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61
Notes from Corn
By W. G. TREMEWAN.
The season in Cornwall was very late in 1955 as it probably was
in other parts of the country. The thaw began early in March, al-
though there was continuous hoar frost until 22nd March.
Visits to the Gwithian sand dunes during April produced a good
series of Hlachista migrella Haw. At sallow, moths were very scarce
throughout the month; four Orthosia gracilis Schf. (red form) emerged
from pupae resulting from larvae taken the previous ‘year in the New
Forest. |
Lithocolletis geniculella Rag., a species new to my list, was cap-
tured on 10th May on the edge of a sycamore wood.
Pararge aegeria lL. was scarce during the spring, but was to be
found in its usual abundance in the summer brood and eventually
produced a partial third brood, as I captured a pair in copula on
15th October. One or two specimens in good condition were seen after
this date.
My wite and I visited Gwithian on 22nd May and found Cally
morpha jacobaeae L. abundant; a ¢ Phragmatobia fuliginosa L. was
found in copula with a C. jacobaeae 2, but no eggs resulted although
I kept the jacobaeae until 11th June, when she died an apparently
natural death.
One Vanessa cardwi L. was noted on 27th May, and two Platyptilia
gonodactyla Schiff. emerged (28th May and lst June) from seedheads
of Tussilago collected from Gwithian in April.
On 3lst May a single Argynnis euphrosyne L. 2 was captured in
fresh condition, having a large faint cream blotch in each hind wing
on the upper side.
We paid a visit to the Lazard district on 5th June, but conditions
were poor; a strong) sea breeze was blowing and the sun became obscured
half an hour after our arrival at 10 a.m. No larvae of Lasiocampa
trifolua Schf. were found although we searched carefully. However,
before the sun disappeared, we were able to examine a colony of
Kuphydryds aurinia Rott., and a ¢ was taken having the usual pale
yellow spots. replaced by fulvous orange.
The first Colias croceus Foure. was seen at Falmouth on llth June,
and on the detached rocks around Pendennis Point I took a good
series of Platytes cerusellus Schiff,, although only three females were
taken; these were harder to find as they were less inclined to fly.
Larvae and imagines of Coleophora discordella Zell. were found on
Lotus sp., and a large Zygaena filipendulae L. 2 was also taken, an
early date for this species as it normally appears during the latter half
of July; although it was damaged, I took it because of the excep-
tional date.
At Maen Porth, a 9 Nemotois degeerella L. was found at rest on a
stem of Heracleum, but a search'failed to produce any more of this
species.
At home, a worn C. croceus 2 was seen on 13th June, and another,
together with V. cardui, on 16th June.
We visited Boscastle on 28th June where my wife took Aglais
62 ENTOMOLOGIST’ S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
urticae LL. with a pink ground colour, in fresh condition. We looked
for Panaxia dominula LL, without success and came to the conclusion
that we were too early.
On 4th July I captured a Plebejus argus L. (=aegon Schiff.) ¢
with the orange spots on the underside replaced by chocolate brown.
An identical aberration, a female this time, was taken on 8th July
from the same colony, which is situated on an area of heath not many
yards square. A male Thecla quercus L. emerged the same day.
A further visit was paid to North Cornwall on 10th July, where
at Boscastle we found P. dominula abundant with even one or two
specimens fiying away from the colony and in the village itself. An
Argynnis aglaia L. 2 was taken with the right forewing heavily suf-
fused with black seales, the other three wings being normal; I have
taken forms suffused in all wings befcre, as this is not infrequently
found in the females in Cornwall; incidentally, I have never found a
dark male. Perhaps I might venture to state that the female is
dimorphic in Cornwall, but I have had no experience of this species
in other parts of the country.
On the cliffs east of Bude we found a small colony of Zygaena tri-
fol Esp., most of them being in good condition, although the date
indicates that these might be the marsh form, palustris. The locality
was very dry except for a small stream and there was definitely no
marsh. Where does one draw the line between species and sub-species
in the Burnets?
Incidentally, a worn Argynnis selene Schiff. was captured for iden-
tification purposes and released. From the late date of this insect, as
it must have been the spring brood, [I should imagine that the Burnet
is trifolu, and not the subspecies. Perhaps species are late in emerg-
ing on the north Cornish coast.
At Gwithian on 13th July we found I’. aegon practically swarm-
ing; a gynandrous female was taken having rays of blue in the right
hand pair of wings. Two other females were taken with blue in the
fore and hind wings similar to the sub-species masseyt; this form turns
up occasionally on the sand dunes.
On 16th July light and sugar were used at Gwithian but a thick
sea fog spoiled everything. However, two Hilema complana lL. were
taken at sugar, a new species to me, and this was the only insect to
turn up.
A Z. filipendulae 2 having the spots united emerged from a pupa
taken near St. Ives. Aberration in the Burnets has been scarce this
year as compared with 1954.
The ‘‘one that got away’’ was a lovely lemon yellow Pieris rapae
L. which IT was unable to secure, as I had no net with me at the time;
this was on 22nd July.
The weather throughout July was almost tropical and butterflies
were drinking at patches of wet mud, and I saw _ several Pierids
drowned in pools and streams, presumably in an attempt to obtain
water.
A fresh V. cardui was noted on 26th July and on the 28th fresh
examples of (. crocews were observed ; some of them were limp and dry-
ing their wings, showing that there was a local emergence.
On the 3lst at Gwithian P. aegon was over, but the second brood
NOTES FROM CORNWALL, 1955, 63
of A. selene was appearing and eventually proved to be just as abun-
dant as the spring brood; it is double brooded in this locality every
year, but the summer examples are much smaller.
On 2nd August V. cardw started emerging in my breeding cages.
On llth August I captured Rhodometra sacrara. L., a female which
laid a batch of fertile eggs. The first C. croceus ab. pallida was taken
on the 16th; altogether eight of the pale forms were taken during the
season.
On 22nd August a worn Pieris brassicae L. 9 came to light at 9.45
p.m.
A. selene ab. marphisa was taken on 24th August, but hardly so
extreme as the specimen figured in Frohawk’s Vareties of British
Butterfies, Pl. 12, Wigs. 2 and 3:
On the 28th a dwarf Maniola tithonus L. 3 was taken; it was about
the size of a normal Lycaena phlaeas L., but it is unfortunately rather
worn; tithonus with additional spots turned up in their usual num-
bers. Also on the 28th at Gwithian, a nice series of Aspttates ochrearia
Rossi; previously I had only known this species from odd specimens;
it was remarkably abundant and could be kicked up from the Marram
Grass at every few yards.
Nycterosea obstipata Fab. 2 came to light in good condition on
the 29th and a further male was taken on 2nd September.
The first example of the third brood of P. brassicae appeared on
12th September and eventually the species became not uncommon. A
fresh male C’. croceus was noticed on the 13th and thereafter became
common. Whether this second lot was migratory or the progeny of
the first local emergence I cannot say.
A dwarf L. phlaeas was captured on 17th September and a Colius
hyale L. gd was seen on the same day, but unfortunately not taken.
I was on a motor-cycle when I first saw it but I was not lucky enough
to capture it with a pill box.
On the 18th, a beautiful R. sacraria 2 ab. sanguinana emerged; a
male emerged on the 19th followed on the 21st by a female, which,
however, was crippled. These two were typical and all were progeny of
the female captured on 11th August. I had about two dozen pupae
altogether, but after these three emergences the rest died, although
the moths could be seen fully developed in the pupae. The larvae had
pupated in moss, which I kept fairly damp.
P. brassicae S was captured on the 21st having two spots in’ the
forewings united on the under side.
Nomophila noctuella Schiff. was extremely abundant throughout
the autumn, and Macroglossum stellatarum L. was not uncommon.
A specimen of this latter species was bred from a larva which my wife
found at Gwithian.
On 25th September L. phlaeas was taken with a cream patch in
the left forewing and a white patch in the left hind wing.
On 3rd October a pair of Pararge megera L. were seen in copula,
both freshly hatched and presumably a partial third brood. On the
Ath, two worn LL. phlaeas were captured with white spots in all four
wings. On the same day, two fresh P. megera 2 Q were noted, and a
badly worn Polyommatus icarus Rott. 9. On the 6th another dwarf
L. phlaeas 2 was taken, with the band on the hind wings obsolete and
64 ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
the copper only showing on the veins. It is in good condition, and a
further example was taken on the 13th.
On 18th October C. croceus 9° was taken, with the usual yellow
spotting in the borders practically obsolete. The first frost occurred
on the night of 28th-29th but a croceus SG was seen flying strongly
during the day when the sun came out, also a worn megera.
Butterflies continued into November and ZL. phlaeus produced a
third brood which was much longer than those in the spring or summer.
The last croceus was seen on 15th November, a tresh L. phlaeas 9
being taken on the same day; was this an example of a fourth brood?
V. atalanta was also seen on this date.
The last phlaeas, a worn specimen, was seen on 24th November,
followed by an A. wurticae on the 25th. V. cardui was last noted on
4th November in poor condition.
Plutella maculipennis Curt. was swarming throughout the autumn
and a fresh specimen was seen on 30th November, while Pyrausta fer-
rugalis Hb. was noted on 8th December.
So ended a wonderful season, not only for abundance of butterflies
and moths, but also for such beautiful weather. The Micros were
especially abundant in the spring, and back, more or less, to normal.
All the insects mentioned were taken in the Redruth district, that is,
within a five mile radius, unless otherwise mentioned.
Some Further Records of Sterrha rusticata Schiff.
By A. J. SHowreR, M.Sc.
Since my paper (1) on Sterrha rusticata Schiff. further information
has been forthcoming, in view of which certain of my statements must
be modified. It is convenient to deal with this information county by
county.
Sussex. J. M. Chalmers-Hunt has brought to my notice the capture
of two specimens at Rye on 13th and 14th August 1909 by E. C. Raven >
(2), while R. F. Bretherton mentions its capture at Eastbourne by R.
E. Ellison, who has kindly intormed me that he took one specimen, a
male, on 29th July 1952, though he has not seen any others since.
Humpshire. In the collection of J. P. Robson are three specimens
labelled ‘‘N. Forest, 1.7.06’. Unfortunately these were obtained by
exchange from a person unknown, and so further verification of this
record is needed.
Dorset. KR. F. Bretherton has supplied records later than my own
for Portland, viz. from the University Museum, Oxford, specimens
labelled ‘‘19/24.v1i1.1906”’ and ‘‘7/9.v11.1921’’ (by Rufus Castle); and
a record for 12.v11.1937 (8).
Lastly, G. A. Ford (4) has informed us in his article that a locality
‘still exists—‘‘a small area... . 20 feet by 3 feet at the base of a
certain cliff, where pellitory-of-the-wall grows’’.
Ireland. The possibility of rusticata existing in Ireland is discussed
by R. F. Haynes (5) who suggests that it may well be found at Caragh
Lake, Killarney.
If this is indeed the case, then Sterrha rusticata may well have a
distribution similar to some species cited by EK. B. Ford (6) as being
of coastal occurrence in southern England and S.W. Ireland, viz.
ISLE OF CANNA COLLECTING NOTES, 1955: A REMARKABLE AUGUST. 65
Cryphia muralis Forst., Heliophobus reticulata Vill., and Eustrotia
olivana Schiff., and if this is so it makes an oceurrence in St. Kilda
even less likely, although as Bretherton points out, the record ‘‘was
accepted by A. S. Corbet in a careful note on St. Kilda lepidoptera’’
Cay.
To sum up, then, Sterrha rusticata Schiff. at the present day has
a more continuous distribution than I at first suggested (1), still occur-
ring in Dorset and Sussex as well as in Kent and Devonshire. It has
possibly occurred, and may still do so, in Ireland and Hampshire. Are
there any recent records from the latter county or the Isle of Wight?
In conclusion I wish to thank all those mentioned in vlads text for
their assistance in preparing these further notes.
REFERENCES.
. Showler, A. J. Ent. Rec. (1955), 67: 45
. Raven, E. C. Entom. (1909), 42: 239.
C. G. M. de Worms. Entom. (1938), 71: 201
Ford, G. A. Ent. Rec. (1955), 67: 106.
Haynes, R. F. Ent. Rec. (1955), 67: 131.
Ford, E. B. Moths, 1955, p. 162 (New Naturalist Series).
. Corbet, A. S. Entom. (1945), 78: 166.
Isle of Canna Collecting Notes, 1955: A remarkable
August
By Dr. J. L. CAMPBELL.
EG oI 69 tO
1955 followed two bad years of wet summers and cold and stormy
. winters. Consequently the island’s stock of insects was very consider-
ably reduced, with the exception of C’. rubt which, owing to a succession
of fine springs, is steadily becoming more plentiful here.
Three heavy falls of snow in the early months of 1955, all with low
temperatures—something quite unusual here, for as a rule the Hebrides
have snowfalls only once every two or three years and the snow rarely
lasts long—wiped out the Canna colony of P. brassicae completely. The
spring moths were scarce, 23 being the largest catch in the m.yv. trap
in April 16th (11 O. stabilis, 6 O. incerta, 5 X. areola, 1 O. gothica).
There was mild weather at Easter, but even then the nights were cold
and clear and catches were very small. This kind of weather lasted
into May, when the trap for the first time in May (8th) gave a nil
return.
On 14th May I left Canna for a fortnight in Shetland and the
Faeroes ; during all this time the weather was very cold. At the begin-
ning of June there came a disastrously cold dry easterly wind which
blasted all the early leaves and must have been a setback to sallow—
and .poplar—feeding larvae; it checked the growth of the young willows.
birches and poplars here very much. Owing to this unseasonable
weather after the severe winter, wild bees became very scarce indeed,
and the apple crop failed. The weather remained unsuitable for the
m.v. trap until the middle of June, when 80 moths comprising 30 species
were taken, including a specimen of Hadena caesia. On the night of
19th-20th June the total was 71 moths comprising 21 species; 29 of the
moths were exclanationis; the catch included the first P. gamma of the
season; there was also a queen wasp. On 26th-27th June only 67 moths
66 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/ TIT /1956
were taken—a miserable total for midsummer; of these 33 were A.
exclamationis and one P. gamma. These poor catches continued into
July, and the totals did not start tc increase until the end of the month,
when wild bees (queens) also began to be noticed again. On 19th-20th
July 150 moths were taken comprising 39 species; one, R. wmbratica,
was new to the collection. On 25th-26th July there were 191 moths
comprising 42 species, of which M. brassicae was a newcomer. On 29th-
30th July there were 171 moths, 37 species, and a newcomer in C.
elinguaria. D. rubi was also taken this month.
August was the month which provided the surprises, however. After
six weeks of good weather since midsummer we had hardly dared to
hope for a fine August; but we got the finest August since 1947 and
some of the warmest and calmest weather I ever remember experiencing
in the Hebrides. As a result of this, insects increased in number
remarkably; all records for the trap were beaten, the highest previous
night’s catch was nearly doubled, and more moths were taken in the
trap in August than in any previous whole year. The result is worth
tabulating.
Canna M.V. Trarp—Aveust 1955.
No. of Of which : A. xantho- No. of New
Date. Moths. T.pronuba H.micacea grapha P.gamma Species Species
aia, le 14 3 == if = 8 —
3 153 17 6 — — 30 —
9* 97 PAL 12 3 — 1 —
Bal 23 3 3 — = 9 =
12 390 55 99 18 1 40 1
14 408 53 1s 36 — 4] 2
Pal 306 55 86 22 — 28 2
22 371 36 141 45 2 25 —
(record)
24 329 25 91 61 5 31 2
25 512 46 104 1S DAT 27 2
(record) Ws :
26 224 28 47 38 8 28 2
D7 29 1 of 5 — gh —
29 378 52 136 44 5 28 if
Syl 23 1 2 9 2 10 —
TOTALS 3,257 396 849 395 50 81 12
different
species
*Trap on for only part of night.
