24 
on May 12th, at Cromer on May 22nd, and quite a number were taken 
in South Cornwall between May 9th and 23rd. 
Some of these migratory species turned up in considerable numbers 
■during May, giving promise of a rich season, but in most cases this 
was a disappointment. h'dusa was seen at Reigate on May 12th, and 
at Sandown on May 14th. During the latter end of July the species 
was fairly numerous in favoured places, but the inclement weather 
of August seemed to have almost annihilated them, for after July 
they were practically over. I was at Folkestone during the latter end 
of September, and during my stay of about ten days I only saw one 
specimen. 
Cardui, in like manner, was seen during May at Dover on May 12th 
at Claygate, May 13th at Chichester, on May 14th it is recorded four 
times, Norfolk, Isle of Wight, Kew Gardens, and Cromer. Here again 
there were a considerable number of larvae to be found resulting from 
these early specimens, but after July they became scarce, and, as far as 
my experience goes, there were no imagines to be seen at Folkestone 
during September, nor was I able to find any larvae by careful search¬ 
ing during August and September, either in Essex or at Folkestone. 
Atalavta was seen very freely during the early part of the season, 
the first being noted on March 24th at Brockenhurst. Other early 
dates are May 13th, Chichester, freely during May at Dover, May 12th, 
Haslemere, May 14th, Isle of Wight, June 5th, North Cornwall. From 
these, w'hich may or not have been migrants, there appears to have 
been a succession of broods. I have pupae still living, November 15th, 
from larvae which w r ere taken by me and one of my sons on October 
5th. On that day we found, in the neighbourhood of Barking in 
Es>ex, 44 larvae and pup*. During August and early September I 
had been finding the larvae in all stages, but at the date mentioned 
there were no really small larvae, indicating that at a certain period of 
the year, no more eggs are laid, although the emergence of the perfect 
insect still goes on. All the pupae and larvae found on October 5th, 
had been subjected to several degrees of frost and up to November 15tn 
■only one of the pupae found has emerged, and that one had the imago 
formed and ready to emerge w'hen I took it. 
Last year I touched on the improbability of citalanta being an entirely 
migratory species with us, and it would seem that the appearance of 
the perfect insect in March, together v 7 ith the decidedly robust con¬ 
stitution compared with R. cardui, tend to support the view that the 
imagines hybernate in this country. 
It is not often that we have a new Geometer to add to our British 
list, but it seems fairly evident that Major Robertson has turned up 
the true Ihera variata, and that our species, w'hich v r as sometimes 
called variata and sometimes obeliscata, is in reality obeliscata of the 
Scotch fir, and that Thera variata of the Spruce fir had gone unnoticed, 
or that it is of recent arrival. Most probably it had escaped notice. 
By the kindness of Major Robertson, I daresay it will be remembered 
that I was able to exhibit Thera variata at one of our meetings. 
There has been, during the year, some very curious local scarcity of 
some of our commonest larvae. Arctia caja was very scarce in most 
parts of the South of England, but farther north it was in its usual 
xxii.-xxiii. 
