26 
do any leaf eating, and I am not prepared to swear to this from my 
own observation, they do not seem to mind what the leaves are, for I 
think 1 have beaten them from every form of tree. In my cabinet 
drawer will be found two series of this insect, the one on the left is 
composed of specimens taken at Pinner, or the surrounding district, 
and they show a considerable amount of variation. I have placed on 
the right of my cabinet drawer six specimens representing the extreme 
forms so far as I am acquainted with them; reading from top to bottom 
of these I should term them :— 
No. 1. Unicolorous form in which even the dark spot so constant 
in the remform is almost non-existent. 
No. 2. Brown banded and brown fringed form. 
No. 3. Grey form. 
No. 4. lied form. 
No. 5. Suffused brown form with melanic tendency. 
No. 6. Olivaceous form. 
The greyish form seems fairly plentiful, but the red form, of which 
I have only two, seems to be much less common. 
The other series is entirely from the edge of the sea, at Studland 
Bay, Dorset, and the specimens seem to be more constant in colour 
and generally of slightly larger build. All this latter series was taken 
at sugar between August 1st, and August 20th. I do not know of any 
particularly interesting facts connected with this insect, other than 
those already mentioned. 
Like most collectors, I have recollections of disasters brought about 
by its larval depredations when introduced into cages with other and 
more valuable larvae ; I recollect in my first collecting days, when I 
had the co-operation of my brother, that we suffered quite a lot of 
losses, until we got to know all about its gentle and affectionate habits 
towards its fellow creatures, when we completely isolated them in a 
cage, which we labelled the “Thieves’ Kitchen.” I fear, however, that 
this isolation business frequently involved many innocents which in 
our ignorance we thought looked suspicious. 
C. affinis .—This insect is extremely abundant in Pinner, and the 
larvae are to be beaten in quantities, from the elms allround my house, 
and in the surrounding fields ; I have never beaten it from any other 
food plant, but have reared a large number of them from larvae beaten in 
this manner and the series I am showing to-night is a bred one ; I have 
a great many others, which should any member be short of the species 
I should be very pleased to hand over. I have never found the least 
difficulty in rearing them, and have noticed how extremely rare it is to 
see a crippled specimen. 
On a propitious night it will come very freely to sugar, when I am 
out for its more distinguished congener, C. •pyralinci. With me there 
is a curious fact in connection with C. affinis, in that only on one 
occasion in five years has it come to light in my house, whereas its 
aforesaid relative, C. yt/ralina, turns up so freely that 1 have taken as 
many as 25 in a night. I have also worked with a lamp and sheet, 
but have never taken it in this way. The series in my cabinet will be 
sufficient to demonstrate the amount of variation that it is subject to 
in my district, and I shall be delighted to avail myself to-night of the 
xxi. 