Thus within little over a fortnight a dozen new species were added
to the collection. Altogether eighty-one species were taken in the trap
in August, compared to a previous highest number of 47 for that month,
in 1952. They were as follows :—
RHOPALOCERA (1 species): V. atalanta (2 on 26th).
SPHINGIDAE (1 species): *H. convolvuli (2, one on 24th, one on 26th).
NoToDONTIDAE (1 species): *P. tremula (one on 26th).
AROTIIDAE (1 species): A. caja (6).
ISLE OF CANNA COLLECTING NOTES, 1955: A REMARKABLE AUGUST. 67
NocturmpaE (55 species): Apatele ruwmicis (1), *Euxoa cursoria (8), EH.
tritici (159), A. ypsilon (2), DL. strigula (1), tA. praecox (1—not
taken since 1951), A. lucernea (9), *A. agathina (4), A. glareosa
(179, including a nice pinkish specimen), *A. castanea (1), A.
baja. (26), A. c-nigrum (2), A. ditrapeziwm (12), D. festiva (2),
A. xanthographa (395), O. plecta (4), T. comes (26), T. pronuba
(396), *L. fimbriata (1 on 14th), T. canthina (164), D. oleracea (5),
H. conspersa (3), H. cucubah (1), tT. cespitis 1), C. graminis
(78), *D. protea (1, on 25th), L. testacea (13), *C. haworthu (10,
first on 14th), A. furva (4), A. secalis (128), P. fasciuncula (1),
A. monoglypha (89), A. lutulenta (8), A. nigra (25), P. chi (8),
P. meticulosa (1), *C. leucostigma (1, on 24th), H. lucens (221;
all the examples I sent to Mr. Tams were identified as lucens),
H. micacea. (849), A. pygmina (fulva) (4), LZ. umpura (2), L. coni-
gera (8), S. anomala (1), C. blanda (taraxact) (3), A. tragopogonis
(3), O. lunosa (26: of which 23 on the 29th), *C. lutea (1, on 25th),
=. solidaginis (1; on 29th), P. chrysitis (36), P. bractea (6), P. fes-
tucae (3), P. pulchrina (26), P. gamma. (50, of which 27 on the
25th), A. tripartita (5), H. proboscidalis (4).
GEOMETRIDAE (21 species): S. biselata (4), O. chenopodiata (lumitata) (6),
A. plagiata (9), L. testata (99), LD. populata (2), D. truncata and
D. citrata (36 in all, in about equal proportions, identified by
Mr. D. S. Fletcher), T. cognata (2), *T. firmata (1, on 26th), X.
ferrugata (2), X. designata (2), X. montanata (2), X. fluctuata
(16), P. affinitata (1), H. furcata (18), E. oblongata (1), C. rect-
angulata (1), C. margaritata (1), O. luteolata (4), A. repandata
(9), G. myrtillata (6).
Micros: N. noctuella (4, one on 14th, 24th, 25th and 29th).
*Indicates a new species added to the collection.
tIndicates a species taken for the second time only.
One interesting thing about this August lst is that it contains some
species such as caia, rumicis, plecta, oleracea, conspersa, cucubali and
impura, occurring unusually late; other species, such as ypsilon,
glareosa, nigra, meticulosa and lunosa occurring unusually early. A
partial second brood may have occurred in some of the former cases.
During this period we experienced the warmest nights I have ever
known in the Hebrides. On the 23rd-24th, the night temperature was
67° F.; 24th-25th, 67° F.; 25th-26th, 63° F.; 29th, 58° F. With day
temperatures around 80° F. and night temperatures over 60° F., it
felt more like the Mediterranean than the Atlantic!
As the temperature fell, and breezes returned, the moths vanished.
On Ist September with a temperature of 55° F., there were only 62
moths comprising 14 species, including one (. lutea and one C. icteritia
(fulvago) ; of the rest 22 were T.. pronuwba and 12 H. micacea. The latter
(micacea) swarmed all through August and occurred in all shades and
S1ZeS.
The fine weather, which had become a drought, broke on 9th Septem-
ber. Thereafter, few good nights for the trap occurred until November,
which was surprisingly mild and calm. P. gamma was taken on Ist and
22nd September, 4th October, 38rd November and Ist December! I had
never found it worth working the m.y. trap in November before; this
68 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/117 /1956
year it produced A. ipsilon, P. porphyrea (saucia), A. circellaris, P.
gamma and HH. defoliaria, and several specimens of A. sponsana during
that month. On 1st December circellaris, gamma, P. pedaria and E.
defoliaria oceurred in the trap and O. brwmata was observed at a lighted
window. O. brumata and E. defoliaria appeared at lighted windows
again on Christmas Eve.
An interesting feature of the 1955 season was the length of time over
which some species appeared, indicating possibly partial second broods.
Last seen
First observed Main brood over
pom yO SRNR By
c-nigrum
18th June
30th July
. Warus midsummer mid-August 7th September
. Caza. 18th June 30th July 24th August
. TUMICIS 18th June 10th July 14th August
strigula 20th June 26th July 12th August
. lucernea 18th June ? 29th August
not again till
25th August
. plecta 18th June 27th June 24th August
. oleracea 18th June 30th July 29th August
. conspersa 2nd May 20th July 20th August
. cong era 27th June 30th July 24th August
. tripartita 16th June 30th July 22nd August
T. pronuba appeared in the trap from 18th June to 5th September.
The total number of moths taken in the m.v. trap during 1955 was
4,308, almost exactly twice the previous highest total, 2,157 in 1952.
The total number of different species including V. atalanes was, how-
ever, only 123, against 121 in 1952: this was due to the poor pipes
before the middle of July.
Butterflies, except for (. rubi and V. atalanta, were scarcer than
usual. P. brassicae and V. io were not noticed at all. A. aglaia was
observed at the far western end of the island on 11th August, a glorious
day. V. atalanta turned up in greater numbers than had been the
case during the past two years, and was seen as late as 4th November.
V. cardui made a welcome reappearance, none having been seen in 1954
and only one in 1953. I am afraid that the destruction of thistles by
selective weed killers here is going to reduce the home bred generation
in future years; but other species of lepidoptera are going to benefit
from the tree planting which is going on, and which will increase the
number of alders, willows, birches, oaks and poplars considerably, the
project being to plant a half-acre or so every winter steadily.
In conclusion, J must express my gratitude to Messrs. W. H. Tams,
D. S. Fletcher and J. D. Bradley for assistance in identifying various
species. Mr. Bradley has identified the following micros taken in the
trap in 1955: P. cespitalis, P. dilutella, T. ribeana, C. colquhounana,
E. nigromaculana, FE. cana, EF. diniana, P. lipsiana, D. abietella, H.
nympheata and A. sponsana.
The Middle Copper
By P. B. M. Awan,
Years ago Heodes (Chrysophanus, Lycaena) virgaureae Linn., the
‘Middle Copper’ of the old English authors, was a not uncommon
THE MIDDLE COPPER, 69
butterfly in Great Britain. The evidence for this would appear to be
irrefutable and I hope to put it before my readers in a book which will
shortly be committed to the printer. Had not Tutt categorically
asserted in his Natural History of the British Butterflies that the early
English lepidopterists confused virgaureae with dispar doubtless the
Middle Copper would still appear in our handbooks. Suffice it here to
say that on a critical examination Tutt’s allegation will not hold water
for a moment.
Briefly, H. virguureae dwindled to extinction in this island during
the last decades of the eighteenth century. In 1803 Haworth recorded
it as being ‘‘very rare’’ and by 1835 Duncan was able to write that the
species ‘“‘does not appear to have been found for many years’’. Its last
stronghold of which | have contemporary information that | regard as
reliable was in Lancashire, where it appears to have been plentiful:
but I have seen no reason to doubt reports by the curator of a museum
(an associate of the Linnean Society) in one case and a well-known
lepidopterist in another that virgaureae existed in Banff in 1857 and
in Cumberland in 1858. It was not a fenland species, being sometimes
found at a considerable altitude, though it was addicted to humid
ground (owing to the ecological requirements of the larval food-plant),
and so lately as 1899 W. F. Kirby wrote that he had heard it still
existed in some inaccessible spot in the West Country.
So the story I am about to relate should not be lightly dismissed as
‘fantastic’; for although H. virgawreae may, to-day, be extinct in
England it is within the bounds of possibility that it did actually linger
cn in some of those many out of the way places in our island which no
lepidopterist ever seems to visit. In these days of rush and hurry, and
consequent conduct of business at high pressure, very few lepidopterists
indeed have the leisure to potter about the country and collect ‘at
large’. Most of us have only a fortnight’s holiday each summer, and
there are gaps in our collections: we prefer to go to places where we
know we can fill some of the gaps rather than visit out of the way spots
on the mere chance that something good might turn up. Besides, we
have wives and children who must share our holiday with us, and in
some of the inaccessible places one would have to put up with the dis-
comfort and limited accommodation of a village ale-house. So the
places ‘at tle back of beyond’ remain unvisited, unexplored. How many
lepidopterists are aware that until 1942, when the last specimen was
noticed, Maculinea arion Linn. was plentiful in a small and somewhat
inaccessible island off our coast? Jt was a fine large race, lke the well-
known Cornish one of fifty years ago. Doubtless this fine insect still
exists In some of the hundreds of islands which compose the British
Isles.—But to my tale.
During the first world war my friend, Sidney George Castle Russell,
had to pay a business visit to the West Country during the middle of
June. Being in need of a brief holiday after many strenuous months
in London, he arranged to go by road, accompanied by his wife and an
old friend named W. G. Mills. They motored about Devon, searching
for places where M. uthalia would be likely to be found, and one after-
noon, coming to a small town which lay somewhat off the beaten track,
they passed through country of exceptional beauty. Next morning at
breakfast C.R. asked his wife how she would like to spend the morning,
70 ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
as he would have to remain at the mn and write letters. Mrs. Castle
Russell said that she had been so charmed by the country they had
passed through the previous afternoon that she would like to go back
for a few miles and see it again. Accordingly, C.R. ordered an ancient
fly (which was the only conveyance the inn possessed) to be got ready,
and presently his wife and Mills drove off along the road by which they
had come the previous day.
After they had gone a few miles the driver cf the fly pulled up
alongside a stile, from which a footpath ran along a hillside above a very
beautiful valley, to join another road (actually a loop of the road they
were on) which could be seen in the distance.
“Tf you would like a little walk’’, said the man, ‘“‘you could take that
footpath there and meet me at the other end; it’s on the way you're
going’’.
So Mrs. Castle Russell and Mills crossed the stile and took the path
along the hillside, and after a time they met the fly at the spot idi-
cated.
On their return to the inn, Mrs. C. R. and Mills were both enthusi-
astic about their walk, deseribing the hillside and valley as beautiful
beyond belief. ‘‘And what do you think, Sidney’’, said Mrs. Castle
Russell, ‘‘we saw numbers of Large Coppers flying. We tried to knock
some down, but they flew too fast for us. Flying in the sunshine, they
looked most beautiful’’.
“They did indeed’’, corroborated Mills.
C.R. looked from one to the other. Both were in earnest. ‘‘Why,
it’s impossible’, he said. ‘‘The Large Copper has been extinct for at
least fifty years. You couldn’t possibly have seen one’’.
“But we did, Sidney. There’s no other butterfly like a Large Cop-
per, is there’’?
“They must have been fritillaries of some sort’’.
“They weren’t. They were Large Coppers. Weren’t they’’ ?—she
turned to Mills.
‘T certainly thought so’’, said Mills. .
“What other butterflies are shining copper-coloured’’? she insisted.
And that was a question her husband could not answer.
‘“‘“Anyhow’’, she went on, ‘‘you can easily prove it for yourself. We'll
have the fly out again after lunch and go back and catch some’’.
But the spirit of St. Thomas had settled heavily upon C.R. Ob-
viously the butterflies were fritillaries or megera or—or—oh, anything
but dispar. It was impossible. It’s all foolishness, he thought. A waste
of time to go back. He laughed it off, and after lunch he and Mills
went fishing instead... .
That was the story Castle Russell told me one day at his home in
Surrey. We were sitting side by side on that famous settee before the
fire, the cabinets containing his marvellous collection at our backs.
‘“‘May I write this in the Record’’? I asked presently.
‘Why, yes, if you lke’’, he replied. ‘If you think it’s worth while.
It’s still a mystery to me what they were, and probably it will never be
solved’’.
“Vou never thought of going there again’’ ?
“The opportunity never occurred. I[ did think once or twice of going:
THE MIDDLE COPPER. (al
but it’s an out of the way place and the inn wasn’t very comfortable,
and I didn’t fancy being cooped up there for some days if it rained all
the time, as it often does in the West Country. Besides, I'd already
worked that part of the country for athalia, and I don’t think there
was anything else worth catching there. It would probably have been
a wild goose chase’’.
I thought no more about the matter until 1950, when I had completed
my survey of H. virgaureae in England, and then I re-opened the matter.
We discussed it in letters, and C.R. (always eager to go out of his way
to do his friends a service) wrote to his friend Mills, who, then aged 8&6,
was living in another part of the country, and asked for his recollections
of the matter. Here are some extracts from the letters.
20.x.1950. S.G.C.R. to P.B.M.A. ‘‘With regard to your letter .
Both had collecting experience and knew the various species, especially
my friend who had two sons he used to help collect, and my wife, too,
had been collecting with me for many years. It did occur to me that
they might have been one of the species of rare coppers, but the date
seemed to me to be far too early for dispar, and I knew very little about
the other species. The place was some 15 miles away and I did not
think it worth while to go and ascertain what the species was. The
terrain was certainly not suitable for dispar. Unfortunately, although
they both tried to catch an example, the ground was too rough and no
net was available. I have always been sorry that I did not go and solve
the mystery, especially as soon after I got home I read that one of the
species (I forget which) had been taken in Devonshire. Of one thing I
am quite certain and that is that the butterfly in question was not one
of the species that we were all collecting . . . No early cydippe or aglaia
were about, and only athalia and selene of the fritillaries in evidence.
Tithonus was out with a few late aurinia. I thought that they might
have met with a colony of early aglaia, but they were quite definite
that they were not. And so the thing remains an unsolved mystery. . .”’
26.x.1950. S.G.C.R. to P.B.M.A. ‘In connection with the ‘Un-
known’ I thought I would write to my oldest living friend, W. G. Mills,
whom I was intimate with when we were both in the twenties and ask
him what he remembered about the episode. I cannot do better than
enclose that portion of the letter that refers to the matter. ... You
will see that he has still got in his mind the idea that the butterflies seen
were large coppers and both he and my wife were familiar with most
species as both collected very frequently with me. I do not know the
sort of ground that virgawreae frequent nor the time of appearance. . .”’
2StxdQ50%, (hi. Biv AY to G.C hoes ©'On) itheaContinente ye 411peT=
gaureae is on the wing during the second half of May and again in
July-August. Dispar flies (on the Continent) during the first week of
June. But in England dispar is not on the wing until the first week
of July (at Wicken Fen), and it is usually the case that when a butter-
fly has two broods, the spring brood in England is from a fortnight to
a month (generally quite a month) later than on the Continent. So
we should expect virgawreae to be out, in England, about 18th June
in a normal year, continuing on the wing for about three weeks. In
a ‘late’ year it would not appear until the end of June, continuing
ie ENTOMOLOGIST S$ RECORD, VOL, 63. 15/111 / 1956
until mid-July. It is not a fen species, but frequents hillsides, flowery
meadows about streamlets, etc., on the higher ground. There is of
course no English butterfly which even a novice could mistake on the
wing for one of the larger Coppers.”’
94.x.1950. IV.G.M. to S.G.C.R. ‘‘As to the experience to) which
you refer what I remember of the matter is that your good wife and I
were very favourably impressed with the last part of the drive
that I think it was the very next morning that we decided to engage
a horse and trap to take us over the last few miles that we might have
time to take a good look slowly at the country. When we had got out
a little way the driver said, “If you would like a little walk you could
take a footpath here, and mect me at the other end, all on the way you
are going,’’? which it proved to be; but 1 cannot remember whether our
footpath took us all the way to the place we were making for or whether
the driver of our carriage drove us some part of the way to the place,
and I cannot remember if we had lunch out. According to my memory
the idea of the trip was only to have a good look at the lovely country
through which we had travelled...
