Insects. 5071 



Until the last act of this curious scene, though I well knew the lizard's object, I sup- 

 posed it would probably make a leap at the butterfly, yet had no idea of its succeeding, 

 and expected to see the butterfly fly away. Had 1 had an idea of the case I should 

 instantly have broken the charm. From that moment I never had the least doubt of 

 the power of fascination : that power I conceive to be terror, which, if the object was 

 sufficiently terrible, I believe would act equally on man or any other creature." — From 

 the 'Bengal Sporting Magazine' for October, 1836; communicated by Mr. Frederic 

 Moore. 



Capture of Pamphila Actceon, $-c, at Lulworth Cove. — On looking over some of 

 the earlier volumes of the ' Zoologist,' I find a notice of the capture of Pamphila Ac- 

 taeon in Dorset. The following extract from my note-book may not be uninteresting: 

 — " August 22, 1855. Visited Lulworth Cove by an excursion steam-boat from Wey- 

 mouth. The beauty of the scenery was much enhanced by the fine weather. The 

 Cove is a charming spot, the basin being nearly circular and surrounded by picturesque 

 rocks. The clearness of the water is heightened by a shore of white pebbles. For 

 three or four hours I searched in vain for Actaeon : at length I came to some small 

 furze-bushes, overgrown with brambles, fern and thistles, and here was rewarded by 

 finding the object of my search. While the sun shone brightly several specimens of 

 Actaeon flitted over the herbage. It looks very small when on the wing, chiefly owing 

 to its manner of flight (like the other 'skippers'), and also on account of its dingy 

 colour. When clouds obscured the sun all the butterflies disappeared, settling on low 

 branches of furze, &c, in which position it was almost impossible to secure them, for 

 directly T approached the spot they dropped down among the grass, &c, and were 

 lost. 1 noticed more females than males." As the hour was late and the sky clouded 

 I did not secure so many as I wished. Near the same spot I took one Pempelia car- 

 nella, in perfect condition, on the wing at dusk, and Pterophorus lithodactylus at rest 

 on the flowers of Pulicaria dysenterica. — S. C. Tress Beale ; Ivy Court, Tenterden, 

 Kent, March, 1856. 



Note on the Occurrence of Exotic Sphinges in Britain. — Mr. Wilson, of Edin- 

 burgh, says a pigeon could fly from Algiers to Edinburgh in twenty-four hours, and 

 that moths can fly far over the sea is well known. I have a moth taken at least a hun- 

 dred miles out at sea, yet Mrs. Raddon was ridiculed when she said she saw a speci- 

 men of Deilephila Nerii in Devonshire. I saw a very old English print in which 

 Nerii was figured under the name of the " Rose-bay Moth." There can be no doubt 

 that such insects cross the Channel, especially in a high wind. I saw a specimen of 

 Sphinx quinquemaculatus actually bred at Leeds; another taken at Hull; one at 

 Chelsea, and I have heard of two or three others. — J. C. Dale ; Glanville's Wootton, 

 near Sherbourne, March 8, 1856. 



[Nothing is more probable than that the pupae of Sphinges which bury themselves 

 in the earth should occasionally be imported amongst the roots of exotic plants. I 

 possessed for many years a specimen of Sphinx Druraei which bore a first-rate pedigree 

 as a true Briton, and I have seen others. I gave my own the cold shoulder because I 

 thought it diminished the value of its neighbours in the same drawer, casting a kind 

 of doubt on their reputation. On the same priuciple a cabinet of Lepidoptera that 

 contains Podalirius, Chryseis or Virgaureae, falls fifty per cent, in my estimation ; and 

 a cabinet with Daplidice or Lathonia I look on with great distrust, although I know 

 of six Daplidices and about as many Lathonias that really possess clean bills of 

 health. — E. Newman.'] 



