27 
opportunity of seeing whether other forms turn up elsewhere. I have 
of course taken C. a finis in other districts, but not in any quantities, 
and I have not noticed any variety that calls for comment, except that 
at Studland Bay during the first half of August, they appear to be, as 
in the case of C. trapezina, slightly larger. 
C. difinis .—This member of the group although not being a rarity 
at Pinner is decidedly less plentiful than C. a finis both in larval and 
imaginal stage, and as it appears right at the end of July, and as I 
invariably leave for the sea at this time, I do not get much opportunity 
to work it. I have taken a few larvte from the elms, and I have also 
had a few specimens at light, but as my cabinet will show I am not 
possessed of a full series of it. I notice that ash and oak are given by 
Wilson as food plants, but I have never succeeded in finding it on 
either. * 
C. pyralina .—This last and most sought after member of the group, I 
have, ever since I have been at Pinner, taken freely at light, and have 
found it in this manner most easy of capture, as it arrives without any 
preliminary and vexatious dodging about, and makes up its mind the 
moment of its arrival where it wants to go, goes there and settles down 
as comfortably as a cat before the fire, and apparently goes fast asleep; 
the only thing that disturbs it is when some other clumsier insect 
bumps into it in its excitement. When I first went to Pinner, in 1905, 
I was so much a beginner that I did not know what I was taking and 
I remember that, coming to the conclusion that it must be the commonest 
of the group, I set aside quite a number of them to bring up on 
exchange night, when I received the necessary information as to their 
true identity, and incidentally did not take any back with me. The 
earliest date i can find in my diaries for its appearance is July 8th, and 
there from it continues throughout the month, being most abundant 
about the 15th to 20th. One interesting point that I may here 
mention, is that I have never captured a female at light, and in fact, 
I never took one at all until July, 1910, when I discovered the proper 
spot to sugar for them, and got some number. I have never beaten a 
single larva of it to my knowledge from the elms, and I therefore 
conclude that it does not feed there, but on the fruit trees in the 
orchards in my immediate vicinity, which out of respect to my 
neighbours I cannot very well beat. This opinion is endorsed by 
Owen S. Wilson, who gives pear and plum as the food plants, and by 
Stainton, though Kirby says it lives between united leaves of elm, but 
is also found on fruit trees. The question was raised on January 17th, 
as to whether anyone had succeeded in inducing a female to lay her 
eggs, and Mr. Newman appeared to be the only member present who 
had achieved this, though very sparingly; personally I have not, though 
last year I managed to totally ruin ten beautiful female specimens, taken 
at sugar, in the attempt. After death I dissected the specimens and 
found them full of eggs, and as they were taken in a wild state I 
presume that fertilisation had taken place. I therefore conclude that 
they require some special circumstance or condition to induce them to 
* Since writing these notes last August, in fact as I remained in Pinner, I was 
able to do some sugaring in the orchard around me, and I took a long and perfect 
series of this member of the group. 
XXI. 