Mrs. Russell and I were more than pleased that our driver had
suggested the footpath walk. It was very beautitul country, part ot
the walk was on the side of a lill which ran down a considerable dis-
tance to a valley; bushes at the bottom I think shut our view off from
the very bottom of the valley. It was along here that we saw some
particularly beautiful butterflies, and were very excited thinking they
were large coppers. As you know my limited experience of butterflies
I was not surprised but disappointed that you did not share my excite-
ment . ta
30.x.1950. S.G.C.R. to P.B.M.A. ‘‘Mills resided at Westcliff on
Sea where he used to go out on butterfly expeditions with his boys, and
I think he used to occasionally report having seen edusa. At the time
there was a well-known collector named Conquest there with whom he
was friendly, who had formed a very fine collection. As regards hera
neither my wife nor Mills had ever seen the moth but were of course
familiar with the garden tiger. As you infer, however, the date would
not fit in as hera would not have been on the wing so early nor, J
think, would caja. I can only blame myself for not making an investi-
gation at the time, but I could not assimilate the idea of large coppers
being on the wing in June and probably had had enough driving for a
GimMevae 2
7.x1.1950. S.G.C.R. to P.B.M.A. “I have had another letter from
Mills in which he repeats the fact that he . . . told the driver that he
was to follow the road we had come by car the previous day. He goes
on... ‘‘I do not remember seeing any village, stream or landmark of
auy kind to mention. I have never seen such a gorgeous show of but-
terflies with, scattered ainongst them, what Mrs. Russell and I thought
were large coppers. I was greatly impressed with the wonderful display
of butterflies. My sons and I used to find clouded yellow butterflies on
Canvey Island ...’’ Mills always had a horror of exaggerating in the
least, and minimised everything, and knowing him so well IT ought to
have allowed for this characteristic, and made an investigation. How-
CURRENT NOTES. 73
ever, we preferred to go fishing, resulting in one small trout between
39
us.
It was not possible to pin-point the place on the map and I think
that at this distance of time it would be a waste of labour to attempt
to do so. Roadside stiles leading to footpaths along hillsides with
flowery valleys below are a common feature of some parts of the West
Country, and neither Castle Russell nor Mills could say how far the
fly had travelled from the inn. C.R. mentioned 15 miles; Mills thought
only ‘‘a little way’’; it may have been anything from two to six miles.
(It is unlikely that the old four-wheeler, drawn by perhaps an equally
ancient quadruped, the kind of turn-out that was kept at country inns
in those days, could have travelled 30 miles there and back in a day,
let alone in a morning—for be it remembered that C.R. and Mills went
fishing in the afternoon. Probably ten miles is the most that such a
conveyance, with three people in it, could have covered in a morning,
especially in a hilly country.)
But as for the butterflies seen that mid-June day in 1917 by Mrs.
Castle Russell and Mr. Mills one thing is certain, and that is that
these butterflies were of a kind unknown to either of them. During the
previous days they had watched C.R. netting ‘‘and boxing’ athalia
and aurinia—ot these latter they found ‘‘a large colony’? of which ‘‘all
specimens seen were very worn’’. Castle Russell assured me that his
wife had seen and caught or seen him catch all the English fritillaries
except Issoria lathonia L. There is no English butterfly which a person
with several years’ experience of the British butterflies could by any
possibility mistake for a Large Copper—and be it noted that not a
single specimen was seen but many, that Mrs. C.R. and Mr. Mills tried
to catch several of them, and that in trying to knock down a specimen
they must both have been very close to them. Those who have seen (’.
dispar or rutilus or hippothoe (chrysets) or virgaureae or ottomanus or
gordius on the wing will agree that the larger Copper butterflies of
Kurope are unmistakable when flying in the sunshine. My own opinion
(which of course is worth, in terms of Entomology, nothing at all) is
that Mrs. Castle Russell and Mr. Mills chanced upon, that memorable
day in June 1917, what was perhaps the last surviving colony of Heodes
virgaureae in the south of England. That this colony should have
survived until so recently unknown to lepidopterists is in no way re-
markable—no whit more remarkable than the discovery, during this
present century, of Carterocephalus palaemon Pallas in Inverness-shire.
It is merely another case in point of the neglect of English lepidopterists
to explore their own country:
It remains for me to add that W. G. Mills died on 29th December
1955, aged 91, and to thank his eldest son, Dr. W. T. Mills of Ramsbury,
for permission to quote the above passages from his father’s letters.
Current Notes
The Field Naturalist Vol. 1, No. 1 (New Series) is before us as an
eight-page printed magazine instead of its former duplicated typescript
form. This is much more convenient and lasting. It is a local magazine
of general Natural History interest in the North-west corner of Eng-
a ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/117 /1956
land, and is a bi-monthly intended to circulate local Natural History
intelligence amongst the local naturalists, and as such it is a useful
undertaking which has our best wishes. We foresee one small danger,
however, and that is that contributors having noted their observations
and captures in local magazines, as they should do, will omit to mention
them also in the national magazines, thus complicating the task of the
research student very considerably, for there is a large number of really
local publications. What is really desirable is that ordinary observations
should be given at once to the local magazines, and special notes of
rarities and unusual occurrences both to the local and the national maga-
zines, and the interesting summaries of the year’s work still have their
place with the National magazines as these records cover those first
published in the local magazine. The great advantage of the local maga-
zine is that it stimulates all with an interest in natural history, who
live in the district, and we look forward to the resurrection of the fine
breed of Artisan Naturalists who did so much in the last century and
the early part of the present century, for seeking out the secrets of
nature for themselves will once more create the active mind which is the
secret of human happiness.
The Thirtieth Report of the Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Com-
mittee is to hand. This is dated ‘December 1954’ but has only just
been issued (January 1956). It contains the reports of Recorders for
the years 1950 to 1953 inclusive and very impressive some of these re-
ports are. Of the 78 pages some 25 are devoted to insects. H. N.
Michaelis ably lists the additions and interesting species of lepidoptera
noted in the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. As usual most of
the new records concern the micros but it is surprising how many fresh
macros turn up. S. Shaw of the Manchester Museum is responsible for
the report on the insects of the ‘Other Orders’. Preponderant in his list
are Hymenoptera, and especially the parasitica. It is interesting to
note that so many of these records concern insects collected by the late
Harry Britten who did so much for the Fauna Committee and whose
photograph and obituary notice appear in the same issue. W. K. Ford
reports on the Odonata and Orthoptera.
The whole report is well got up and printed and to those of us who
collect in Lancashire and Cheshire is quite indispensable as it must also
be to those studying the geographical distribution of British insects.
Enquiries regarding the report should be made to H. K. Lawson, 25
Rydal Drive, Hale Barns, Altrincham, Cheshire. NEB
Our contributor, A. J. Showler, who broke off his account of military
moth-hunting in our January number to say that he had been posted
to Cyprus now finds himself even farther afield. In a letter to us, dated
24th January, he writes: ‘‘As you may, or may not, know from my ad-
dress J am in Jordan, not Cyprus, where I stayed for only two hours
after flying out. We are in the desert, and I have seen very little
insect life since my arrival, only two cardwi, one stellatarum, and
several of a species of moth unknown to me’’. It was prudent of him
to say that we ‘‘may or may not’’ know where he is from his address
since this consists almost entirely of various numerals and groups of
capital letters—unintelligible to a civilian. Such is the pace at which
we live to-day that neither the Services nor the newspapers have time
SOME DIPTEROUS INHABITANTS OF THISTLE. to
to write words in full—or is it done on purpose to prevent the Russians
from getting to know our contributor’s whereabouts? .... / Anyhow, we
wish him good luck wherever he is.
DIPTERA
Phytomyza rydeniana Hering (Dipt., Agromy-
zidae) in Scotland
By L. PAaRMENTER.
When visiting Glen Lyon, Perthshire, on 9th July 1955, some mines,
mostly empty, were seen in the leaves of Melancholy thistle, Cirsiwm
heterophyllum L. = helenioides (L.) Hill and they were unfamiliar to
me. Some leaves were plucked, pressed and later sent to Prof. E. M.
Hering of Berlin, who has returned them after identifying the mines
as those of Phytomyza rydéniana. In some cases the same leaf also car-
ried the empty blotch mine of Pegomyia steini Hend. (Dipt., Muscidae).
The agromyzid mine is a linear one, much broader and longer than that
of the well known mines of Phytomyza atricornis Mg. which attacks so
many species of plants. The mine was generally found in the tip of the
leaf but also occurred at the base. It winds for a considerable distance
alongside itself filling in a large area in a serpentine manner. The frass
is laid down in large separate dots, mostly tailed, well spaced along the
edge of the mine.
The species was described by Hering, who illustrated its mine, in
“Wine neue minierende Phytomyza aus Schweden (Dipt., Agromyz)”’
1949. Opuscula Entomologica 14: 159-161, from a bred specimen from
mines found by Nils Rydén. By 1954, Rydén in his ‘“‘Catalogus Insec-
torum Sueciaea XIII Diptera Cyclorrapha schizophora: Agromyzidae’”’
in Opuscula Ent. 19: 79-96 was able to record the species from the pro-
vinces of Narke, Medelpad and Jamtland in Sweden, also from Finland
and Norway.
As the plant is known from Merioneth, Stafford and Derby to Caith-
ness and Sutherland, in Britain, it is hoped that our northern readers and
those visiting this northern area will search for this species and rear it,
for it is new to the British List. Abroad this thistle is found in Europe
in mountains from Pyrenees to Rumania and northwards from Pomer-
ania into Scandinavia, Russia and Siberia. Since writing this note,
Mr. K. A. Spencer in Ent. Gaz. records the species from Killin, Perth-
shire, in August 1955, but without definitely stating whether obtained as
an adult or larva.
Some Dipterous Inhabitants of Thistle
By M. Nristett, F.R.E.S.
The following notes refer to insects whose larvae live and feed in
various parts of thistles; many hundreds of these parts of the plants have
been collected or examined in the field over a period of years. As the
Trypetidae form the bulk of the insects concerned I will deal with those
first.
Chaetostomella onotrophes Lw.: The larvae of this species are to be
76 ENTOMOLOGIST’ S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/117 /1956
found sparingly in flower-heads. From about 1300 heads of Cirsium
palustre collected during the past 20 years, in areas where onotrophes
was quite plentiful, only 18 flies have emerged, 2 flies in August and
September of the first year, the remainder between May and July of the
second. I have only found it once in a very large number of heads of
Cirsium arvense.
Tephritis cometa Lw.: On 13.v111.53, numerous flower-heads of (C.
arvense were collected at Epsom Downs; from these, 29.vi11.53, I had four
of this rare species emerge from larvae which had pupated in the heads.
It was first bred by Dr. Hering of Berlin in 1934, and I believe there is
no record of it having been bred in this country; a few of the flies
have, however, been caught.
Tephritis conura Lw.: The larvae of this species are stated to cause
galls in flower-heads of Cirsium heterophyllum, a thistle confined, I be-
lieve, to upland pastures in the North. The fly has been taken there,
but so far as I know there are no records of it having been bred in
Britain.
Tephritis hyoscyami L.: The larvae are to be found in flower-heads
of Carduus crispus usually in some numbers from June to August. They
pupate in the heads and the flies emerge in July and August of the
same year.
Terellia lonqicauda Meg.: The larvae inhabit the flower-heads of
Cirsium eriophorus where they pupate, the flies emerging in June and
July of the second year. It is not uncommon in localities where its host-
plant grows; I have had it from Shropshire and Warwickshire.
Terellia serratulae L.: The larvae of this species are to be found in
flower-heads of Carduus nutens and Cirsium vulgare in many localities,
but not as a rule in great numbers; I also found the larvae once in a
Cardwus crispus x nutans hybrid. The larvae pupate in the heads and
the flies emerge in June and July of the second year.
Trypeta ruficauda ¥.: The larvae are usually to be found in fair
numbers in flower-heads of (irsiwm palustre, and less frequently in those
of Cirsium arvense and C. pratense. The latter Thistle had not been re-
corded as a host-plant until I added it to the list in 1936; the larvae
form cocoons of pappus hairs in which they pupate. the flies emerging in
June of the second year.
Trypeta winthemi Mg.: Since I added this species to the British List
in 1934 I have found the larvae in considerable numbers in Surrey; they
pupate in a slight cocoon in the flower-heads of Carduus Crispus, the
majority of the flies emerging in June of the second year.
Urophora cardwi L.: The gall of this species on the stems of Cirsium
arvense iS a familiar object in the Southern Counties of England, but it
appears to be scarce in the Midlands. The larvae live and pupate in the
galls and the flies emerge in June and July of the second year. It has
. been stated that it is a double-brooded species, but so far I have failed
to find any evidence of this.
Urophora solstitialis L.: After searching for many years for galls of
this species, I found a few in flower-heads of Carduus nutans at Banstead
Downs in September 1952; the larvae pupated in the galls and the flies
emerged in June of the following year. This is a scarce species; there
have been many records of it, but the majority have been based on wrong
identification.
SOME DIPTEROUS INHABITANTS OF THISTLE. ‘i
Urophora stylata F.: The larvae of this species are the cause of
hard woody galls in flower-heads of Carduus nutans and Cirsiwm vul-
gare, which are often to be found in some numbers where these plants
occur; the galls are also to be found very rarely in flower-heads of
Cirsium arvense and (©. palustre. The latter was an unrecorded host
until I found it galled in 1942. The larvae pupate in the galls and the
flies emerge in June and July of the second year.
AXyphosia miliaria Schrnk.: This is a double brooded species the
flies emerging in July and August of the first year, and from May to
July of the second. There is also at times a retarded emergence, a
portion of a brood emerging in August and September of the first year,
with the remainder coming out from May to July of the second. The
larvae are to be found in flower-heads of Cirsiwm arvense and C.
palustre, having a preference for the former thistle judging by my own
experience.
On 28.v1.51 at Riddlesdown in Surrey I collected several mined
leaves of Cirsium arvense. Several larvae left the mines and pupated,
on 2l.vii. There emerged what appears to be an exceptionally light
form of Philophylla heracler L., a species only known to inhabit mines
on Umbelliferous plants; the remaining pupae unfortunately only
yielded Chalcid parasites. I have searched for similar mines since, but
have so far failed to find any with larvae of heraclez in them.
The larvae of Agromyzid flies are to be found in mines on the leaves
of several species of thistles, they include Ivriomyza strigata Mg.,
Phytomyza affinis Fin., P. atricornis Me., P. cirsii Hend. and P. cirsi-
cola Hend.
The larvae of the Muscid fly, Pegomyia steini Hend., may be found
in leaf-mines on Carduus crispus, Cirsium arvense and (C. vulgare, in
July; they leave the mines to pupate in the soil, the flies emerging in
the following April and May.
The larvae of the Pallopterid fly, Palloptera paralella Lw., oceur in
flower-heads of Carlina vulgaris and Cirsium vulgare not infrequentty.
IT have found these larvae in September and October, they go to earth
to pupate and the flies emerge in May of the following year.
There are three species of Cecidomyiidae, Gall Midges, affecting the
flower-heads classed as gall causers; they are Dasyneura compositarum
Kieff. with red larvae on Cirsium vulgare; Jaapiella cirsiicola Riibs.
with yellowish, and Macrolabis cirsti Riibs. with red larvae, both on
(Cirsium. arvense. There are also larvae ot several other species of
Cecids to be found in flower-heads of various species of thistles; these are
yellow, orange and orange-red; some appear to feed on the seeds, some
are probably scavengers, many were found in heads containing Trypetid
larvae. They may pupate in the heads or in the earth, and they have
emerged in August and September of the first year. The larvae of
Clinodiplosis cirsti Kieff. ave stated to live in the midrib of leaves of
Cirsium arvense.
