THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



253 



end of May and would have pupated in the first half of June. The 

 larva feeds exposed on the leaves of wild thyme, which it so closely 

 resembles in colour that it is not easy to see. The larvae that I sent 

 to Mr. Porritt in 1886, were found on May 18th. I only got three of 

 them and they were well-grown at that date " (in lift. December 22nd, 

 1892.") 



Pupa — Practically nothing is known about the pupa, but Mr. 

 Bankes speaking from memory says : — " I feel practically certain that 

 it was uniformly green like the larva and was of the ordinary Ptero- 

 phorus shape. It certainly pupated among the sprigs of wild thyme 

 and I believe it attached itself to one of the sprigs " (in Hit.). 



Habitat — I have always found this species rather abundantly on 

 the chalk hills of Kent, where it can be disturbed from the tall herbage 

 during the day, but flies naturally at dusk. It has a much wider 

 distribution than baliodactyla, the following list occurring in Stainton's 

 " Manual " : — " Alkham, Bristol, Cambridge, Darlington (common), 

 Lake District, Lewes, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Pembury, Scarborough 

 (very common), York." I have found it abundant all round Strood 

 (on the chalk), at Folkestone and Dover, but it is very rare at Kings- 

 down. Mr. W. F. de V. Kane records this species from " Galway " 

 (in litt.), but I have seen no Irish specimens. Mr. Porritt gives 

 " Witherslack " (in Hit.) but it is a species more rarely recorded 

 outside the South and South-eastern Counties of England, than one 

 would expect. It is common at Black Hall Rocks near Hartlepool, 

 on limestone. Its range as given by Staudinger and Wocke is as 

 follows : — " Central and Northern Europe (except the Polar region), 

 Carniola, Spain, Russia (South and East), Armenia and Bithynia " 

 ("Catalog," p. 345), V 



Time of Appearance — This species appears to be on the wing 

 from about the middle of June until the end of August. In that late 

 year 1888, I took it during the first week in September. There are 

 apparently not two broods, but a succession of emergences as in the 

 case of spilodactyla. The first week in August, however, is usually 

 the best time for it. 



General Notes. 



The End of the Season in Aberdeen. — It has been an ex- 

 ceptional end of a year here for some species. During the first two 

 weeks of September I was taking among others at sugar, Nigra, Sitffusa, 

 Exoleta, Vetusta, Riijina, Lituva, Meticulosa, Ferniginea, Macilenta, Nutitans, 



