yet it appears 

 to be always beneath or near oaks, and a sweep of the net will some- 

 times result in the capture of a score. Yet it can have no real con- 

 nection with the oak, except for food or shelter. Farren notices it 

 as resting on trunks of firs and oaks at Brockenhurst. South observes 

 that in North Devon, on May 26th, 1882, he brushed the low branch 

 of an oak-tree, in a small oak copse, and from it came quite a cloud 

 of M. thunbergella. The insect, however, was on this day confined to 

 the foliage of the tree first shaken, although at the end of the month, 

 single specimens were beaten out of various trees and the undergrowth. 

 Barrett says that at Haslemere it visits the sedge-blossoms with M. 

 calthella, M. mansuetella and M. allionella. Vine beats it out of furze 

 bushes (Ulex earopaeus) about the second week of May, near Brighton, 

 and Durrant sweeps it from young birch trees (? feeding on catkins), 

 at Merton. 



Time of appearance. — Usually this species is to be found in May 

 and early June, and Madam Lienig gives the first days of May as the 

 time of its appearance in Livonia. Other recorded dates are as follows : — 



May 28th, 1850, at West Wickham ; May 11th, 1852, at Dartforcl Heath 

 (Stainton) ; May 20th, 1886, at Witherslack ; May 31st, 1873, at Grange-over- 

 Sands (Hodgkinson) ; May 13th, 1882, at Grange (Shuttleworth) ; June 15th, 1887, 

 at Dartford Heath ; May 16th, 1888, at Headley Lane ; May 24th, 1888, June 5th, 

 1891, Greenhithe ; May 28th, 1891, June 5th, 1894, April 30th and May 27th, 

 1897, at Bexley; June 14th, 1892, at Addington Park; April 18th, 1893 and 

 May 10th, 1895, at Box Hill (Bower) ; June 4th, 1887, at Cuxton (Tutt) ; June 26th, 

 1853, June 8th, 1856, June 6th, 1857, June 7th, 1873, June 2nd, 1875, at 

 Richmond, Yorks. (Sang) ; in May, at Grantham (W. A. Atmore) ; end of May and 

 beginning of June, at Chippenham Fen (Farren) ; May 23rd, 1887, May 16th, 1889, 

 near Arundel, (Fletcher) ; May 26th, 1882, in North Devon (South) ; end of May, 

 1866, at Haslemere (Barrett) ; May 25th, 1874 and May 26th, 1877, at Witherslack ; 

 May 14th, 1875, at Grange, and May 29th, 1878, at Windermere (Threlfall) ; May 

 20th, 1891, at Chingford, beaten from oak (Prout) ; May 26th, 1891, at Merton 

 (Durrant) ; May lst-3rd, 1898, at Oxton (Studd). 



Localities. — Aberdeen : Pitcaple district (Beid). Berks : Beading 

 (Hamm) ; Sulham, Tilehurst, Padworth and Aldermaston (Holland). Cambridge ; 

 Chippenham Fen (Farren). Cumberland : Lake District (Stainton). Derby : 

 Henhurst (Brown). Devon : North Devon (South). Dorset : Kimpton (Curtis), 

 Wareham (Cambridge), Bloxworth, Glanvilles Wootton and Purbeck (Bankes). 

 Durham; Darlington (Stainton). Essex: Chingford (Prout). Gloucester: 

 Bristol (Stainton). Hants : New Forest (Fletcher), Pamber Forest (Holland), 

 Brockenhurst (Farren). Hereford : Tarrington (Wood). Kent : Cuxton (Tutt), 

 West Wickham (Stainton), Dartford Heath, Greenhithe and Bexley (Bower). 

 Lancashire : Manchester (Stainton), Croxteth Wood (Gregsonj, Grange 

 (Threlfall). Leicester: Market Harborough (Matthews). Lincolnshire: Gran- 

 tham (W. A. Atmore). Norfolk: Merton (Walsingham). Northumberland: New- 

 castle (Stainton). Somerset: Castle Cary (Macmillan), Brislington (Sircom), 

 Clevedon district, abundant (Mason). Suffolk : Tuddenham (Warren). Surrey : 

 Haslemere (Barrett), Headley Lane, Addington Park and Box Hill (Bower). 

 Sussex: Thinly but widely distributed in the county (Fletcher), Lewes (Stainton), 

 Goring Woods, Sompting (Fletcher), downs near Worthing (Richardson), Hastings 

 and St. Leonards (Bloomfield) , Moules Combe, near Brighton (Vine). Westmor- 

 land : Windermere and Witherslack (Threlfall). York: Richmond (Sang), York 

 (Prest), Scarborough (Stainton), Huddersfield ^Inchbald), Sedbergh (Warren). 



Distribution. — Occurs in England and Scotland ; in Austria and in 