Parasites: The larvae of all the insects 1 have mentioned are at-
tacked by hymenopterous parasites to a considerable extent, the lepi-
dopterous larvae by Braconids and Ichneumons, the leaf-miners by
Braconids and Chalcids, the remainder mainly by Chalcids. The larvae
of Urophora solstitialis and U. stylata are attacked by a species of Hury-
toma, the larva of which is an internal parasite; this T have discovered
78 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/ TIT /1956
causes premature pupation of the Trypetid larvae, as does Hurytoma
curta Nees, those of Urophora jaceana Her. in Knapweed heads; this
Chalcid is very similar in appearance to curta but it is not yet decided
whether it is the same species. I have also recently discovered that
Eurytoma tristis Mayr causes premature pupation of the larvae of
Urophora cardwi. The larvae of Xyphosia miliaria are also attacked by
a species of Hurytema; I have not yet found out whether this also causes
premature pupation.
SERICOMYIA SILENTIS Harris (Diet. SyrRPHIDAE) aT Ligut.—Diptera
are frequent, if unrecorded visitors to the m.v. trap. Recently Col. W.
Bowater kindly gave me a large dipteron that came to the lght-trap
in his garden at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 20th August 1955. It
proved to be a female of Sericomyia silentis Harris. This insect has
been recorded previously in Warwickshire, but it is an unexpected find
well within the boundaries of the city.—Cartwricnt Timms, 524
Moseley Road, Birmingham, 12. 6.11.56.
In ‘Parasitic Fries’? by Dr. J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson in Science
Progress, 172: 616-628, of October 1955, we have an excellent summary
of the parasitic way of lfe as practised by a large number of species
of diptera throughout the world. The value of the paper is heightened
by the historical comments on some of the terms used and by the pro-
vision of a short bibliography.
The study of leaf-miners, especially those of the Agromyzidae
(Diptera), has gathered impetus recently in this country through the
assistance of Prof. Dr. E. M. Hering of Berlin whose ‘Keys of the
Kuropean Leaf-Mines’, to be published by W. Junk, was announced in
1954. In the Dutch journal Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, 98: 1-27,
Hering (1955) has edited a valuable index to the late J. O. H. de
Meijere’s studies on the larvae of the Agromyzidae that have been
published in that journal between 1924-1950. The synonymy has been
brought up-to-date and an index to the genera of plants with their
miners, has been included. In the same journal, 97: 115-136 (1954), he
has a paper continuing de Meijere’s work, describing the larvae, habits
and distribution, with illustrations, of 28 species, many of which have
been found, during the past few years, to occur in this country. In
Hering’s ‘Die Minierfliegen der Oberlausitz’ in Abhandlungen und
Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Gorlitz, 34: 163-184 (1955), he lists,
with valuable comments and descriptions, 189 species of Agromyzidae
found in Oberlausitz out of 405 known for Germany and 673 known for
the Palearctic Region. Some of the leaf-mines are figured and four
new species described, with amendments to Hendel’s keys. A further
three new species of Liriomyza are described by Hering (1955) in his
paper on the species of this genus attacking plants of Lactuca and
Sonchus in Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift N.F., 2: 204-9.
L.P.
Notes and Observations
BomBep Sitz MicroLtkePIpopTERA.—This winter of 1955-56 has seen
much activity by excavators at the Cripplegate-Barbican area in the
City of London. Acres of plants have been remoyed and with them
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 79
thousands of insects. Since 1942 when the area was laid waste, the
colonization by plants, birds and insects has attracted the attention of
many naturalists including at least one Fellow of the Royal Society.
Lists of insects have appeared in the pages of the London Naturalist,
Entomologist and Hntomologist’s Gazette. None of these mentioned
microlepidoptera. Have London’s micro-lepidopterists missed an in-
teresting chance of noting the arrival of the smaller moths to the City ?
When collecting diptera in 1950, I first noted many leaf-mines on the
Rosebay Willowherb, Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Seop. of
Momopha raschkiella Zell. and in later years reared the insect. In 1952,
J first gathered the brownish, blotched leaf-mines on the Spear thistle,
Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten. of Phthorimaea acuminatella Sircom. on
5th July, and found the fresh mines of this double-brooded Gelechiid in
July and September in later years, up to 1955.
On 18th June 1955 I collected four species of micros :—Platyptilia
gonodactyla Schiff., in an area of Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara L., its
foodplant, Argyroploce lacunana Dup., Hemimene petiverella ..,
Homoeosoma binaevella Hb.—surely an early date for this moth accord-
ing to L. T. Ford and B. P. Beirne. Possibly the seed-heads of the
Spear thistle where the larvae feed are formed earlier here than in the
open country.
Can anyone add to this list, either from the Cripplegate area or
other bombed sites or give further information about these species? If
not, could some microlepidopterists have a search on the few remaining
sites this season?—QL. PARMENTER, 94 Fairlands Avenue, Thornton
Heath, Surrey.
ABUNDANCE OF ERgBIA AETHIOPS Esp. In SoutH WESTMORLAND.—
Requiring a few females of H. aethiops to complete a series I visited the
well-known Arnside Knott locality on 12th August last year. Usually
the species is quite restricted in its occurrence to the summit slopes
but this year it had spread quite widely and extended at least a mile
away from the summit across the rough ground towards Silverdale and
Arnside Point. Not only was the species widespread but it was also
present in great force and it was obvious that the fine summer was very
much to its liking. It has always been a mystery to me why this
butterfly should have become so restricted in its range during this
century. It used to occur in numerous widely spaced localities in the
district—as at Grange over Sands across the Kent Estuary from Arn-
side. The late A. E. Wright of Grange frequently attempted to re-
establish the species at Grange by transplanting females from the
Arnside colony but his efforts were never successful. It will be in-
teresting to see if the spread last year will be maintained.
It may also be worth mentioning that Nymphalis io was practically
non-existent last autumn. The autumn Buddleias were alive with
Aglais urticae and Vanessa atalanta but I did not see a single io. This
dearth was also noted by K. R. Burgess of Broughton in Furness and
I noted it also in Galloway in early September.—Dr. N. L. BrrKerv,
3 Thorny Hills, Kendal. 28.1.1956.
SEconD Broops AND IMMIGRANTS, 1955.—The exceptional summer
with its long period of warm weather from the end of June last year
was no doubt responsible for the occurrence of second broods in species
RO) ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
not usually bi-voltine in this area. The following records all concern
specimens taken in my trap at Kendal on the dates stated :—Smerinthus
populi L.—17.viii and 1.ix; Drepana. falcataria L.—23.vii; Pheosia
gnoma Fab.—30.viii; Ochropleura plecta L.—30.vin; Apatele leporina
L.—1.ix; Polychrisia moneta Fab.—22.ix; Axyha putris W.—22.ix;
Opisthograptis luteolata L.—24.ix (this may have been a third gener-
ation); Diatararia oleracea L.—24.1ix and Apamea ophiogramma Esp.
on l.ix. This last usually occurs with us in mid-July and whether it
represents a late emergence or a second generation is problematical.
In this part of the country we do not usually see a great deal of
immigrant species. However the following notes may be of interest : —
Eurois occulta LL. occurred in small numbers in my trap. The first was
on 14.vili, then on 20.viii I had three males and one female, and the
last of the year was a very worn specimen on 24.vili. All the specimens
were of the pale form and presumably were of continental origin.
Peridroma saucia Hb. is a species of sporadic occurrence here. On 22.ix
I had about ten specimens in my trap, two more on 8.x, one on 9.x,
and over twenty on 10.x. On this last night I noted also large numbers
of Plusia gamma L. and Nomophila noctuella L. in the trap.—Dr. N. hh.
Brrxett, 3 Thorney Hills, Kendal. 28.11.1956.
SECOND Broop oF EUPHYDRYAS AURINIA DURING 1955.—I think it
will be of interest to record a partial second brood of Euphydryus
aurinia Rott. during last year, for as far as I can gather from en-
quiries among friends and a search through past records, such an
event has never been known to occur before with aurinia, either in a
breeding cage or in the wild state. But perhaps I am wrong and this
note may bring the event to light.
In accordance with my usual practice over the past ten years or
so I had in hibernation a number of aurinia larvae from eggs laid by
captured females taken in May and June 1954. All pupated normally
and, as usually happens, pairings took place, soon after emergence,
in the breeding cage; three pairings were noted on 6th June and, after
copulation, the females were placed on potted-up plants of scabious
and left in a warm sunny spot in the garden.
Kxamination of the foodplant a few days later revealed several
small batches of eggs; all were left in situ and the cages were stood in
pans of water as a protection against the depredations of ants, etc.
They were all placed on paving stone in the shady side of the garden
and left to face all weathers. Sunshine could reach the cages only
during the late afternoon, from 4 p.m. onwards, and from the fore-
gvoing it may be seen that no abnormal weather conditions prevailed
and all larvae were reared under normal outdoor temperatures.
By the third week of August the larvae appeared to be ready for
hibernation, as they had spun a dense web among the foodplant, and
as they had reached this stage I neglected them for about a fortnight
and really thought T had seen the last of them until the spring. Imagine
my surprise, then, when on casually glancing into the cage a fortnight
later I found about two dozen larvae engaged in feeding up and ob-
viously approaching their full growth. In fact the first larva pupated
on 11th September followed by the rest daily, until by 15th September
a total of 29 pupae could he seen hanging in various positions in the
cage.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS, SI]
The event was so unusual that the cage was brought indoors and
placed on a table in a cool room. Caretul examination of the pupae
showed that some of them were very undersized and these particular
individuals failed to emerge. On 2nd October the first butterfly ap-
peared in the cage, a small male, and by 15th October 21 butterflies
had emerged, 15 gd and 6 2 Q, the remaining eight pupae being black
and shrivelled, and obviously dead.
Apart from size, the insects were indtistinguishable from normal
specimens; it was also noticeable that on emergence the insects re-
mained apparently lifeless and hardly moved at all. It would have
been interesting to have obtained a pairing, but cold weather pre-
cluded the event.
The rest of the larvae remained in their hibernaculum until to-
day, 29th January, when, during a brief spell of sunshine, they could
be seen basking outside their web.—H. J. Turner, 240 Iford Lane,
Southbourne, Bournemouth, Hants. 29.1.56.
GONEPTERYX RHAMI LINN. Oviposrtinc on HazeEt.—On 26th April
1955, at 2.45 p.m. B.s.t., the first warm sunny afternoon of a so far
cold and frosty Spring, I noticed a female Gonepteryx rhamni L. flutter-
ing low among twigs of an apparently dead, fallen hazel branch almost
at my feet and partly under a living hazel clump to which the dead
branch had once belonged. The butterfly soon settled near the end of
one of the uppermost deadwood twigs, two and a half feet from the
ground. After a minute or so she left the twig on a tour of inspection of
the rest, but without alighting, and then fluttered clear, to settle, this
time, near the tip of a single living shoot growing two feet from the
fallen branch. At this moment the behaviour of some birds I was stalk-
ing took my attention, when a movement on my part disturbed the
butterfly and she flew away.
Having memorised the spots where she had settled I moved on to
follow the birds, but came back a few minutes later when, on examining
the twig on which the butterfly had first settled, I found that an egg had
been laid at the base of a bud. The twig, like the rest of the branch,
proved to be dead wood though not quite brittle, and had, I judged, lain
where it was for six months—possibly longer. All the buds on these
twigs were brown and corky. On turning to the living shoot I found
she had also laid there, as before at the base of a bud, but in this case
the egg was minute and green. I took the ends of the two twigs home
with the respective eggs attached. Alas, any hopes I might have had
of rearing rhamni on hazel were doomed to disappointment, for although
the egg on the dead twig duly changed from lght bluish-green through
yellow to a leaden grey by 17th May, an egg it so remained and all I
have of the event is its photograph in situ. As for the egg on the grow-
ing shoot, it, too, failed to materialise though with the difference that it
retained its initial colour, making no change at all.
In view of the traditional ‘‘buckthorn only’’ associated with this
species—and I have more than once watched it laying on Rhamnus
catharticus—I should be interested to know whether such an instance
as the above has been recorded before.—(Lorp) BoLINGBRoKE, Moorhayes.
Crow Hill, Ringwood, Hants. 26.1.56.
MIGRATION OF PIERIDAE IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.—The following
82 ENTOMOLOGIST’ S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
observation was sent to me by a friend to whom it had been told by Mr.
E. Evans of Lymington, Hants. Through my friend I asked for, and
eventually received, a letter from Mr. Evans in which he described
what he saw. This is what he wrote:—‘‘I am employed as skipper of a
hopper with a Dutch-owned Southampton-based dredging firm. The
last week in July, mid-afternoon, flat calm, cloudless sky, I was proceed-
ing to the dumps, two miles south of the Needles, and saw ahead of my
ship a whitish grey mass something like a low cumulus cloud. It turned
out to be millions of cabbage white butterflies with a large proportion of
flying ants. The butterflies looked the same size as one sees on cab-
bages. At the time the mass was fairly static, as we steamed away
back to the Needles and got clear. When we got inside the Needles,
all that was left were flying ants sticking to windows, ete. A fortnight
later I noticed lots of the cabbage butterflies in the garden.—EK. Evans,
Master Mariner’’. I wish the skipper could have given us a lttle more
information about the ants!—(Lorp) BoLineBRoKE, Moorhayes, Crow
Hill, Ringwood, Hants. 26.1.56.
[ Were the ‘ants’ by chance Nomophila noctuella Schiff. 18). |
MELANISM AND Procrypsis.—Dr. Kettlewell’s article in the January
Record is a very welcome and valuable contribution on the subject of
Industrial Melanism. Through his kindness I have been privileged to
read the article in Heredity to which he refers and which is a compre-
hensive record of his most painstaking and thorough experiments. I
have also seen the article in Discovery and I commend both to anyone
wishing to pursue the matter further.
With regard to the article in the Record it is hard to resist making
the comment that it would hardly be expected that the editors of the
New Naturalist series would be overpleased at the suggestion that any
statement in one of their books should be a lure to trap the unwary
reader into ‘‘rising to the fly’? nor would it be expected that the author
of Moths intended that his remarks should be so regarded.
Further, Dr. Kettlewell mentions that it was a pity that I ‘‘had not
access to the whole paper .. .’’ in which my queries were answered.
Surely it is far more to be deplored that all readers of Moths who drew
or who may draw similar conclusions should not similarly be in posses-
sion of the full story of Dr. Kettlewell’s work.
The censure arising from the remarks I made about the relative
conspicuousness of the type betularia and carbonaria in our local woods
is cheerfully accepted. These remarks should have been far more care-
fully phrased as what was intended was to imply that there was little
or no darkening of the tree trunks as a result of soot contamination.
Foliage contamination is considerable and obvious and as far as the
trunks are concerned the absence of lichen is almost complete. The
statement that the presence of lichen is necessary to give type betularia
an advantage is very interesting and seems most important though one
cannot, from limited reading, recall having seen it before.
I remain somewhat. unrepentant in my opinion that typical betularia
would probably be less obvious than carbonaria in the area I had in
mind, but by using Dr. Kettlewell’s methods it is hoped that this
point may be settled experimentally this year.
While investigating the forms of betularia collected over the past
few years with a view to separating them into the three forms of type.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. $3
insularia and carbonaria, it was found to be quite impossible to estab-
lish any division between them, a whole range from type to extreme
carbonaria being evident. Only one or two examples of extreme cur-
bonaria appeared. This suggests that those examples loosely reterred
to as insularia are not produced by a simple genetic factor. Could
Dr. Kettlewell be persuaded to give us the benefit of his vast experience
of this species in the form of a note on the genetics of these intermediate
forms ?—W. E. Minnion, 40 Cannonbury Avenue, Pinner, Middlesex.
