3°° 



NOTES— LEPIDOPTERA. 



Hummingbird Hawkmoth at Lincoln.— On the iSth July last, I saw 

 one Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossa stellatarum) hovering- over a 

 scarlet geranium bed in the Lincoln Arboretum. Since then I have seen no 

 others. --J. Eardley Mason, 34, Chaplin Street, Lincoln, 4th Sept. 1900. 



Hummingbird Hawkmoth at Tow Law, Co. Durham.— During 

 •each sunny forenoon tor a month, from the middle of July to the middle of 

 August of the present year, a specimen of the Hummingbird Hawkmoth 

 [Macroglossa stellataruni) has been observed hovering- over flowers in the 

 garden of the Vicarage at Tow Law. — J. W. FAWCETT, Satley, Darlington, 

 19th September 1900. 



Hummingbird Hawkmoth at Hull. — I saw during the recent hot 

 weather a very fine specimen of this interesting moth {Macroglossa stella- 

 tarum, figured by Donovan, Plate CLV.) often flying in and out of my 

 drawing-room window and feeding on the flowers of two or three small 

 white Campanula plants on a table inside the window. Specimens had 

 been seen several times before in my flower g-arden. 



At page 66 of his ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' 1803, my grandfather (A. H. 

 Haworth) wrote : — 'This species frequents gardens, flying in sunn}- weather 

 between the hours of ten and twelve in the morning and those of two and 

 four in the afternoon. Its food is the nectarious juice of tube-bearing 

 flowers.' — B. B. HAWORTH-BOOTH, Hullbank Hall, Hull, 9th August 1900. 



Death's Head Moth at Horsforth, Leeds.— I have to-day had 

 a living specimen of the Death's Head Hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos) that 

 Avas caught at Horsforth last night ; it flew into the house in the evening, 

 and Mrs. Gaunt's attention was first drawn to it by the cat trying to catch 

 it. It is a very fine specimen. — Alfred White, 44, Albion Street, Leeds, 

 31st August 1900. 



Extraordinary Abundance of Pyrameis atalanta at Maltby.— The 



sunny rides in Maltby Wood are swarming with this beautiful insect. Every 

 patch of Scabiosa succisa has its group of Admirals. Along with them are 

 many Plusia gamma, but no other species of butterfly. I visited the wood 

 twice last week and could have taken hundreds of P. atalanta without any 

 difficulty. — H. H. Corbett, 9, Priory Place, Doncaster, 21st September 1900. 



Some Notes upon Early Lepidoptera: Pyrameis atalanta. — Some 

 of your correspondents have been recording the early appearance of Red 

 Admirals (Pyrameis atalanta). They fail, however, to note the important 

 point, whether they ma}- not have been hybernated examples. I have seen 

 examples of this species flying- frequently during June, but as far as 

 observation could tell, they were certainly, as judged by their condition, 

 ".hybernated examples. I have noted them as early as the 10th of June. 

 The life-period of the imago would be probably more correctly expressed 

 as being from August to June, so that I do not think we may regard the 

 seasons as ' curiouslv out of joint ' because of Red Admirals appearing in 

 June. Possiblv the long cold spring has had something to do with keeping 

 them longer in their hybernaculum. — Alfred Thornley, South Leverton 

 Vicarage, Notts., 2nd August 1900. 



Small Elephant Hawkmoth at Hull.— A disabled specimen of this 

 moXh(Chcerocampa porcellus), which is, according to Donovan (Plate CCCXIV.) 

 one of the scarcest of the British Sphinges, was found by one of my 

 daughters on the carpet inside the front hall door, which was open, on the 

 afternoon of the 17th July. I fancy it had just escaped from some bird, as 

 one of its wings was injured. I kept the moth a few days, until it died, 

 hoping it might lay some eggs. There is no doubt of its- being Cho?rocampa 

 porcellus, as I showed it to Mr. Boult, the well-known entomologist, of 

 Hull. These hawkmoths fly very fast so it may have been a solitary one 

 from some distance and have flown along the river Hull. — B. B. Haworth- 

 BOOTH, Hullbank Hall, Hull, 9th August 1900. 



Naturalist, 



