192 
THE entomologist’s RECORD. 
appeared between noon and 7 p.m., only one emerged during the night, 
and none during the forenoon. I sugared for the perfect insect from 
the beginning of July till the middle of August, only a few evenings 
being omitted. My captures were; — July 9th, one specimen; July 
15th, two specimens; July i8th, four specimens; July 31st, one 
specimen; August ist, one specimen; August ylh, two specimens; 
August 8th, two specimens ; making a total of thirteen specimens. 
The August specimens were all somewhat worn. These dates agree 
fairly with those of the bred specimens, and seem to show that the 
beginning to the middle of July is the right time for the imago. The 
methods of capture were various, eight being taken on sugar, three on 
the wing in the garden, flying over various plants, one in our conserva- 
tory, and one came to light in my bedroom. Of the 1890 specimens, 
five were taken at honey-dew, two on the wing, and one at light. I 
never saw them at flowers, or at any other attractions. The time of 
flight naturally varied according to the time of year, some of the July 
specimens being taken at 9.30 p.m., while the August specimens 
appeared soon after 8.30. Compared with the times of sunset, I find 
that they usually begin to fly about half an hour after sunset, and 
continue for perhaps three-quarters of an hour. None were seen after 
9.30 except the single specimen at light, which appeared at 10.45. 
Ophiog) amina comes freely to sugar, and it is probably only owing to 
the absence of information about its habits that it is not taken more 
commonly. It settles as far from the sugar as possible, and on several 
of my patches which were on standard rose trees, and other slender 
stems, it completely concealed itself on the opposite side, reaching its 
proboscis round the corner to the nearest drop of sugar. It is also 
very skittish, and v/ill throw itself off backwards when you are some 
distance away, and falling down among the herbage, will be perfectly 
concealed. After missing several in this way one evening I tried the 
effect of a double dose of rum in the sugar, and took four the next 
evening without any trouble. When it first settles it keeps its wings 
half raised, and slowly vibrating, but as soon as the rum takes effect 
down go its wings, and it then sticks close to the bark. This, how- 
ever, raises another difficulty ; it is now rather hard to see on the dark 
bark of our London trees, the peculiar festoon ” marking taking away 
the triangular look of the insect. On the wing, it is easily seen and 
captured. Its flight is low and steady, and it seems to have no 
special object in hand, but rather aimlessly flies along. The light 
undersides of its wings however make it look much smaller than it 
really is, and it may easily be mistaken for Caradrma vwrpheus. The 
two specimens I have taken at light both behaved in a similar manner, 
so we may safely conclude that this is its usual habit. It enters the 
room slowly, flies up to the ceiling, touches it a few times, and then 
descending obliquely, settles on the wall. From the reports of various 
captures, ophiogramma seems to have been taken in several places 
near London during the past two seasons. It must be fairly plentiful 
in the neighbourhood of its foodplant, as out of some dozens of 
patches of this grass that I have examined this summer, every one 
showed traces of the ravages of the larvae.” — G. A. Lewcock and A. 
U. Battley, Hon. Secs. Septefube?' 1891. 