8.11.1956.
Birp TAKING BisTON BETULARIA L. FROM TREE TRUNK.—Iurther to
the note by Dr. Kettlewell on the subject of Biston betularia Li. on tree
trunks and the resting habits of this moth, I did see a bird take one
of the typical forms off an oak trunk in Cheltenham some years ago.
This was in the grounds of (what was then) the Thirlestaine Hall Hotel,
in the town itself but in a part where there are extensive gardens.
The oak tree I recall had no lichens on it and was dark in colour but
not as dark as we get them in industrial Birmingham. The moth was
high, about 12 feet off the ground and was so conspicuous that I noticed
it at once from about 30 feet away. I was just pointing it out to my
wife, to show her how unusually noticeable it was, when a bird flew
directly to it, picked it off the trunk and went off with it. I do not
recall noticing what kind of bird it was; in retrospect I-think I would
guess it was probably a robin.—P. Srviter Smit, 21 Melville Hall,
Holly Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 16.
‘REGRETS AND REcOLLECTIONS’.—With reference to his note in the
January number of the Record, my sincere apologies are due to Mr.
Sevastopulo for the lapsus calami which substituted for his name that
of a former acquaintance. The reference to Mr. Sevastopulo in my
note was inspired by a perusal of certain articles by that gentleman in
the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society of which I believe
we have both long been members.
I readily accept Mr. Sevastopulo’s correction regarding A. atropos
in Central Burma. Possessing, as already stated, but a superficial
knowledge of the tropical heterocera and, while on operational service,
being without means of identification, I imagined the moth to be atropos,
with which it appeared to be identical.
I assume-that South’s statement that atropos is ‘‘represented in
Southern India, extending to the Malays, and in China, Korea and
Japan’’ refers to the species or races referred to by Mr. Sevastopulo.—
H. G. Rosset, The Old School House, Bodinnick, Lanteglos by Fowey,
Cornwall. 20.1.56.
INFORMATION ABOUT LocALITIES.—The views expressed in the second
paragraph of Mr. Fincher’s letter in the January Record (page 25) are
worthy of support among entomologists. There will always be two schools
of thought, both of which have their pros and cons and are entitled to
respect: one frequenting well-known localities for difficult and rare
insects, the others who prefer to create their own localities so to speak,
by breaking fresh ground. These latter find it rewarding to discover
such species as Lithomoia solidaginis, Cleora ribeata or NSchrankia
costaestrigalis 11 unsuspected and unrecorded localities, long distances
from their nearest known habitat. County lists. criticised as they some-
84 ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
times are, at least have this outstanding advantage. Their compilation
involves a close study of a limited and sometimes unpromising area and
provides detailed information, which if it could be co-ordinated with
other and similar lists, would give us a far better view of distribution in
general than we now have, and which state of affairs many of us would —
like to see remedied.
I know of one county, despised rather than renowned entomologically,
where during twenty years there has been added to its list between forty
and fifty species of Lepidoptera never before recorded within its boun-
daries, and where there are still great possibilities for further fruitful
work, er A. Buckier, Sutton Bassett, Market Harborough. 6.11.56.
A Wetsu Pusnr.—Can any reader tell me the botanical name of
Welsh plant called ‘‘lady’s slippers’? I came across the following in a
new book, describing the cliffs of Gower at Rhosilli: ‘‘There is one high
piece of rock above a slade more yellow than grey in spring, and it is all
caused through a thick carpet—or curtain, for the rock is steep, yes, a
golden curtain, of ‘lady’s slippers’ cascading down the rock from top to
bottom’’. The only plant called ‘Lady’s shipper’ known to me is Uypri-
pedium calceolus Linn., which certainly would not thrive in such a
situation, nor are its blossoms yellow. Mrs. Pearless (Anne Pratt), who
knew the local names of most English plants, cannot enlighten me. A
list of the plants of Gower is given in the book in question, but ‘lady’ s
slippers’ does not occur in it.—P. B. M. Annan.
Current Literature
La Revue Frangaise de Lepidopterologie-—We have just received
Vol. XV, No. 3 (1955), of this excellent magazine. The appearance is
late, but it is appearing under great difficulty, and more overseas sub-
scribers would materially assist a more regular appearance. In these
days of continental summer holidays for so many, there is much to in-
terest the British lepidopterist. Hl. Marion contributes another instal-
ment (pp. 41-55) of his revision of the French Pyraustidae, and as a
large number of the French species are British also, this cannot fail
to be of interest.
Robert Olivier gives notes on two Skippers, Mdeteropterus morpheus
Pal. and Pamphila paluemon Pal., and there is a final instalment of
Marcel Carouel’s revision of forms and aberrations of French butter-
flies, final, alas, owing to the death of the author.
Jacques F. Aubert contributes an important paper on the genus
Entephriu Hb., and the Editor finishes with a note on the error of
referring to two generations of Aglais wrticae L., pointing out that
the two appearances are before and after hibernation.
The Lepidopterist’s News, Vol. IX, Nos. 4 and 5 (21.x11.55) gives
a further long list of recent papers on Lepidoptera; an editorial re-
egrets the recent tendency for contributors to lean towards the strictly
scientific side, leaving collectors in the cold, and welcomes notes in
the present number for the ordinary collector as well as the profes-
sional. Another note on the congregation of butterflies on hill tops
appears. This phenomenon has elicited several notes in the past, and
the present cne notes a congregation of male Papilio machaon aliaska
CURRENT LITERATURE. 85
Scud. on a hill top some two hundred miles north of the arctic circle
in Alaska. It is noted that the congregations are practically all males,
and suggests that they are carried to the hill tops as the valley air
warms in the sun and rises. For the field collector, Francis Hemming
gives an account of a day’s collecting in the Digne district which pro-
duced fifty-six species of butterfly.
The Proceedings of the Birmingham Natural History and Philoso-
phical Society, Vol. XVIIT, Pt. 5, 1953-4, carries an instalment of
S. E. W. Carlier’s notes on Some Leguminous Plants and the Lepi-
dopterous Insects Feeding on them. This is accompanied by three
artistic black and white drawings of the three plants treated, figur-
ing also, in sifw, some of the associated insects. Another interesting
paper is by Dr. W. J. Rees, who treats of the Flora of Waste Land,
in particular dealing with colliery spoil banks, and it is accompanied
by three half-tone plates of photographs of six typical sites.
Zeitschrift der Wiener Entomologischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 66, Nos.
9, 10, 11 and 12 have come to hand with the usual fine collection of
papers and notes which it is right to expect of this publication. In
No. 9, Karl Burmann of Innsbruck gives records of twenty migratory
species in the North Tyrol. Agrochola agnorista sp. noy. is described
from Algeria by Charles Boursin with a plate showing photographs of
g and @ specimens and also male genitalia dissections of the new
species together with those of A. litura L., A. meridionalis Stgr., and
A. hypotaenia B.-S. Hubert Meier gives a long local list of Macro-
lepidoptera of the Murtal in Obersteirmark.
A new Cnephasia species, (. taurominana is described by Joset
Razowski from Sicily with @Q genitalia figures of this species and of
C'. gueneana Dup., and also photographs of the 9 adults, while Stanislaw
Bleszynski deals with three crambid species, delicatellus Zell., occiden-
tellus Car. and saxronellus Germ. & Zeck. as a sub-family Xanthocrambus.
In No. 10, Dr. H. G. Amsel describes microlepidoptera from the
Jordan with a new Hthmia species, MH. micropunctella and a new Oeco-
phorid species belonging to a new genus, Pleurotopsis jordanella. There
are text figures of wing venation and of genitalia dissections, and a half-
tone plate of the two new species and Leobates fagoniae Wlsm.
Hugo Reisz deals with Zygaena sareptensis Krul. and gives three
plates.
Joseph Soffner notes Sterrha eugeniata Mill. from Portugal, with
a plate showing the locality, Manteigas, Sierra da HMstrella, the larva
in dorsal and lateral views, and the pupa. S. Bleszynski continues his
notes on the Crambidae with geniculea Haw., inguinatella Den. &
Schiff., dalmatinella Hamps., and dalmatinella ssp. beieri nov. as a
sub-family Agriphila with text figures of the heads of the first two species
and both ¢ and @ genitalia of dalmatinella and of the subspecies beier’.
The whole of No. 11 and half of No. 12 are devoted to a highly de-
tailed paper on a group of the genus Calostygia by Jacques F. Aubert
and Rudolf Léberbauer with two coloured and two half-tone plates.
The species dealt with are (. austriacaria H.-S. and (. pungeleri
Stertz.: of the former, subspecies austriacaria H.-S., hofneri Schaw.,
gemmingeri Schaw. and noricaria nov., and of the latter, pungeleri
Stertz., varonaria Vorbr., bavaricaria nov. and kitschelti Rbl.
86 . ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
Alfred Meise writes on Dyscia fagaria Thbe. with a half-tone plate
while Charles Boursin describes a new Autophila from North Persia,
A. plattnert, and a new subspecies of A. chamaephanes Bsn., macro-
phanes, with a half-tone plate figuring A. plattneri, A. ligaminosa sub-
ligaminosa Stgr., A. chamaephanes Bsn. and A. chamaephanes macro-
phanes with ¢ genitalia figures of each.
Entomologische Zeitschrift of 15th January 1956 deals with the
genitalia of certain Hupithecia species (Eduard Schutze) and two fur-
ther instalments of articles on coastal forms of Macrolepidoptera, one
by Dr. F. Heydermann and the other by Georg Warnecke, who chal-
lenges Beirne’s statement that the coastal forms are the ‘‘old’’ race,
suggesting that as the pre-glacial coastline was in the region of the
Doggerbank, this would be an unsuitable habitat for warmth-loving
species such as albicolon var. cinerascens. which he considers to be de-
finitely post-glacial.
The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine for December 1956 contains
the following papers: ‘‘Notes on Carrion Coleoptera in the Oxford dis-
trict?’ by B. P. Moore, ‘‘Bohemiellina paradora Machulka, a Staphy-
linid (Col.) new to Britain’? by W. O. Steel; ‘‘The Conopidae (Diptera)
in the Dale Collection, with revisionary notes on the British species
of Thecophora Rond. (=Oncomyia Lw.) by K. G. V. Smith; ‘Insect
Migration on the North Coast of France’’ by C. Lane; ‘‘A Note on
Cirrospilus crino Walker (Hym. Eulophidae)’’? by W. D. Hincks; A New
Genus of Tineinae (Lep. Tineidae) from North America’’ by J. D.
Bradley and H. FE. Hinton. There are also obituary notices of Dr. R. C.
LL. Perkins, F.R.S. (with portrait), and Harry Dinnage, F.R.E.S.
The Entomologist, Vol. 89, No. 1112. H. C. Huggins describes new
aberrations of Huphyia biliniata L. and Gymnancyla canella Hb., with
enlarged photographs; Lt. Col. N. Eliot contributes a note on the
natural control of the Gipsy Moth, Lymantria dispar L. by a Tachinid
fly at Cavallaire, Var, France. V. F. Eastop describes new African
Aphids. Dr. H. B. D. Kettlewell writes on a southward migration of
Vanessa atalanta L., and Dr. Neville L. Birkett on Hydraecia oculea L.
and its near relatives in North West England. C. A. Clarke gives a
note on an introduced colony of Melitaea cinxzia L: in Cheshire. D. C.
Thomas continues notes on the Biology of some Hemiptera Heteroptera
and I. Lansbury gives notes on four species of that order and one of the
Odonata in the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya.
Entomologist’s Gazette, Vol. 7, No. 1, holds much interesting
material. W. EK. Minnion and B. S. Goodban add Xanthorhoe biriviata
Bork. to the British list with a full account of breeding the species in
captivity. Two excellent plates accompany the article, one showing
allied species as well as biriviata for comparison, say X. quadrifasciata
Clk., Hpirrhoe alternata Mull. and EF. wnangulata Haw., all x2, and
lifesized photographs of the spring and summer forms of biriviata. There
is also a X2 photograph of the pupa in its cocoon. The other plate
shows the ova, and four very clear photographs of the feeding larva.
K. H. Hyatt deals with the mite genera Haelolaelaps Berlese and
Trouessart and Saprolaelaps Leitner (Fam. NEOPARASITIDAE) with keys
CURRENT LITERATURE. 87
for identification and many text figures. A. L. Goodson writes on col-
lecting the larvae of Hydraecia hucheradi Mabille, while D. E. Kim-
mins gives a modified family key and a key to the genera of the family
Iimnephilidae (Trichoptera) together with a check list of the British
species of the Limnephilidae. This gives two pages of beautifully clear
neuration diagrams.
S. A. Manning gives a local list of Cynipidae (Hym.) from Norfolk
and Dr. P. B. Moore gives notes on a brood of Sympetrum fonscolombei
Selys (Odonata). Kenneth A. Spencer gives a number of records of
Agromyzidae (Dipt.) from Scotland and, finally, Robin Mere records
the capture of Lithophane lapidea Hb. (Lep.) in the Isle of Wight, and
suggests that the species is probably breeding there in Cypresses.
Entomologische Berichten. Vol. 16, No. 2, joins in the general con-
gratulation of Dr. Karl Jordan on his 94th birthday.
W. J. Boer Leffef records the capture of Hydraecia petasitis Dbld.
as an addition to the Dutch fauna; this specimen was taken in a hght
trap at Apeldoorn, and was amongst a number of H. micacea. G. L.
van Eyndhoven discusses the mite family Bryobia and the specific status
of four ‘‘biological races’’ of B. praetiosa C. L. Koch; 1¢ is thought that
many more species may be included in this complex.
W. Roepke writes an interesting account of Pieter Cramer and his
entomological works, giving dates of appearance of the thirty-three parts
of his ‘‘Papillons Exotiques’’.
J. B. M. van Dinther continues his discourse on the ‘‘Noxious Horn-
worms of Surinam’. This month Hrinnyis alope Drury is dealt with;
this hawk moth damages papaya trees and may kill seedling plants if
the heart be eaten by the larvae. Here, again, the ova are highly para-
sitized by a Scelonid fly, eight to fourteen larvae developing in each
parasitized egg. There is a good half-tone photograph of the adult
moth.
M. Beier describes a new pseudoscorpion Minniza transvaalensis from
the Transvaal with figures of the ¢ and © right side clasper.
VU
Entomologische Zeitschrift, Vol. 66, No. 3, February 1956, has a
short note by Richard Breitschneider on the production of varieties in
the Lepidoptera by the immersion of the pupae im water for varying
periods. Hans Friedemann discusses the life history of Diarsia rhom-
boidea Esp., and Georg Warnecke continues his paper on the modern
maritime forms of lepidoptera from the North Sea coasts. Dr. Werner
Marten writes from Barcelona on the Zygaenidae of the Iberian Penin-
sula, while Dr. Adolf Miiller deals with the cilial scales of the Parnas-
Slinae discussing their variability and their taxonomic and systematic
values. There is a plate of twenty micro-photographs of fringe scales
taken from between veins rl and m3 of the forewings of various species,
magnified 57 to 62 diameters.
Entomologisk Tidskrift, Vol. 76, parts 2-4 (1955) carries important
papers on the South American sawflies by Rene Malaise. Karl-Johan
Hequist does a revision of the Braconid family Cosmophorus, with text
figures, and four papers by Thure Palm on Swedish Coleoptera including
one on four species new to the Swedish fauna. These papers are illus-
trated with line and half-tone text figures.
88 ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/ LIT /1956
Butterfly Collecting at Digne, Basses Alpes, in
1954 and 1955
By G. HesseLpartH and H. G. ALicarp.
(Continued from page 8)
PART II. By G. He&sserparru.
Though the accounts written on the Digne fauna are rather
numerous, there are difficulties in giving the valid names for the sub-
species. The following list has been composed using the recent works of
Henry Beurat, Forster-Wohlfahrt, and Ruggero Verity. Furthermore,
Mr. T. G. Howarth of The British Museum (Nat. Hist.) and Herr Dr.
