Insects. 2367 



March of last year : it is a shy insect, its wings being in constant motion while it is 

 feeding : two or three were again taken this year on the boles of trees. Nonagria Ty- 

 phae and N. extrema occur with us in low marshy tracts overgrown with tophaceous 

 and cyperaceous vegetation. Hydraecia nictitans is extremely abundant with us. A 

 single example of Luperina cespitis was taken in August, 1847. Several specimens 

 of Xylophasia scolopacina — a local species — were beaten from horse-chesnut trees 

 during the same month of the same year. Chersotis porphyrea occurs in tolerable 

 abundance on the moors, and Noctua glareosa is occasionally seen in our oak-woods. 

 Heliophobus popularis, notwithstanding its fear of broad daylight, was taken on a 

 blade of grass long before sunset, in August, 1847. Numbers of Trachea piniperda 

 appeared at the close of March in a fir-planting consisting chiefly of Pinus sylvestris : 

 when taken they had evidently but just emerged from the chrysalis. Taeniocampa 

 rubricosa, T. Populeti and T. gracilis were last year attracted to the blossoms of the 

 round-leaved willow (Salix caprcea) : no fewer than a dozen specimens of T. Populeti 

 were shaken from a single Salix. Orthosia congener occurred in a small plantation of 

 larches and Scotch firs, in August, 1847: several were attracted to the composition, 

 but owing to their extreme aversion to the light being thrown suddenly upon them 

 only very few were secured. Dianthaecia Cucubali and D. capsincola have occurred, 

 though very sparingly : the former was taken on the flowers of the Rhododendron 

 (R. ponticum), the hypogynous disk of which is nectariferous, and thus accounts for 

 the shrub proving such an attraction to the Noctuae. Hadena adusta was very plenti- 

 ful with us during June and the early part of July. Aplecta occulta I took in 1846 : 

 I have not heard of a specimen of this rare insect being since taken in the neighbour- 

 hood. Aplecta herbida has been tolerably abundant this season. Crymodes templi 

 was attracted to the gas-lamps at Huddersfield some years ago ; and late in the au- 

 tumn of last year a specimen of this exceedingly scarce insect, scarcely recognizable, 

 was picked up in the street. Calocampa vetusta, a feeder on the Carices, occurred 

 here in 1846 and 1847: I have not seen it this year. Probably the best capture of 

 last year is Plusia interrogationis, which was taken on the moors while flying in the 

 midday heat of a July sun. Two pretty little day-flyers, Anarta Myrtilli and Helio- 

 des Heliaca, have been netted here ; the former somewhat abundantly, the latter only 

 sparingly. I am glad to say that a wing of a Brephos was found this year, thus 

 proving the existence of this beautiful insect in our own neighbourhood. 



Geometrte. Pericallia syringaria has been taken on one or two occasions. Maca- 

 ria lituraria, recorded by Boisduval as occurring in the pine-woods of France, is met 

 with in the south-west of Yorkshire in similar localities. Maesia favillacearia, taken, 

 according to Westwood, originally in Yorkshire, is not uncommon on the moors. A 

 perfect swarm of Nyssia hispidaria (both male and female) appeared in March last on 

 the boles of oaks, in several of the woods in this neighbourhood, as many as a hundred 

 being noticed in a single day. A wing of Biston betularia, found in May of the pre- 

 sent year, proves its existence in these parts. Owing to a profusion of the Hypericineae 

 in this district we have Anaitis plagiata in abundance : the larva feeds, I believe, on 

 the most common of the family — Hypericum perforatum. A few examples of Mela- 

 nippe hastaria have been noticed during the past and present year, chiefly among 

 young birches. Of the numerous genus Emmelesia three may be worthy of record as 

 occurring in our northern latitude, — Emmelesia sylvata, E. rivulata and E. heparata. 



Pyralidce. Paracolax nemoralis is abundant in these parts of our oak-woods, where 

 the golden saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium) flourishes. The moors offer 



