41 
By several Entomologists I have had it described as one of the worst 
known. 
Towards the end of May I paid a visit to some woods in Hunting¬ 
donshire, and, as the weather had then greatly improved, insects were 
seen in very fair numbers. The most interesting capture was a nice 
series of Paniscua. This insect still holds out in fair numbers in its 
restricted localities, and this is another instance of an insect being 
very local without any apparent reason, as its foodplant is grass. 
In July, sugar in the Braemar district proved useless while I was 
there, but in the neighbourhood of Ballater, about 18 miles from 
Braemar, and at a slightly lower elevation, it proved attractive. The 
insect in greatest evidence was Hadena adnata, which was taken freely, 
but mostly in poor condition, as they had been out some time. Ova 
were easily obtained, and I quite expected to breed a nice series. The 
larvie were very healthy in the early stages, but when they were near¬ 
ing full size, they commenced to go off, and finally they all died. No 
■doubt larva; have their special diseases, and the disease which carried 
off these larvae, is certainly the same as that which frequently takes 
■off whole broods of Taemoeampa opima, two of the symptoms being a 
depression in the larva just below the head, which gives it the appear¬ 
ance of throwing its bead back, and the affected larvae have a way of 
feeding from the centre of the leaf instead of feeding from the edge. 
This peculiarity I have frequently noticed when a brood of Opima is 
going off, and the same thing happened with the Adnata. 
In Ireland it would seem that the season has been no better than 
it has been here, as Mr. Newman exhibited at this Society the result of 
a season’s work at Killarney, and in Co. Clare. The exhibit was a 
most interesting one, although the number of insects taken was not 
up to what might have been expected. On the whole most of the speci¬ 
mens were larger and brighter than the same species from the 
Southern countries of England, and there was a decided absence of 
melanic specimens. In most cases the variations rather tended to 
light forms, and the fauna appeared to correspond more with Southern 
English counties, than with Scotch, although there were a few 
pronounced exceptions. 
In going through the entomological journals there are an 
unusually few records of rarities having been taken. Phryxus 
■livomica was taken at Clifton on June 2nd, and there is also a record 
of Pulchella occurring in Derbyshire. Possibly the paucity of records 
of this kind may be owing to the fact that some of the insects which 
in former years were always noted, have now become more or less common 
by being bred, and are no longer looked upon as rarities. In two cases 
■there are insects mentioned as having been taken in an apparently 
wild state, but as both of them have never before been seen in England 
it almost looks as if the occurences were due to artificial causes. These 
were Papilio xutlins at Woking and Araacknia levana at Cardiff. 
Colias edusa was in strong evidence during the spring, there being 
■many records at the end of May and the beginning of June, and every¬ 
thing pointed to a most abundant season for that species. As it was, 
it was certainly fairly abundant in one or two favoured localities in the 
:SOuth, but from my own experience it -was not a prolific year. It was 
xxii.-xxiii. 