Forster, of the Entomological Department of the Bavarian State Museum
in Munich, were so kind as to give some determinations, for which I am
very grateful. The species, listed below, were caught between 4th July
and 16th July 1954 and 8th July to 17th July 1955, near Digne:
Papilio machaon L., bigenerata, Vty and alpica Vty.
Papilo alexanor Ksper.—rather rare during our stay. -
Tphiclides podalirius WL.
Parnassius apollo W., leovigildus Fruhst—(according to Mr. T. G.
Howarth: venaissimus Fruhst.) with one splendid ab. novarae Obth.,—
Montagne de Lure. One huge female on the road to Co]. d’Allos
on 13th July 1955.
Parnassius mnemosyne L., dinianus Bryk.— Mt. Cousson and Barre des
Dourbes.
Aporia crataegi L. with hyalina Rober.—In my opinion, there are two
rather different ‘‘forms’’ (subspecies?) near Digne: a big one at
lower elevations and a smaller one on the mountains.
Pieris brassicae L.
Pieris (Artogeia) rapae Li.
Pieris mannit Mayer gen. aest. rossit.
Pieris napi Li. mertdionalis Heyne.
Pontia daplidice L. f. raphani Esper.
Leptidea sinapis L., diniensis Boisd.
Leptidea duponcheli Stgr.
Colias australis Vty., calida Vty.
Colias croceus Foure.
Gonepteryx rhamni L., meridionalis Rober.
Gonepteryx cleopatra L.—Especially on La Collette.
Heodes (Heodes) virgaureae L., mediomontana Vty.—on Mt. Cousson
only. In 1955 also caught near Col de Croix Haute and on Col.
du Labouret (1244 m.) north of Digne. One on Montagne De
Lure.
Heodes (Palaeoloweia) alciphron Rott. gordius Sulz.
Heodes (Palaeoloweia) tityrus Poda with subalpina Steger.
Lycaena (Lycaena) phlaeas l., nigrioreleus Vty.
Cupido minimus Fuessl.
Celastrina argiolus L., calidogenita Vty.
Philotes baton Bergstr. panoptes Hbn.
Glaucopsyche alexis Poda blachieri Mill—on La Collette only.
Maculinea arion T1.—especially on Mt. Cousson.
BUTTERFLY -COLLECTING AT DIGNE, BASSES ALPES, IN 1954 anp 1955. 89
Lycaeides idus l., culiopides Vty.
Plebejus argus UL.
Aricia agestis Den. & Schiff.
Polyommatus icarus Rott.
Lysandra thersites Cant.
Lysandra eschert Hbn.
Lysandra amandus Schneider
Lysandra argester Bergstr.
Lysandra bellargus Rott.
Lysandra coridon Poda diniue Vty. with f. rezniceck: Bart.
Agrodiaetus ripariu Frr.
Meleageria meleager Esper with f. steeveni Tr.
Thecla (Quercusia) quercus ML.
Thecla w-album
Strymonidia ilicis Esper, cerra Hbn.
Strymonidia acaciae F.—on Mt. Cousson.
Strymonidia spint Fabr.
Callophrys rubi lL.
Laeosupts roboris Esper.
Apatura iris L.
Limenitis rivularis Seop., herculeang Stichel.
Vanessa cardut L.
Vanessa atalanta L.
Nymphalis antiopa L.—on Montagne de Lure only 1954. One Les Mees
1955.
On Mt. Cousson only.
Nymophalis to UW.
Nymphalis polychloros L.—Mt. Cousson. Barre des Dourbes 1954.
Aglais urticae L.—with one fine dark aberration [ failed to net on
Montagne de Lure.
Polygonia c-album L.
Polygonia egea Cramer—near Digne.
Euphydryas aurinia Rott., provincialis Boisd.—Montagne de Lure and
on Col d’Allos on 13th July 1955 in small, fresh, and aberrant
specimens.
Melitaea (Didymaeformia) didyma Esper meridionalis Stgr.
Melitaea (Melitaea) diamina Lang—Montagne de Lure.
Melituea (Athaliaeformia) athalia Rott. celadussa Fruhst.
Melitaca (Athaliaeformia) parthenoides Kef.
Melituea (Cinclidia) phoebe Schiff., virgilia Fruhst.
Closstana selene Den. & Schiff.
Clossiana euphrosyne L.—Barre des Dourbes.
Clossiana dia L., diniensis Obth.
Brenthis hecate Den. & Schiff.—Many localities near Digne, especially
Mt. Cousson and Montagne de Lure.
Brenthis daphne Bergstr., nikator Fruhst.
Issoria lathonia L.
Fabriciana niobe L. with f. eris Meigen.
Fabriciana phrysa Bergstr. with f. cleodoxa O.
Mesoucidalia charlotta Haw.
Argynnis paphia L.—with one fine f. ralesina-near the village Les Mees.
Pararge aegeria aegeria I.
Lasiomata megaera L.
90 ENTOMOLOGIST’ S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
Lasiomata maera L., with f. adrasta Hon.
Agapetes galathea L., doris Fruhst. with f. lewcomelas Esper.
Agapetes japygia Cyr. cleanthe Boisd.—Montagne de Lure. In 1954,
Herr Schwarzbeck saw one specimen flying, but could not net it.
In 1955, however, on the 12th of July, cleanthe was in profusion
on the Montagne de Lure. The specimens were all quite fresh, the ~
females rather rare.
Hipparchia fagi Scop., aturia Fruhst.
Hipparchia aelia Hoffmannsegg
Hipparchia semele L., teres Fruhst.
Neohipparchia statilinus Hufn.—One fresh male near Digne (Hautes
Seyes) on 17th July 1955.
Hipparchia fidia L.
Kanetisa (Brintesia) circe f. with one f. silenus Stgr.
Satyrus bryce Hbn.
Minois dryas Scop.—Clue de Barles, about 30 km. north of Digne.
Aphantopus hyperantus L.—Col du Labouret.
Chazara briseis L., maritima Obth. with f. pirata Esper.
Hrebia meolans fle Prunner calaritaus Fruhst.—Mt. Cousson, Barre des
Dourbes.
Maniola jurtina L., tr. ad hispulla Hbn.
Pyronia tithonus UW.
Chortobius arcanius L. balestrer Fruhst.
Chortobius dorus Esper. with tr. ad austauti Obth.
Chortobius pamphilus L. f. lyllus Esper.
After the departure of Mr. H. G. Alleard, Herr Schwarzbeck and I
visited some other localities: Mt. Pacanaglia near Nice (A.M.), the
district from Allos (B.A.) (1425m.) to the Lac d’Allos (2224m.). Here
we found some more interesting species :
Parnassius phoebus Fabr., sacerdos Stichel—near Lae d’ Allos.
Pieris (Artogeia) bryeniae Hbn., bryoniae Hbn.—near Lac d’ Allos.
Colias phicomone Esper—near Lae d’Allos and cn Col d’ Allos.
Palaeothrysophanus hippothoe L.. valderiana Tur. at Vty.—near Lac
d’ Allos.
Maculinea alcon Den. & Schiff.—near Lac d’Allos and on Col du
Labouret.
Aricia nicias Meigen—near Lae d’ Allos.
Aricia glandon de Prunner—near Lac d’ Allos and on Col d’ Allos.
Albulinea orbitulus de Prunner: one single male on Col d’Allos on 13th
July 1955.
Agriades glandon de Prunner—near Lae d’ Allos.
Cyaniris senvargus Rott.—near Allos and on Col d’Allos.
Polyomnatus eros O.—near Lae d’ Allos.
Agrodiaetus damon Den. & Schiff.—near Lac d’Allos and in 1955 near
Digne-le-Bains.
Agrodiaetus dolus Hbn.—Mt. Pacanaglia, Nice.
Euphydryas cynthia pallida Spuler—near Lac d’ Allos and very numerous
on Col d’Allos in 19565.
Euphydryas merope de Prunner—near Lac d’ Allos.
Melitaea (Melitaea) cinxia L.—near Lae d’Allos and on Col d’ Allos.
THE MACROLEPIDOPTERA OF INVERNESS-SHIRE—-NEWTONMORE DISTRICT. 91
Boloria pales Den. & Schiff.—near Lac d’Allos and on Col d’Allos.
Boloria graeca Stgr.—near Lae d’Allos and on Col d’ Allos.
Brenthis ino Rott.—near Allos and on Col. du Labouret.
Erebia euryale Esper with f. adyte Hbn.—near Lae d’Allos.
Hrebia melampus Fuessl—near Lac d’ Allos.
Erebia epiphron Knoch aetheriws Esp.—on Col d’ Allos.
Hrebia triarius de Prunner—near Lac d’Allos and on Col d’ Allos.
Hrebia alberganus de Prunner ceto Hbn.—near Lae d’Allos and very
numerous on Col d’ Allos, 1955.
Hrebia tyndarus Esper—near Lac d’Alios and on Col d’Allos.
Hrebia gorge Esper f. erinnys Esper — near Lae d’Allos and on Col
. d’ Allos.
Hyponephele lycuon Kuhn—lLa Palud, Mt. Barbin.
Pyromia cecilia Vallentin—Mt. Pacanaglia, Nice.
Chortobius amyntas Poda—near Allos.
Chortobius satyrion Esp.—on Col d’ Allos.
REFERENCES.
Beuret, Henry. Die Lycaeniden der Schweiz. Basel.
Forster, W., & Wohlfahrt, Th. Die Schmetterlinge Mittelewropas. Bd. If. Stutt-
gart, 1954.
Verity, Ruggero. Le farfalle diurne diItalia. Vol. ILL (1947), Vol. TV. (4950).
Firenze.
The Macrolepideptera of Inverness-shire—
Newtonmore District
By Commander G. W. Harper, R.N. (Retd.), F.R.E.S.
(See Hnt. Kec., vol. 66, pp. 58, 90, 124, and vol. 67, p. 39)
SUPPLEMENT No. 2
Thanks in considerable measure to the good collecting weather of
the 1955 summer I am able to record the finding of thirteen more
species of Heterocera new to the district as defined in the main list.
With the exception of one rare migrant, all may be grouped as un-
common in the district, occurring only in small numbers and probably
on the edge of their normal range, due to the local geography.
I wish to acknowledge and record ny thanks to the following friends
for contributing five of the species as shown in the text: Drs. C. B.
Williams and C. G. de Worms and Mr. R. M. Mere. The additions to
the lst are as follows :—
ARCTIIDAE
ARCTIINAE
Spilosoma lubricipeda LL. Mr. R. M. Mere took a specimen at his
m.v. light-trap at Aviemore on 12th July 1955. Apparently rare in
this area; the only specimen I know of in recent years.
AGROTIDAE
AGROTINAE
Actebia praecox LL. This species presents an interesting problem.
I believe Mr. Quibel told me he took a specimen at sugar at Aviemore
several years ago. Then on 6th September 1953 a very worn ¢@ came
92 ENTOMOLOGIST S$ RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/111 /1956
to my m.v. trap at Newtonmore and a fresh Y on 16th August 1955.
I think it is quite possible now that there is an inland colony of this
lovely moth waiting to be found in this district.
Axylia putris L. A fresh 2 came to m.y. light at Newtonmore on
9th September 1955. Apparently rare, as this is the first example
recorded.
Lampra fimbriata Schreb. A fresh @ came to m.y. light at Kin-
craig on 28th August 1955. Also rare; the first record for the district.
HADENINAE
Hadena cucubali Schiff. Dr. C. B. Williams took two god at his
m.v. light-trap at Kincraig on 8th and 11th July respectively. Mr. C.
Craufurd also tells me he has bred it from Silene spp. at Aviemore.
It is apparently not common.
Orthosia cruda Schiff. A fresh @ came to my m.y. lght-trap at
Newtonmore on 26th April 1955. Apparently rare, and not taken pre-
viously.
Tholera cespitis Schiff. Dr. C. G. de Worms took a specimen in his
m.v. light-trap at Aviemore in early August 1955. Apparently rare;
the first record.
AMPHIPYRINAE
Procus literosa Haw. Two somewhat worn specimens came to m.y.
light in marshy ground near the river Spey at Kincraig on 24th August
1955. Apparently uncommon.
Luperina testacea Schiff. Dr. C. G. de Worms recorded a specimen
in his m.v. light-trap at Aviemore in early August 1955. Apparently
rare also.
Hydraecia petasitis Dbld. A very fresh ¢ came to my m.v. light-
trap at Newtonmore on 18th August 1955. A very remarkable cap-
ture, as I have so far been unable to find any of the butterbur, the
accepted foodplant, in the area. It may perhaps feed on coltsfoot, a
closely related and common local plant.
CATOCALINAE
Ectypa glyphica L. Dr. C. G. de Worms tells me he captured a
specimen near Aviemore in May 1945. Apparently rare; the only re-
cord I have.
GEOMETRIDAE
STERRHINAE
Rhodometra sacraria L. A & of this rare vagrant came to my m.y.
light-trap at Newtonmore on 25th August 1955, during a prolonged
south-easterly air-stream. She was fertile, and a very variable series
was bred from her. Probably a most northerly record for the British
Isles.
HEPIALIDAE
Hepialus hecta L. A small colony of this species was found on
10th July 1955 in Rothiemurchus forest at 1,600 ft. altitude, near Avie-
more. Apparently very Iccal.
This Supplement increases the total number of Badenoch macro-
lepidoptera at the present date, December 1955, to 349 species.
inves OF ienol sea adult ‘winter “gnats (Diptera, ‘THohies mi
ceridae), particularly members of individual swarms, for study of varia-
tion of species. one refunded. —B. R. Laurence, Birkbeck College, Lon-
don, W.C.5. ees
U ichshire Le pidoptera. —will Entomologists ss assist in compiling a new _
“County of Warwickshire Local List of Lepidoptera ’» (Macro and Micro)?
- Records giving date and year, and locality of capture should be sent to
_ Prevor Troughi, F.R.E.S., c/o The Curator, County Museum, eee
All assistance will be acknowledged
we Pee. noe any cabinet, 40 drawers: Brady or Gurney preferred. = M. ; oot
_ Chatmers-Hunt, 70 Chestnut Avenue, West Wickham, Kent. ee Pye gh ee
ated. —Edwards, F. W., 1929, British Non-biting Midges. Trans. ent. Soc. Aken
London, 77: 279-430. Write stating oe required. —Dr. N. L. ‘Birkett, Ge a
Thorny Hills, Kendal. ie Cota. .
anted. —A copy of The Entomologist’ Ss Record for yannary 1951, Will pay 103. pees
se for a good clean copy.—J. F. Reid, 19 High Street, Se Mane Buzzard, Beds. Saray ee
Re Back numbers (parts and complete volumes) are still to be had.
For prices, apply to ee MANAGER. ce
Stdoptors in North-East Derbyshire, 1953. J. H. Johnson... ... - 35) 60 se es
pidoptera of the Lesser Skye Isles. FAV: Heslop Harrison . w+ we 8S 6d eS 5
he Macrolepidoptera. of Inverness-shire : Newtonmore ‘District. GW as "1 ee
i Harper Ronen eerie Metre cheese aN Ah RUT NAR Yeas LSS 2
rther Observations on saga Swallowtails. C. A. Clarke and P. Me ries
Koes AEM se cereale Riss COM ure t tad scram ees CS =
ritish Dipterological Literature, HW: Andrews 0 os aie, a 35° GGA. 20m
ritish Micropezidae and Opomyzidae (Two sapaist J. Es Coun: es Ch ie oe
ypeta” vectensis and other New or little known British species ot
Trypetidae. J. BE. Collin See TN Cac eee Rie 8 Ane Yt sear Mike see ae
a ot the Paraneuroptera (Odonata) of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. 43 ‘
ee: Killington © Betapace vee saat Kitiwele, “cuSt "oa ee Gta gn eee
2 British Genera of Trypetidae. J. E: Collin RTS! Nice — cs
tion 1 of the. Tentamen and Verzoichniss of Hubner. J. H. Durrant iu 9 iat
THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S RECORD. —@
AND JOURNAL OF VARIATION a aa
(Founded by J. W. TUTT on 15th April 1890).
