1892.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



to call attention to his nephew having taken this now rare insect has 

 forgotten the fact (which I have at least mentioned to liini) that A. 

 cratcegi is annually taken in small number at or near Sandwich. It is 

 qnite true that Mr. Tutt gave 1887 as having been authenticated by 

 me but fully twenty were then taken m one locality whereas in 1888, 

 Mr. Briggs' was a solicary specimen which had probably wandered 

 from their present location. It may well be that Mr. Tutt being 

 perfectly conversant with the fact, gave only the year vouched for, 

 without mentioning the annual occurrences. — Sidney Webb, Dover. 



Sympetrum Fonscolombii in Surrey. — My brother and I 

 discovered this species sparingly at a pond in Surrey and secured a 

 few examples on the 8th inst. There vv^ere only four British 

 specimens of this very rare Dragon fly previously known ; one $ in Mr. 

 Stephens, collection in the British Museum, one J in Mr. Mclachlan's 

 collection from Mr. Desvignes collection, another taken by Mr. 

 Hall at Dover in 1881, and a fourth mentioned in Mr. Bath's hand- 

 book of Dragon Flies, but I cannot find the reference. — C. A. Briggs, 

 55, Lincoln's Inn, London. 



[Mr. Bath only mentions three specimens " one each near London and Deal, and a 

 third at Exmouth, the latter was exhibited at a meeting of the Entomological Society 

 of London in 1887." Perhaps this Exmouth specimen is the fourth named by Mr. 

 Briggs, as that he mentions from Dover is omitted by Mr. Bath. — Ed., B.N.] 



Pairing of Hepialus humuli. — I went out the other evening to 

 take a $ Hunmli, with a view to eggs and newly-hatched larvae, and 

 saw one approach a J" in the way you are familiar with. It was, 

 however, so light that 1 noted that the ? settled on a grass stem and 

 the ^ by her, then he got in front and paired instantly. For some 

 ten seconds his wdngs were closed, then with a quivering flutter he 

 threw himself off, hanging on merely by the 5 . The meadow had 

 been grazed and was bare except some patclies and bents. A few 

 yards further on I saw two more pairs hanging in the same fashion, 

 the end of the costa of the wings of the being against the hind 

 margin of the $ . I carried these home by cutting the grass stems, 

 thinking to get fertile $ 's this way easily, and so it proved; they 

 carried easily and remained paired at least 2^ hours, but were 

 separate and some eggs laid in the morning. The grand brush on the 

 hind leg of the ^ suggests that he attracts by scent as well as by 

 sight, and the approach of the female, from the time her attention is 

 drawn till she is very near, suggests following a scent rather than 

 sight — that is, it is to and fro for several zigzags. In further conhr- 

 mation of this, it is to be observed tliat tlie J always f.ices tlie wind, 

 and that the $ al^vays comes up b(->]hii(l him. 'i'liis would l)e in the 

 line of scent, and also, of course, displays the white of wings most. 

 There is little doubt that, wdtli few exceptions, all \'irgin $ 's emit an 



