THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST, 
' 141 
parent, than would ever have come 
to perfection in their native woods or 
fields. I have sometimes bred ninety, 
or a hundred moths from one batch 
of eggs, but surely, had they not been 
under the shelter of my cage, they 
would have been decimated over and 
over again, in every stage of their 
existence, by ichneumons, by birds, 
by mice, by damp, by bats, and by 
spiders, till there would have been 
left a very small remnant to reward 
the exertions of the collector. I may 
he wrong, — but I “calculate” 
that, — taking the average, not year 
by year, but in cycles of five or six 
years, — the number of specimens of a 
local species to be found in a locality, 
does not vary much : and I do think 
it possible, by continual collecting to 
diminish that number, till it may be 
: represented by 0. That is one guess, 
and now for another. May not the 
i rarity of some species be caused by 
some peculiarity of constitution, — 
! rendering them more than usually sus- 
ceptible of harm? ¥e all know there 
are some hardy things which will 
feed anywhere, and on anything, — 
'will eat mouldy or withered food if 
they cannot get fresh, and when they 
cannot get any more, will change to 
pupae and come forth as imagos, 
though not half the size they should 
be ; whilst, on the other hand, there 
are species which with all one’s care, 
persist in dying off most miserably . 
Either they miss the sea air or the 
mountain breeze of their native place, 
or they cannot digest their food with- 
out dew on it, or they have some 
other unreasonable whim, which we 
cannot comply with, and so they 
sulk and pine, and die. 
In thus setting forth my guesses, 
I have gone further than I intended 
when I first took up my pen, — for 
guesses differ widely from facts. 
Still I shall have done no great harm, 
if by provoking a reply, I shall elicit 
from others facts to confute my 
guesses. Rev. J. Hellins. Chap- 
lam’s House, County Prison, Exeter. 
Oct. 28 th. 1862. 
CAPTURES. 
List of Lepidoptera, Captured in 
the neighbourhood of London in 1862. 
( continued .) 
E. subnotata. Near Kilburn in July. 
“ absynthiata. Hampstead, May. 
“ abbreviate. Hartford Heath, 
April 21. 
“ pumilata. (1) Hanwell, July 6. 
“ coronata. Dartford Heath, April 
21 . 
Lobophora viretata. (1) Wickham, 
May 24, 
Anticlea derivata. Near Willesden 
in May. 
Scotosia certata. Kilburn, May. 
Anaitis plagiata. Ruislip, August. 
Chesias obliquaria. (1) Hampstead, 
May 18. 
Platypteryx lacertula. Wickham, 
May. 
P. falcula. Wickham, May ; Coombe- 
wood, July 13. 
P. hamula. (1) Wickham, May 24. 
P. unguicula. (1) Epping Eorest in 
August. 