Editor: S. N. A. JACOBS, 54 Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent. |
Manager: P. B. M. ALLAN, 4 Windhill, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts. —
Publicity and Advertisements: F. W. BYERS, 59 Gurney Court Road,
St. Albans, Herts.
The following gentlemen act as Honorary Consultants to the magazine :
Lepidoptera: Dr. H. B. WILLIAMS, QC., LL.D., F.R.ES;
Orthoptera: D. K. McE. KEVAN, B.Sc., F.R.E.S.; Coleoptera: A. A.
ALLEN, B.Sc.; Diptera: L. PARMENTER, F.R.E.S., E. C. M.
d’ASSIS-FONSECA, F.R.#.S.
CONTENTS
NOTES FROM CORNWALL, 1955. W. G. Tremewan ... Ry AS oat side 61 a
ISLE OF CANNA COLLECTING NOTES, 1955. J. L. Campbell tenes Me 65 7
SOME FURTHER RECORDS OF STERRHA RUSTICATA. A. J. Showler if 64
THE MIDDLE COPPER. P. B. M. Allan ... 4 ae nee me oa ae 68
PHYTOMYZA RYDENIANA HERING IN SCOTLAND. L. Parmenter ... ae TS
SOME DIPTEROUS INHABITANTS OF THISTLE. M. Niblett ... soa aoe 75
BUTTERFLY COLLECTING AT DIGNE, BASSES ALPES, IN 1954 and 1955.
PART II. G. Hesselbarth was eae eee Sane’ eee) roa ee er
THE MACROLEPIDOPTERA OF INVERNESS-SHIRE-NEWTONMORE DIS- >. oa
TRICT. SUPPLEMENT No. 2. G. W. Harper ... a oe ae --) Sh
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93
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Ectropis bistortata jeViglani¢s and © Mosaics
By
The variability of Hctropis bistortata Goeze (biundularia Bork.,
laricaria Dbld., crepuscularia Dup.) under certain conditions has caused
it to be used in many books as an example of the action of Natural
Selection on the course of the progress of melanism. There are two
forms, a pale one and a darker one, commonly met with in many parts
of the British Isles, although they seem to be fonder of well wooded
areas than open country.
In 1890 a Mr. Sheldon of Derby told J. W. Tutt what he considered
to be the history of the melanism of Tephrosia biundularia (an early
synonym) in the neighbourhood of Derby. Between 1879 and 1885 there
was an increase in the dark form in a woodland composed of spruce,
larch, firs, oak and birch from 50% to 80%, caused by the growth of
the trees making the wood darker so that the melanics were protected
by their greater resemblance to the objects they rested on. Also the
wood had been much collected, and the collectors had taken more of the
more easily seen and more attractive pale form. Tutt thought the
darkening of the trunks was caused by the increase in humidity inside
the wood due to the growth of the trees in the period, and to the gradual
increase of Derby as a manufacturing centre. By 1891 another observer
declared that it was difficult to find a pale specimen in the wood at all
(Tutt 1891).
A similar story was told of the same species in Delamere Forest by N.
Cooke (Entom., 10, p. 94). I think a few more notes which carry the
history a little further may be useful at the present time, in view of the
revival of interest in the subject of Industrial Melanism.
For several years I have had a small thirty-year-old plantation of
mixed larch, fir, beech, oak and birch under observation, and at the
beginning of 1955 I determined to pay special attention to EH. bistortata
in that locality with the object of ascertaining the true extent of
melanism in that species. In most years previously I have found a few
very pale specimens among the more numerous dark forms, and I felt
reasonably certain of finding a few this year, because, although the
wood is becoming increasingly gloomier every season and the pale form
is undoubtedly becoming less numerous, it is difficult to eradicate it
completely.
oD
PoE,
73
In accordance with my resolve, I began a systematic search of the
tree trunks in this plantation, which has been a wood of some descrip-
tion since Roman times and possibly before that. My plan was to
search every trunk [ came across in walking up and down and across
‘the plantation for exactly one hour and to box every moth I saw. The
first search took place on 8th April, but bistortata had not yet emerged,
a solitary pale specimen of Hrannis leucophaearia Schf. was the only
insect found in the hour.
On 20th April | made another search. This time I was more fortunate
and I was able to find exactly 20 bistortata, 4 of which were very pale,
the rest were dark brown, the females apparently slightly darker than
‘the males, although even they were not really black.
During the night one female laid about thirty eggs. All the rest of
the moths taken were placed in pairs in separate boxes and all mated
94 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/1V /1956
during the following night, which was a good indication that they had
not emerged from the pupae many hours before I found them. I sub-
sequently released all the larvae which resulted from these matings
among the larches in the plantation so that there will be a few specimens
at least next year.
The next visit to the plantation on 7th May resulted in the capture
of 10 bistortata, all of the dark form although all were much paler than
any which I have reared on birch and hawthorn in a shed a few miles
nearer the industrial areas. I am not suggesting that the change in
food-plants had any effect on the pigmentation of the wings of my
insects, but there may be some significance in this difference between
bred and wild specimens. Larvae kept from egg to pupa in closed cages
often produce imagines which are much darker than those produced by
larvae which have lived under completely natural conditions. Experi-
ments, with the necessary controls, to determine exactly what conditions
inside breeding cages induce an increase in the melanism in the wings
of certain species of lepidoptera would be easy to devise if the essential
instruments for measuring micro-climates were readily available. Un-
fortunately at the moment only hypotheses are possible, and they are
not a satisfactory substitute for definite knowledge.
On 14th May, in one hour, between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., I found 13
rather dark bistortata, all at a height of less than one foot from the
ground, which consists of a thick layer of.pine needles on yellow clay.
Two of these specimens had badly malformed hind wings, which did not,
however, prevent them from taking flight. I have noticed in previous
years that there are often a few moths with twisted or crumpled wings
in this part of the wood, but I have usually ignored them as of no
importance or significance. However, I have come to believe that this
malformation is connected in some way with the occasional appearance
of irregularly shaped patches of the typical paler coloration on one
or more of the wings of otherwise completely melanic individuals.
Wigglesworth (1950) attributes this phenomenon to autonomous gene
action, which results in somatic mutations. Damage to the insect in
the early stages of development may result in the formation of ‘mosaics’
or individuals with certain irregularities in some part of the body or its
appendages. At the same time as I found the two cripples, I noticed
that three other bistortata showed the irregular pale patches on the
wings which are an indication of ‘mosaics’ of which I shall say more
later.
On 27th May I searched the trunks carefully for one hour in vain,
nor was I able to find any more bistortata at any time during the rest
of the season. There is normally but one brood of this species in this
particular locality, although I have had one individual emerge in the
breeding cage under almost outdoor conditions in September, but it
was badly malformed, all four of its wings were nearly devoid of scales,
indicating forcibly that a number of genes were not functioning
normally.
Examination of the results of this series of systematic searches sug-
gests that the pale form appears early in the season and is eliminated
fairly quickly by the normal operation of Natural Selection. On first
searching 20% of those found were of the pale or typical form, but
over the whole series of searches the figure for this form was only 9%,
BIRDS AND LEPIDOPTERA IN ANTICYCLONIC AIRSTREAMS. 95
while if only the last search had been undertaken I might have reached
the erroneous conclusion that the pale form was extinct. There is no
doubt that the pale form is becoming rarer. Very pale specimens appear
regularly in every large population, in much the same proportion as
very dark ones, as would be expected in a case of Continuous Variation,
but there seems to be some factor in close-growing conifer woods which
causes the darker forms to preponderate.
When I sent a note about the strange forms of bastortata which I
had taken in Hardwick Wood to the Record in 1953, Dr. E. A. Cockayne
expressed a wish to examine a few. I showed him a short series which
he thought was interesting enough to be included in the British Museum
Collection, where it is now to be found. He also declared that the in-
heritance of the ‘mosaic’ character would be worth studying. I, there-
fore, felt very lucky when, on 30th May 1954, I saw a fine female
bostortata with pale patches on the forewings at rest on a sycamore
trunk. She produced a large batch of eggs from which I obtained 36
healthy pupae. These in turn produced 29 imagines between 26th
April and 29th May. The results are tabulated for convenience : —
Offspring of ‘Mosaic’ specimen of EH. bistortata
Female Male
MG anC peycobhcenjgecepel. Meese than 8 8
Mosaic gio Wopeenrieden melt. pik: deg x, 8 1
Miaitiornneds PS seatis dete fo boo ees ed foe 1 1
\WAD igi NOV EIS) 47a 1 Bs Seen Sd arn Sn a 2
The seven moths which failed to emerge may have carried ‘“‘lethal
mutant’’? genes, but this cannot be proved. One of the so-called varia-
tions had rounded forewings, the other was suffused with rusty red
instead of dark brown. It is interesting to note that most of the
Specimens which were described as ‘mosaics’ to any extent were female.
All the melanics were very dark, and the fact that none of the pale form
appeared was possibly due to factors linked with conditions in the breed-
ing cage, but it is too early to hazard a guess about the nature of these
factors. J have several batches of pupae from pairings of the above-
mmentioned insects, the resulting imagines may throw more light on the
problems of both melanics and ‘mosaics’.
REFERENCES.
Tutt, J. W., 1891. Melanism and Melanochroism in British Lepidoptera.
Wigglesworth, V. B., 1950. The Principles of Insect Physiology.
Birds and Lepidoptera in Anticyclonic Airstreams
By KENNETH WILLIAMSON,
It is now a commonplace observation at Fair Isle, between the
Orkney and Shetland Islands, that good ‘‘falls’’ of migrant birds
reach us as a result of down-wind drift in anticyclonic airstreams blow-
ing towards us from Continental shores, and particularly from that
narrow sea-crossing, the Skagerrak, which migrant birds must make
on their journey south from the Scandinavian Peninsula. I have dealt
with the meteorological aspects of this situation, in so far as birds are
concerned, in several recent papers, particularly Scottish Naturalist
96 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/1V /1956
64 (1952): 1-18, and Acta XI Cong. Internat. Ornithologici (1955).
179-186. In past seasons we have noticed that such movements are not
infrequently accompanied by influxes of migrating Silver Y Moths,
Plusia gamma W., and it was in the hope of learning more about the
link between bird and insect movements that we added a mercury
vapour moth trap to our equipment in July 1955.
The first season’s work was exploratory, since little previous col-
lecting has been done at the isle, and direct evidence of insect migra-
tion was slight. One period, towards the end of August, was par-
ticularly interesting, providing good evidence that wholesale move-
ments of moths and butterflies as well as birds take place downwind in
anticyclonic airstreams. Mr. John Lorne Campbell, who first encour-
aged us to include Lepidoptera in our studies, took a wide variety of
species, including several new to his collection, in his m.v. trap on
the island of Canna in the Hebrides, between August 12th-14th and
again on 24th and 25th. Commander G. W. Harper also records some
interesting migrant moths in Inverness-shire in the early period and
suggests that the prevailing south-east wind was responsible (Hnt.
Ttecord, 68: 39).
August 10th-14th was a period of easterly breezes on the Continent
south of an anticyclone which moved from northern Scotland to the
Scandinavian Peninsula; and on the western flank of this high a
veer of wind to a more southerly airt developed on 12th, continuing
over the next two days. In the later period conditions were rather
similar, with a high over Britain moving to Scandinavia between
20th-22nd and remaining firm till 25th, giving an easterly airflow in
central Europe and south-easterly in western France, where the
weather was calm and clear. The airflow was south-easterly in
southern England and the Irish Sea, and more southerly in the
Hebrides, and temperatures were well above the average everywhere
at the time.
Clear information tinking bird and butterfly migration in this anti-
cyclonic airstream comes from Great Saltee, off south-east Ireland,
Where August 22nd-25th saw the development of one of the heaviest
drift-movements of the autumn. R. F. Ruttledge, who is in charge
of the Bird Observatory there, informs me that the best days were
23rd and 24th. On the latter, two Icterine Warblers—extremely rare
vagrants to Ireland—were trapped, and the only Swift of the autumn
was seen on 23rd. Sedge and Willow Warblers showed peaks at this
time, and the biggest influx of Pied Flycatchers ever recorded on the
Irish coast took place. There was extensive butterfly migration going
on: Large and Small Whites were abundant, a Green-veined White
was seen, whilst very many Red Admirals and Painted Ladies, and
one or two Clouded Yellows, were seen each day. On 26th, to quote
the Observatory’s Log, ‘‘Butterfly migration was seen 200-300 yards
offshore coming into the island almost as soon as the mist cleared’’.
It is interesting that some immigration was taking place at Fair
Isle as well as Canna and Great Saltee, although our best nights for
insects were 27th and 28th, three days after the biggest ‘‘rushes’’ of
Lepidoptera at Canna 250 miles to the south. The only bird move-
ment tock place on 23rd after a night of south-south-east wind and in-
volved some 25 Willow and 12 Garden Warblers, a few Whinchats and
LEPIDOPTERA IN THE INNER HEBRIDES. 97
Pied Flycatchers and a Reed Warbler, the last extremely scarce so far
to the north. Fair Isle’s first record of a dragon-fly, Aeshna juncea
L., was obtaied on 24th, and the first Plusia gamma came to light on
25th. Painted Lady and Red Admirals were seen on 28th and moths
taken the previous night included two more P. gamma and our only
Sword-grass Agrotis ipsilon Hufn. The 30th was also a good night,
giving our only specimens of the Shears Hada nana Hufn. and Small
Wainscot Arenostola pygmina Haw., as well as two specimens of ab.
subfuscata of the Common Pug, Hupithecia vulgata Haw. One of the
commonest moths at this time was the grey typical form of Amathes
glareosa Esp., these heavily outnumbering the beautiful blackish
_ Shetland ab. edda which had first appeared with 3 specimens on August
Ath, a week or so before the appearance of the typical form. A num-
ber of Triphaena pronuba L. were at the South Lighthouse on August
27th and ab. renigera of Ammogrotis lucernea L. was taken that night,
practically all other Northern Rustics being of the sooty Shetland
form.
Lepidoptera in the Inner Hebrides
By J. W. Hestoe Harrison, D.Sc., F.R.S.
Illness has prevented me from replying to J. L. Campbell’s note
in the January number of this magazine, but I hasten to do so now,
for several points in his remarks call for comment.
In the first place, Campbell is quite wrong in stating that my last
visit to Canna was made in 1937, and there are thus records made by
me later than those appearing in the Proc. Univ. Durham Phil. Soc., 10.
pp. 10-23 (1938). Incidentally Campbell gives this reference incorrectly.
Again, he ventures on a gibe about ‘‘capturing moths casually’. A
glance at the Pocket Oxford Dictionary reveals the fact that ‘‘casually”’
means ‘‘due to chance’’ or ‘‘undesignedly’’. These meanings describe
exactly the circumstances under which odd specimens of Citria lutea
were taken; they came down in the beating tray when I was working
sallows and birches for Psyllidae!
Further, Campbell has failed to note my article on ‘‘Noteworthy
Lepidoptera from the Isle of Rhum, with some notes on insects captured
on the adjacent isles’? (Hntomologist, 79, pp. 147-151, 1946). He will
find the necessary facts concerning Citria lutea, Celaena haworthi and
Amathes agathina set out there. In the case of the last two species
in his note, Campbell supplies Outer Island (Barra) records; to round
off matters, I should like to state that we have taken C. haworthi on
South Uist, Benbecula, North and South Harris and on the Isle of
Ronay, lying between Benbecula and North Uist. As far as A. agathina
is concerned, we have obtained it on North Uist, South Uist and Harris;
records also exist for the Isle of Lewis.
