LEPIDOPTERA OBSERVED NEAR SANDRIDGE. 
59 
the extraordinary season of 1876, when it abounded from the 
middle of June till the middle of September. That same year I 
met with it wherever I went, the. most unlikely place perhaps 
being at Harlech, in North Wales. The pale variety of the female 
(.Helice ) was not uncommon that year at Sandridge, my brother 
taking ten of them in a few days. Cynthia cardui is occasionally 
plentiful, but as usual very uncertain in its appearance. Theda 
W-album and Polyommatus Argiolus are also not common, while of 
Argynnh Adippe I have noticed hut one specimen, at Symond’s 
Hyde. 
Of the Sphinges and other Nocturni, our list includes 42 species 
representing 24 genera. Three specimens of Sphinx convolvuli 
were brought to me in the month of September, 1874, and I took 
one at rest on a frame in our garden the following year. The 
Clearwings are represented only by Macroglossa bombyliformis , Sesia 
tipuliformis , and 8. bembeciformis. I remember to have seen in 
some old number of a magazine an account of certain captures in 
Hertfordshire, near Elstree, and that amongst them 8. myopiformis 
was mentioned. No doubt this and several other species are to be 
found at various places within the county. 
Of the Geometrina 51 genera are represented by 125 species; of 
the Pseudo-borabyces, 9 genera, 18 species; of the Noctuina, 49 
genera, 113 species; of the Deltoidse, 3 genera, 4 species; of the 
Pyralidina, 14 genera, 29 species;* of the Crambites, 7 genera, 
19 species; and of the Tortricina, 46 genera, 125 species. Of the 
Tineina our list as yet only includes about 150 species, so that I 
have omitted it for the present. Of the 3 genera of Pterophorina, 
2 are represented, but by 9 species only. 
Pew of these species seem to call for special remark. Some appear 
to occur here but rarely, such as Ennomos erosaria , Cabera 
rotundaria , Eupithecia plumbeolata , lobophora hexapterata , Notodonta 
chaonia, Leucania comma , Cirrhoedia xerampelina , JDianthcecia con - 
spersa, and Heliothis armigera , one specimen of the last having 
occurred, which my brother took on a sun-fLower in our garden in 
September, 1873. Anticlea rubidata, Cucullia verbasci , and Heliothis 
marginatus are as usual very uncertain in their appearance, but 
sometimes are abundant. Abraxas ulmata is limited so far as I 
know to a small area, being abundant near Batchwood, but not to 
my knowledge occurring nearer Sandridge. I have to thank Mr. 
A. Lewis, of St. Albans, who has also succeeded in capturing a good 
number of other species near St. Albans, for telling me of the 
locality for this species. In all, our list (which does not, it must 
be remembered, include the Tineina) comprises 514 species, out of 
a total of about 1350 known to occur in Great Britain. 
The county of Hertford is scarcely one which would be 
chosen by an entomologist for collecting in, but yet it presents 
several advantageous features to any one who has sufficient leisure 
to hunt it thoroughly. And perhaps it will not be a waste of 
* The anomalous species Aventia flexula has occurred, though rarely. 
