Insects. 3065 



several specimens of M. Seppella, and among them three pairs in copuld, the males 

 are, however, rather wasted. 



In the evening I found in the meadow, amongst rushes, the common rush, Coleo- 

 phora alticolella, rather plentiful, I also obtained a wasted Eupa?cilia notulana, and 

 though last not least, a hippopotamus, not the pachyderm, but the Tortrix. 



The Hippopotamus Tortrix resembles its namesake, in being large, brown, mode- 

 rately ugly, and in sleeping its time away in marshy places on the banks of rivers ; its 

 scientific name is Ephippiphora turbidana, and its portrait has already appeared in 

 the pages of the ' Zoologist' (Zool. 2034). 



Up to this time I had had bright, sunny weather, with only moderate breezes ; but 

 neither sunshine nor calm will last for ever, more especially in Devonshire, so the 

 following morning I found a cloudy sky, and that abomination of entomologists 

 (unless they are on the sheltered side of a good fence) a gale of wind. All my 

 hitherto explored ground was impracticable in this weather, and where was I in a 

 strange country to find a sheltered nook? I suspect I must have been a little out of 

 humour, for I did nut attempt to go out all the morning ; and in the afternoon I sal- 

 lied forth with the intention of walking to Newton, but before I had proceeded more 

 than two miles, a small wood, in which I saw Adela Degeerella flying rather freely, 

 diverted me from the high road ; and afterwards finding in this wood a specimen of 

 iEchmia subdentella, I spent nearly two hours in looking for a second. 



The 13th was dull and showery, and I now conceived the idea of hunting the hip- 

 popotamus : knowing that the insect was attached to the Tussilago Petasites, I thought 

 it extremely probable they would sit on these leaves, just as Brunnichiana sits on the 

 leaves of Farfara : descending through the wood that fringes the rocks, I found two 

 iEchmia subdentella and an Olindia Ulmana, and searching on the leaves of the 

 Petasites, I found in the course of an hour, three hippopotami. Three in an hour 

 was not very encouraging, but as I knew of no place which I could try for better 

 sport, I resolved to try the river-bank again in the afternoon, and this time I had my 

 reward ; for between four and five o'clock that afternoon the Turbidana? chose to fly, 

 and I was enabled to bag twenty-eight of them, thus fairly rivalling Mr. Gordon 

 Cuming. Thinking they might fly again at dusk, I returned, but only found two 

 dozing on the surface of the leaves ; however, I fortunately found a Bucculatrix ci- 

 darella (the fifth British specimen), flying near whitethorn and alder. 



On the 14th I obtained two more subdentella, from a whitethorn hedge; and one 

 Olindia Ulmana, three Eupisteria heparata, and five turbidana formed my sole cap- 

 tures during the afternoon, which I spent on the bank of the river. 



The 15th was fine and bright, but it was to be my last day at Chudleigh ; I tried 

 again for cidarella and Alcyonipennella, but in vain : I sought for turbidana, but 

 only found five. I swept the grass in the old quarry, but obtained nothing but Dicro- 

 rampha sequana. My last capture was a single GEcophora ochraceella, which I found 

 on the banks of the stream, amongst Epilobium. 



Thus ended a very pleasant week at Chudleigh, but my number of captures was 

 not great ; and of many I found only single specimens. It does certainly seem to be 

 the case, though I have long been unwilling to admit it, that insects, from some un- 

 known cause, are not so plentiful in Devonshire as in most of the localities near 

 London. 



There is a grammar-school at Chudleigh, and I was told that some of the boys 

 had been seen with nets in their hands ; I did not, however, meet them myself, and 

 IX. N 



