THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



141 



THE 



ANNUAL GATHERING. 



As already arranged, this gathering of 

 naturalists will take place at Wallasey 

 Sandhills, near Liverpool, on Whit Monday, 

 May 14th. We hope to make the personal 

 acquaintance of many, on that day, whom 

 we have hitherto only known by corres- 

 pondence. The following communication 

 from Dr. Ellis is sufficiently explanatory to 

 necessitate no further remarks of ours. We 

 trust the day will be fine and the gathering 

 sufficiently large to encourage those present 

 to decide that another be held next year, 

 and we would suggest that at the meeting in 

 the " opima ground " it be taken into consi- 

 deration when and where the next meeting 

 shall be held. Dr. Ellis says — 



" In accordance with my promise to give 

 you some idea of what insects are likely to 

 occur on the Wallasey Sandhills about the 

 time of our proposed field meeting on Whit 

 Monday (May 14th), I have penned a few 

 remarks on that subject. With reference 

 to the Lepidoptera, I may say that butter- 

 flies will be scarce — and those only of com- 

 mon species, such as the common " whites " 

 and the common blue fleams) . Among the 

 moths our friends may keep a look out for 

 common species such as Smerinthus ocellatus 

 and popuU, although rather early for both 

 these species. D. vinula will perhaps be 

 amongst the captures, found sitting on the 

 stems of the dwarf sallow. The larvae of 

 Bomhyx rubi will have made up, but the 

 cocoons may be found by pulling to pieces 

 the tufts of coarse grass, especially in the 

 neighbourhood of the opima ground. The 

 larva of B. trifolii will perhaps be found 

 sunning itself (if the day is fine) on the bare 

 sand. The larva of B. quercus will likely be 

 met with on the Sallows. Among the 

 Noctuse, the larva of one species is pretty 

 nearly sure to reward anyone who will take 

 the trouble to search for it, that is, Leucania 

 littoralis. This larva feeds by night on the 



coarse sea-reed (known generally to our 

 collectors as "star-grass") which grows in 

 tufts on the bare sandhills ; but in the day- 

 time it buries itself in the sand, and may 

 often be found about the roots of the food- 

 plant by digging into the sand with the 

 hands and letting it run down the slope of 

 a hill, when the larva will often be seen 

 sliding down along with it. [There is a 

 law to protect this grass, and anyone caught 

 pulling it up is liable to prosecution.-S.L.M.] 

 Mamestra albicolon, if the season is forward, 

 may probably occur, and is best found by 

 shaking the roots of grass, &c., which often 

 form overhanging ledges on the sides of 

 some of the sandhills, and which in summer 

 afford refuge for numbers ot moths. This 

 insect generally falls to the ground and lies 

 quiet, waiting to be boxed. The larva of 

 Agrotis pracox is also among the likely finds. 

 This larva feeds, also by night, upon the 

 dwarf sallow, and hides during the day- 

 time just below the surface of the sand be- 

 neath the food-plant, where it can be found 

 by gently scraping away the sand from be- 

 neath and around the clumps of dwarf sal- 

 low which grow on the bare sand. The 

 larvae of several species of the genus Agrotis, 

 as valligera, tritici, cursoria, may sometimes 

 be found at the roots of plants, such as 

 ragwort, chickweed, &c., where they hide 

 during the day-time. Stragglers of Tcenio- 

 campa rubricosa and opima may occur, but 

 both these species will be nearly over. The 

 eggs of opima are very conspicuous when 

 freshly laid, being deposited upon the old 

 stems of ragwort, hound' s-tongue, &c. When 

 first laid they are white, but they afterwards 

 become more or less pink. The larvae of 

 Ovgyia fascelina will probably be found on 

 the shoots of sallow, and very handsome 

 they are with their "tussocks" of hair. 

 Nyssia zonaria, although about over, will 

 probably be represented by a few stragglers 

 of both sexes, and they may be found any- 

 where Qn the sandhills, sheltering under 



