262 



THE YOUNG 



NATUEALIST. 



of it and a means of destroying it.— -W. Hae- 

 COURT Bath. 



REPLIES. 



•6. 



LiPAEis DisPAB. — In the collection of Lepi 

 doptera formed by Mr. W. Jagger, of Brad- 

 ford, late of St. Ives, HuntingdonsMre, there 

 are two female specimens of L. dispar wMch 

 he informs me were taken by himself in 

 Brampton Wood, Huntingdon, about fourteen 

 years ago. I do not know the exact dimen- 

 sions of them, but they are considerably 

 larger than any bred ones I ever saw — the 

 difference, when placed side by side with 

 bred ones, is very striking indeed. In a 

 brood which I reared three or four years ago, 

 all the males had a circular piece wanting at 

 the tip of the hind wings, apparently similar 

 to those of Mr. Tugwell's, while all the fe- 

 males were of the normal form. — J. W. 

 Cartee, Bradford. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 

 INSECTS. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



Captures at Campion, 1883. — During 

 the early part of the present season, my 

 time was so much taken up that I was only 

 able to run out occasionally to the nearest 

 place, where "Campion" (Silene infiata) 

 grew. Very often I could only do this when 

 the evening was well advanced, and thus the 

 species that flew in the earlier part of the 

 evening might escape my notice. I went 

 first on the 22nd May and took Dianthoecia 

 conspersa and capsincola, T. gotMca, H. 

 adusta, and saw swarms oi P. gamma. JD, 

 C(ynspersa was first taken here by myself more 

 than twenty years ago, and my specimen 

 remained unique until 1881, when another 

 was taken by Mr. Dixon. Last year three or 



four were obtained, and about as many this 

 year, a second falling to my net on 4th June. 

 I understand the species appears later than 

 this in the neighbourhood of London, which 

 is the opposite of what would be expected. 

 The few taken here have all been large fine 

 specimens, the black markings extending 

 more over the wings, and being deeper in 

 hue than than those I had from soutbern 

 localities, but nothing like the unicolourous 

 examples obtained in Shetland. The next 

 night D. carjjhaga joined its relatives, and 

 the family party was completed on 4th June, 

 when cucubali appeared. On the same day 

 I took H. marginata once more. This was 

 at one time almost the commonest noctua 

 we had, but it had almost disappeared, and 1 

 had not seen it for three four years, and was 

 pleased to meet with it again. I only ob- 

 tained three specimens in all, possibly by 

 going so late, as it often flies just as the sun 

 is setting. My most interesting capture was 

 made on July 18th, when I took for the first 

 time P.festucce. I was collecting larvse in 

 the early dusk when I disturbed the specimen 

 as I approached the flowers. Taking it for 

 L. conigera^ I did not trouble to unfurl my 

 net, and after picking up a few larvae of mr- 

 popTiaga and cucubali, I passed on to another 

 tuft and disturbed it again. Something in its 

 flight seemed peculiar and I got my net 

 ready, anJ at the next tuft I took it, and for 

 a moment was puzzled to know what I had 

 got. Mr. Gardner informs me he took one 

 some five-and-twenty years ago a few miles 

 away, but I was very pleased to take it here 

 for myself. I continued to pay the flowers 

 an occasional v'sit till the end of July, when 

 they were quite over. All the time P. garnma 

 swarmed nightly, flying early, then often dis- 

 appearing for a while, to come again in equal 

 abundance when the greater darkness made it 

 more difiicult to recognize them. C culicularis 

 was most abundant from the 5th June to the 

 last, and, indeed, it was equally plentiful at 

 ragwort flowers in August and September. 



