i89i.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



215 



They love to sit, particularly towards evening, on the stems of the 

 coarse grasses, flowers of Thistles, semi-dried-up-looking heads of 

 bloom of the Narrow-leaved plantain, when the slanting beams of 

 the evening sunlight, playing on the golden copper colour of their 

 half opened wings give them a bright gem-like look. At this period 

 of the day too, they are not nearly as rapid and jerky in their flight 

 and can readily be captured. The midges will also do their level best 

 to keep you busy, as they bite and dance around you in myriads, but 

 with a new British Butterfly in your satchel you pay them little heed, 

 although on the morrow you find they have added to, if not improved 

 your features considerably.— W. H. Tugwell, Lewisham, August 9th, 

 1891. 



Hesperia Lineola. — There is no doubt Hesperia lineola is common 

 where it occurs, but it is very local, and is entirely confined to the 

 sea walls and the immediate vicinity of the water. As soon as you 

 cross the narrow strip of marsh, lineola disappears, and linea takes its 

 place. I took 34 good specimens in the few hours I was there, 

 although the day was dull. My friend Mr. Milton has just turned it 

 up at Gravesend in a precisely similar locality, (vide report of C. Lon. 

 Ent. and N. H. Society for Aug. 20th), and I should expect it to be 

 found all along the Thames estuary, if looked for in the right sort of 

 spots. — A. U. Battley, London, Aug., i8gi. 



Number of Eggs produced by Zygena Trifolii and Z. 

 LoNicERJi;. — On July 25th I received a box from Mr. Robson con- 

 taining a most liberal supply of the pupa cases of Z. lonicerce, and one 

 of the specimens bred therefrom has laid 296 eggs. To-day I have 

 received a box from my friend P. W. Abbot (supplementing a prior 

 liberal contribution) of two pairs of Z. trifolii, taken by him yesterday 

 in cop. in the Isle of Wight. In transit the package got smashed and 

 one of the females had the contents of her abdomen crushed out of her 

 side, and I took advantage of this circumstance to count the number 

 of eggs she had hid within her, they were 306. In general appearance 

 both series of eggs are very much alike but lonicerce lays a larger 

 eggs than trifolii, the colour (bright yellow), whilst the colour of the 

 eggs laid by trifolii are more citron yellow, the form of both are oval 

 and smooth. — C. S. Gregson, July 29th, 1891. 



The Genus Acronycta. — I have not at this moment access to 

 the numbers of the " Ent. Record," but I feel certain that Mr. 



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