i oS 



NOTES on LEPIDOPTERA. 



Cleveland Lepidoptera. Tin- following species should have been 

 included in my list Sen4 to Mr. Hewett, 1 > 1 1 1 as the insects were then 

 unidentified I was unable to do so :-- 



.\"<> ( •///</ rhomboidea, A specimen of this local species was taken on 



sugar, 30th July 1S09, at Ingleby Greenhow. 



I.arcntia salicata. One near Great Avion, 20th May iqoo. 



A single worn individual of Thera juniperata on elm trunk, near Middles- 

 brough, on Sib October. The presence of this species here is somewhat 



of a mystery, as there is no juniper nearer than several miles away. My 

 own belief is that the moth had been blown from its haunts, as the weather 



at th»' time was very windy. Prank Elgbe, 23, Kensington Road, 

 Middlesbrough, isi March 1901. 



We doubt if the 7*. juniperata was blown to Middlesbrough; more likely 



it was introduced on .1 railway carriage or wagon. G. T. PorritTi 



Life-Hlstor} Notes. Arciia caja (the Tiger Moth). On the 9th 



Julv iqoo I bred mv first specimen about i p.m. W hilst looking in breed- 

 ing Cage out ot doors), containing coctions of A. raja, I heard a slight 

 sound and found it proceeded from a cocoon of this species; the pupa had 

 cracked, and in .1 quarter of an hour out came the moth, and by 1. 25 p.m. 



its wings were fully expanded. 



A tine and large female specimen of A ret id caja^ which had copulated 

 with a very small male, laid 230 eggs m a cluster on 4th August 1900, and 

 30 more by !Sth August, and from the Sth to the 21st, whilst I was away in 

 Paris, this same female laid a further batch of 357 eggs ; total 617 eggs. 

 The first batch of about 4(1 larva- hatched 21st August from the 357 lot and 

 not from the first lot of eggs laid, as these had been forwarded to Mr. Geo. 

 Parkin, of Wakefield, on Sth August, to photograph.— Willi AM HEWETT, 

 York, 22nd March 1901. 



Life-History Notes. Odonestis potatoria (the Drinker Moth). 

 I noticed that this species emerged in my breeding cage (out of doors) at 

 all hours of the day, but mostly from 7 to 9 p.m., the latter hour being just 

 the time when the species commences its flight. 



A female O. potatoria laid 60 eggs in 40 minutes on 25th July 1900, 

 from 9.30 p.m. to 10.10 p.m. 



On the 1 st July the first specimen emerged. 



On the 14th July I took a newly-emerged female to Askham Bogs and 

 tried to 'assemble,' but although two males came up and hovered round the 

 gauze cage containing the female they did not stop, but soon flew away, 

 ' never to return again.' This would be between 9 and 9.30 p.m. 



I found that the common or garden variety of the domestic cat had 

 a great liking for large newly-emerged moths ; it or they had removed the 

 covers of several pots containing newly-emerged specimens, and had eaten 

 part only of some of the moths, i.e., Arctia caj'a and Smerintlms ocellatus. — 

 William Hewett, York, 22nd March 1901. 



Chelonia plantaginis at Harden Moss, near Huddersfield. 

 I should like to augment Mr. Hewett's list of ' Lepidoptera in 1900,' as 

 printed in last month's ' Naturalist,' by recording this species — the Wood 

 Tiger — from a locality where its occurrence is very rare. I saw a solitary 

 specimen on Harden Moss on the 28th June, on the occasion of the visit of 

 the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union to this neighbourhood. I failed to capture 

 the specimen, as a strong wind was blowing at the time, and I had not 

 then adjusted my net — having only just entered the Moss — and by the time 

 that implement was in working order the moth was far away ; but of its 

 identity I am certain, since I got within a yard of it as it momentarily 

 settled on a bare patch of ground. Though previously common and even 

 yet occasionally found in other parts of the district, C. plantaginis has but 

 once before been recorded from Harden Moss, viz., 14th May 1892, when 

 my father — Mr. S. L. Mosley, F.E.S. — found a larva there. No account 

 having been published in the ' Naturalist ' of the excursion alluded to, the 

 record has not been printed in that magazine, but it is recorded in the 

 1 Naturalists' Journal,' Vol. 9, p. 124. — Chas. Mosley, The Muse um Pr ess, 

 Lock wood, Huddersfield, 12th March 1901. Naturalist. 



