116 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



succeeded in escaping; we therefore made our way to the cottages and pro- 

 cured some tea, taking one 1\ stabilis and one T. gothica from the fences. 

 Afterwards wending our way to the station, well pleased with the beautiful 

 day we had experienced and determined to come again very shortly. 



The next day I went to work and manufactured a net some six feet long, 

 and on the 28th, I again took my place in the 8.30 train, and was soon care- 

 fully searching the celebrated "Bishop's fence" in hopes of some of the early 

 noctuse, or perhaps even the rare Lophopteryx carmelita, which has been taken 

 here on several occasions, the particular spots on the fence being reverently 

 shewn the young beginner by their older comrades. No such good fortune, 

 however, was in store for me, for I could not discover a single specimen of 

 any kind, a fact explained by the presence of several other entomologists who 

 had preceeded me, and with whom I subsequently came up, one of them tak- 

 ing a fine male Ampliydasis prodromaria from an oak tree, just as I was going 

 to look at the tree myself. I next turned my attention to the fir trees, and a 

 little beating soon produced some larvse of Thera variata, and also to my great 

 delight a very fine specimen of Trachea piniperda, which came tumbling down 

 into the umbrella, and then stood with quivering wings a beautiful sight 

 amongst the dark fir needles. It was soon safely housed in a chip box, and 

 the sun begining to shine out brightly, I got my new net into order and kept 

 a sharp look out for Brephos partkenias but they were not nearly so abundant 

 as on the 26th, and after several hours work I had only two specimens. 



Leaving the wood, I met a fellow member of the " Haggerston Society" who 

 had captured, two Tepkrosia crepuscularia (the old laricaria.) As I wanted 

 this species and he wanted partkenias we exchanged specimens, and on my 

 way to the cottages I obtained a male crepuscularia myself and also two 

 larvae of Cleora lichenaria from the top of an old fence. At the cottages I 

 met another old friend who was stopping for a few days, and having procured 

 accomodation for the night, I gladly arranged with him to have a turn at the 

 at the Sallows, accordingly after dusk, we journeyed down to the wood, where 

 several large sallows grow in the midst of a thick birch plantation, so that it 

 was impossible to look at the blooms, we therefore took off our overcoats, 

 spread them under the trees, and a few shakes soon brought down T. stabilis 

 and T. cruda in abundance, together with a few T. gothica, T, instabilis and 

 A. spadicea. We took what we required of these species and returned to 

 Shirley and bed about ten o'clock as we wanted to make a long day of the 

 morrow. 



Six o'clock the next morning found us up and doing, a white haze en- 

 shrouded everything, and there had been quite a frost during the night. The 

 fence was almost as unproductive as on the previous day, a solitary specimen 



