88 
THE GOLDEN-EIGHT MOTH IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
Yorkshire, but I have seen no records from Scotland, Ireland, 
Wales or the Isle of Man. 
The first recorded capture of the moth in Essex was in 1893, 
by our member, the late Charles Oldham, of Woodford, who 
took it flying over honeysuckle in his garden 3 ®. The next 
record was at Mucking by the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows in 1902 4 , 
and in 1904 the Rev. W. Claxton found about 2 dozen cocoons 
on Delphinium at Navestock in June 5 . Then we have Mr. B. 
G. Cole’s note in the Essex Naturalist (vol. xiv. p. 136) in 
1905, and finally a record 6 by Mr. J. W. S. Harrison of cocoons 
found, in June 1907, at Ilford, on the underside of leaves of 
Aconitum lycoctonum, a yellow-flowered continental species 
of monkshood frequently cultivated in gardens. I myself 
have found it more or less commonly in the larval state on 
the plants of monkshood and larkspur in my garden at Hale 
End every year since 1905, and have taken the moth at the lark¬ 
spur flowers on many occasions. The Plusiids appear to have 
strong emigratory instincts, and seem on the whole to be a very 
restless lot. Several species show a tendency to emigrate steadily 
in a westerly direction and moneta has made itself very con¬ 
spicuous in this respect. In a note in the Essex Naturalist 
for 1905 (p. 273), our senior secretary says : “ It is one of the 
most remarkable instances of a species spreading across Europe 
in a southern migration. In about 50 years it has spread from 
Russia .... to England.” In the Entomologists' 
Monthly Magazine for 1891 (p. 21), Mr. A. Hoffmann writes 
that it was known to be common in S. and S.E. Germany, but 
was not recorded from the N.W. until 1875, when it commenced 
to invade that district, and in 1882 had reached Holland. Ac¬ 
cording to Duponchel, however, it was known in Normandy 
previous to 1829, and was taken regularly at Falaise. 
An idea of the rapidity with which the insect has become 
common and generally distributed in this country may be 
gathered from the sales of British collections of lepidoptera. 
In 1897—seven years after its invasion—bred specimens fetched 
2s. 6d. a piece, whilst in 1905 they could be had for half that 
price. In a list iust to hand they are priced at 6d. ! 
3a Essex Naturalist, VII., p. 127. 
4 Eut. Rec. XIV., p. 285. 
5 Ent. XXXVII., p. 214. 
6 Eut. Rcc. XX., p. 214. 
