NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 
161 
which I secured a very pale var., and X. rurea (two dark vars. combusta^ 
which I had never taken previously in that locality), Miana fasciuncula^ 
Apa77ua gemina^ Hadena thalassina^ etc. The fact that certain species 
of Noctu^ that will in some seasons come freely to sugar are in others 
absent from it, whilst occurring freely on the wing and being netted 
freely, and whilst the same sugar is attracting other species in the same 
woods in numbers, seems to me to point to the fact either that meteoro- 
logical influences affect different species in a different manner, which 
seems improbable, or that the natural attraction for one particular 
species may fail in occasional seasons, thus impelling the insect to seek 
other and normally less attractive “sweets.” The idea also occurs 
whether the tendency to be attracted to the artificial and exhilarating 
“ sugar ” may be the result of any deficiency of feeding or want of 
moisture in the earlier stages of development, thus having the “ drink 
tendency ” developed in what might be called a hereditary form. This 
view I throw out for the attention of those who devote their attention 
to the great “ Temperance ” question. Amongst the more occasional 
visitors, during this wet week, to the sugar were Aplecta herbida^ Noctua 
brun7iea, Eiiplexia lucipa7-a^ Thyatira baits, etc. The most notable 
absentees of what I have in former years taken in the same wood were 
Cy77iatophora duplaris and Diphihtt-a orioTi, although I netted a very 
fine specimen ot the former. 
About the end of June I always commence work on the Downs, 
where sugaring is more certain work than in woods, and where my own 
experience is, that a whole season’s work is either a thorough failure or 
a complete success, and does not vary from night to night in the erratic 
way so often reported in the woods ; this may be due to the comparative 
absence of honey-dew, as noted by several writers in the Record last 
season. I sugared almost regularly on the Downs through July, and 
never had a really bad night’s work, the greatest drawback being the 
very high winds, almost gales, from the S.W. during the first week in 
July. Agrotis corticea was in unusual numbers, and some very fine dark 
and banded, and some pale forms were to be selected ; this species was 
in scores on some of the smallest blossoms, and it was difficult to box 
any single insect without getting one or more companions with it in the 
box. A. Iu77igera beat the record for this locality as regards early 
emergence, my first being taken June 30 th, one day earlier than the 
previous season’s earliest. Owing to the gales, for the next few days 
nothing could hold its own, a few being, however, circumvented by 
bunches of cut wild blooms, fixed in sheltered crannies. As soon as 
the weather improved they were taken fairly freely in company with 
A. lucertita, of which I must note again that not i per cent, show any 
marks of being worn in the slightest, even during rough weather in a 
most exposed locality. This latter species was also early, and both 
were fully out about the 13 th July, but required plenty of cliff work to 
secure them in any numbers. My best spot was some 30 feet down the 
face of the cliffs, upon a little patch of spikes of the “ wild beet ” 
growing out from some rabbit holes, and off which, on two or three 
evenings together, I nearly filled my boxes. During part of July, I had 
the pleasure of the company of Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, of Birmingham, 
who were also successful in taking good series of both of these 
Agrotidte. I was unable to meet with A. cmerea here, but picked up 
c 