This seems to be a suitable opportunity for making additions to
my May 1955 list of the Lepidoptera of the Skye Isles. As will be seen,
seven species are added to the Rhum list, this bringing the total for
that island up to 256.
Pheosia gnoma Fab.—Larvae beaten from birches along the Arish
Burn, Isle of Raasay.
Spilosoma lutea Hufn.—Taken on the Isle of Muck; the species has
98 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, vol. 68. 15/1V / 1956
occurred, therefore, on all the islands of the Small Isles Parish of
Inverness-shire.
Graphiphora augur Fab.—Not common on the Isle of Soay.
Amathes c-nigrum L.—Sparingly on the Isles of Rhum and Eigg.
Procus strigilis Cl.—Found on the Isles of Higg, Canna and Soay.
Phlogophora meticulosa L.—Captured at sugar and also as larva on
the Isle of Rhum; not really common there. The species has also been
observed in small numbers on the Isle of Raasay.
Stilbia anomala. Haw.—On banksides near Kinloch, Rhum, on the
moors on Soay, and near the Cave and around Dry Harbour on the
Isle of South Rona.
Bena fagana Fab.—Larvae beaten in the woods near Poll nam
Partan, Isle of Kigg.
Plusia chrysitis L.—On flowers on Soay.
P. iota L.—A few on the Isle of Higg.
P. gamma L.—A common migrant and occurring on all the Skye
Isles in years marked by an immigration.
Colostygia olivata Schf.—Local on Rhum, but to be disturbed in
numbers from overhanging grassy ledges just south of the ee wood
on the southern side of Loch Scresort.
CO. multistrigaria Haw.—At sallows on the Isle of Raasay but only
as a single belated specimen on Muck.
Perizoma minorata Tr.—In the little gorge between Dornabee and
the Long Loch, Isle of Rhum; also near the Iron Bridge, Isle of Raasay.
Oporinia dilutata Schf.—Larvae beaten from various trees in the
Kinloch woods, Isle of Rhum; far from being as plentiful as its congener
O. autumnata.
Selenia bilunaria Esp.—Larvae were procured from sallow and birch
on the Isles of Soay and Kigg. The larvae are light-sensitive, and those
feeding on sallow are exceptionally pale. Rhum larvae from birch are
richly variegated with browns and purples.
Biston betularia. L.—Obtained from alder on the Isle of Scalpay
(Broadford).
Bupalus piniaria I..—In very small numbers amongst Scots Pine on
the Isle of Higg.
Hepialus sylvinus I..—Around the Harbour on the Isle of Soay.
Hell Coppice in the 1930's
By H. Symes.
‘‘See you in Hell on Saturday’? was the laconic message I once
received through the post, and from a parson, too. The words had an
entomological rather than an _ eschatological significance, and the
reference was to Hell Coppice, which is situated almost in the centre
of the extensive woodland area, once part of the royal forest of
Bernwood, that lies about ten miles north-east of Oxford. Though
about the smallest of the woods in that district, it is—or was—the
richest in entomological treasures. How it came by its name I do not
know, but I think there must have been something unsavoury about
the neighbourhood at one time, for a glance at the inch to the mile
Ordnance map of Oxford reveals two areas in Waterperry Wood, the
nearest wood to the south, named respectively Drunkard’s Corner
HELL COPPICEK IN THE 1980's. 99
and Polecat End. Moreover, there were some who firmly believed, in
the 1930’s, that Hell Coppice was haunted. Two entomological friends
of mine, sober, level-headed men, accustomed to night work in woods,
heard on their separate sugaring rounds one night eerie noises like the
clanking of chains. They were both in rather a panic when they returned
to their base, and each was reluctant to open the subject first, fearing
ridicule, but in the end they agreed entirely in their descriptions of the
sounds they had heard. The same sounds were heard on another night
by a third party. No explanation was ever forthcoming, but from that
night they went their sugaring rounds in pairs.
The coppice is roughly half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide.
The timber consisted almost entirely of oaks, with a thick undergrowth
of sallow, blackthorn and hazel, and a certain amount of aspen and
birch: brambles and honeysuckle were abundant. Just outside the
wood there was a clump of fine birch trees, a few poplars and some elms.
The soil was a particularly stiff and sticky kind of clay. There were
two main rides that intersected one another in the middle of the wood.
There were also a number of subsidiary paths. The shorter of the main
rides had a gate at each end, and must at some time have been used for
heavy horse and cart traffic in wet weather, for there were deep wheel
tracks at the sides and equally deep hoof marks in the centre. In a
wet summer, like 1931, this ride was impassable in several places without
gum boots, but one could always execute a turning movement through
the undergrowth. In the dry summers of 1933 and 1934 there was water
still to be seen at the bottom of the deepest hoof marks at the end of
July.
Now that the wood has been ruined by the felling of the oaks and
the smashing of the best sallows there seems no reason to withhold
publication of the prizes that used to be found there: in fact, I think,
some details of such a wonderful locality ought to be put on record.
Hell Coppice must be added to the steadily increasing number of hunting
grounds which have been sacrificed to economic considerations and, so
far as the entomologist is concerned, have gone out of production.
The county boundary follows the line of the hedges which enclose
the wood on its west and south sides, so that Hell Coppice itself is in
Buckinghamshire. Insects taken on the wing outside the wood belong
to Oxfordshire. This makes correct labelling a tricky business. I think
it was in 1939 that fourteen male Apatura iris L. were taken on cow-pats
in the surrounding meadows, that is, in Oxfordshire, but the larvae
had undoubtedly resided in Buckinghamshire.
The wood was equally rich in butterflies and moths. Of the former,
the great prizes were A. iris and Strymonidia pruni L. I have already
related my experiences with the former (Hnt. Rec., 66: 40). The latter,
according to the Natural History of the Oxford District, edited by
Commander J. J. Walker, R.N. (O.U. Press, 1926), was discovered as
recently as 1918 by ‘‘an enthusiastic young collector’. About fifteen
years later I met an entomologist on the outside of the wood, and we
fell to discussing S. prwni. I said I had heard that it had been
discovered by an enthusiastic schoolboy, and he replied with a laugh,
“Yes, I was that schoolboy’. He was W. F. Burrows, well known to
thousands in the 1930’s as “‘Our Obstinate Artist’’ of the Daily Sketch.
_ Besides these two species Limenitis camilla L. was plentiful, and I
100 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/1V /1956
saw one ab. nigrina that had been taken there. The fritillaries were
well represented: Argynnis paphia L., A. ewphrosyne L. and A. selene
Schiff. were all plentiful, A. cydippe L. rather less so. I took
Euphydryas aurinia Rott. just outside the wood, but only one or two
odd specimens: I never found its local H.Q. The foodplant aboundea
everywhere. Melanargia galathea L. occurred on the edge of the wood,
and Aphantopus hyperantus LL. was abundant: I took a few specimens
of ab. arete. I also took a nice pale form of Coenonympha pamphilus L.
(ab. pallida).
It was a good place for the hairstreaks. Thecla quercus L. was very
plentiful, and once I beat the larva from sallow: this was in a year
when a late frost had seared the tender young oak leaves. T. betulae L.
was always common in the larval stage. Callophrys rubi L. was often to
be seen fluttering round the boundary hedge: the larvae were said to
feed on Genista tinctoria, which flourished outside the wood. Wych elm
grew in the neighbourhood, but I think Strymonidia w-album Knoch
was absent. There was an abundance of wild privet, to whose flowers
it is so partial, along the southern edge of the wood, but I never saw
it there. On these flowers I took fourteen S. pruni on 15th June 1933.
All except two were in good condition, and they were nearly all males.
But this was an exceptional occurrence, for in other years I did not
see them on privet blossom like this: both sexes preferred to sit about
on hazel and blackthorn inside the wood. When taken, most of them
proved to be in worn condition, so it was necessary to beat for the larva
in order to obtain perfect specimens. This, however, was a very chancy
business, always strenuous and often disappointing. I heard of one
collector who beat thirty larvae in one day. My largest bag (and this
happened twice) was four. On one occasion four of us worked hard for
most of an afternoon without obtaining a single larva. On another I
beat a larva from the second blackthorn I struck, and my hopes ran
high, but I went on beating for two or three hours more without getting
another. It was only after five blank days that I succeeded in getting
my first; altogether I beat sixteen larvae, spread out over eight days,
in five years.
Of moths, the greatest prize was Dicycla oo L. In 1929, if I may
stretch a point to bring that year within the scope of this article, it
was very plentiful at sugar, but it was confined to a strictly limited
area in the wood. All the oaks on which they were taken have now been
felled, and I fear that D. oo may have been exterminated in Hell
Coppice, though perhaps it occurs somewhere in the neighbouring woods.
Sugaring was a failure in the New Forest that year, and three Somerset
entomologists, G. B. Coney, A. R. Hayward and Preb. A. P. Wickham,
who were spending two or three weeks there, took nothing, I believe,
but a single Carabus beetle. They were invited by the late Claude
Rippon to join him in a night’s sugaring in Hell Coppice. Not
expecting to take anything, in view of their experience in the New
Forest, but thinking that the trip would be rather fun, they motored
up from Brockenhurst and returned with about three dozen oo between
them. There were plenty left, and I came in for some of the gleanings
a few nights later, when I learned how extremely quick off the sugar
this moth is. By then, some of the moths were rather worn, and Rippon
and I kept one or two females for eggs, but despite all our efforts in
HELL COPPICE IN THE 1930's. 101
the way of providing rough bark with plenty of chinks in it, and tightly
rolled up balls of paper, we could not induce them to lay. Next year,
on 9th June, we each beat five nearly full-fed larvae from oaks in the
area where the moths had come to sugar. ‘Newman and Leeds’ say the
larva is probably a cannibal, so we suspected that they might need
something to supplement their diet of oak leaves. I introduced a few
mixed Geometrid larvae into the breeding-cage, but 00 made no attempt
to eat them: possibly they were not the right species. I sprinkled a thin
layer of sand over the floor of the cage, and within four or five days
all my larvae had made use of it to form fragile cocoons in the bottom
corners. They all pupated, and moths emerged on 5th July, 6th July
(2), 7th and 9th. They were slightly smaller than wild specimens.
Rippon had the luck to breed one ab. renago. Although I beat for
these larvae during the next five or six years, I never saw another.
Other interesting moths taken there included Catocala promissa
Esp., very common at sugar in 1929 and beaten as a larva in 1930, Nola
strigula Schiff., to be found sparingly on tree trunks in July—I once
beat a larva before hibernation in 1929, but unfortunately it had been
torpedoed by an ichneumon fly—Hemaris fuciformis L., which I took
at bugle (Ajuga reptans L.) and whose eggs I found on honeysuckle,
Habrosyne derasa U., Thyatira batis L., Tethea octogesima Hb.,
T. duplaris L., Drepana binaria Hufn., Hilema sororcula Hufn., Lampra
fimbriata Schreb., Polia nebulosa Hufn., Apamea monoglypha Huin.,
including the dark form, infuscata, and Lygephila pastinum Treits.
Species taken in the larval stage only included Tethea or Schiff.,
Polyploca ridens Fab., Lymantria monacha L., Drymonia ruficornis
Hufn., Clostera pigra Hutin., Poecilocampa populi L. Bena fagana
Fab., Pseudoips bicolorana Fuess., Sarrothripus revayana Scop.,
Apatele alni L., Orthosia populeti Fab., O. miniosa Schiff.—this last
species swarmed over all kinds of bushes one year—and Brephos nothu
Hb. When beating the blackthorn hedges outside the wood for S. pruni
and J’. betulae, one found in one’s tray large numbers of Trichiura
crataegi I., Episema caeruleocephala L., Brachionycha sphing Hufn.,
and Allophyes ozyacanthae L. It was a wonderful place for larvae, and
although one did not always get an iris or a pruni, I never—or hardly
ever—returned home without something worth having.
Now everything is changed. The oaks have gone, and with them,
I fear, has iris. On my last visit (in 1950) all the best sallows had
disappeared and [ failed to find a single larva of that species, but it
probably survives in some of the surrounding woods in which it used
to occur. S. pruni, however, was still to be beaten from blackthorn both
inside and outside the wood, and larvae of 7’. crataegi and B. sphinw
were as plentiful as ever.
In this list I have not touched upon the Geometrids or included a
number of the commoner species which I took or saw, nor have I
mentioned any insects that I did not take myself. An interesting
addition is Odontosia carmelita Ksp. With the exception of one day’s
larva beating I did no collecting there in the late summer or autumn,
otherwise the list might have been somewhat longer. One charming
memory I retain is of clouds of beautiful long-horn moths (Adela sp.)
which used to rise from the bushes, chiefly hazel, I think, when
disturbed, and after floating around for a minute or two, return to
102 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 95 IV ea
their old position. Their wings gleamed in the sunshine like burnished
bronze, and they were a very beautiful sight.
I should think that it was an equally good locality for Coleoptera.
Nowhere else have I seen so many of the day-flying, flower-loving
species. One afternoon I met a coleopterist from the Museum at Oxford,
by name Collins, who told me that he was after some rarity which had
been taken there, but he did not mention its name.
Then there were the nightingales. The wood was full of them, and
during May they sang throughout the afternoon. They were to be
found year after year in the same place. There was always one near
the entrance where I left my car, and its song was a constant source of
pleasure to me as I sat there eating a hurried sandwich lunch. It has
just occurred to me that its own lunch may have included some larvae
of prunt.
Memories of a Naturalist—VI.
By Matcotmm Burr, D.Sc.
Istanbul in those days of course was the old Constantinople of classic
memory, the ancient city of which an early ambassador wrote that,
seen from the sea on approach, it is a lovely sight, but to avoid
disillusion it is better not to go ashore. There was truth in that in the
days when that ambassador wrote three hundred years ago.
It had not altered much on my first visit. True, there were steamers
on the water, but not much else that was modern. There were neither
trams nor motor-cars, for the latter had barely been invented, so that
it was not dangerous for a dog to lie asleep in the middle of the Grande
rue de Pera, as the Istiklal Caddesi was then known to Europeans.
I gazed once in fascination when I saw an old cabby, the shabbiness of
his clothing, horse and fly, set off by the crimson fez, amble down the
middle straight upon a sleeping dog. I held my breath to see the
horse trample on it, but just as the hooves were coming down the animal
in one bound was on the pavement.
Other things used to happen in that same street. The Hotel
Tokatlian, now the Konak, was the scene of the murder of Gani Bey,
who was shot as he sat in the café of the hotel. It is a sordid story,
but perhaps worth telling again after all these years. Gani was an
Albanian chieftain from the Tirana district and a favourite of the
Sultan. In his splendid national costume, his impressiveness enhanced
by the massive pistol in his belt, a weapon which he had no qualms about
using, he was generally dreaded as a bully, but under such high
protection no one could touch him.
One day he walked into an Armenian jeweller’s shop and selected
some pretty things to give to his lady friends. When the jeweller
timorously suggested the possibility of payment, Gani significantly
tapped his pistol and said, ‘‘We are massacring Armenians now’’. He
used to gamble with a woman, also Armenian, who kept a brothel in
the rue Derviche. One day when she disputed a payment due to him,
Gani picked her up and held her out over the street from the fourth
floor window. “Will you pay now, vieille macquerelle?”? he asked.
Needless to say she paid, for she knew he was quite capable of dropping
her.
MEMORIES OF A NATURALIST—VI. 103
He met the end he deserved through the vengence of an outraged
Armenian, who had a beautiful wife. One day when the husband was
away, Gani, escorted by some of his myrmidons, invited himself to the
Armenian’s summer villa on the island called in Turkish Biiyik Ada,
but better known to Europeans by the Greek name of Prinkipo. He
stayed to dinner. Now in those days movement on the water was
prohibited after nightfall, as that encouraged the possibility of
conspiracy, and so when one dined at another person’s house, one spent
the night there. When the husband came back and heard what had
happened he paid a man to shoot Gani as he sat in the café.
The vendetta was taken up by one of Gani’s tribesmen, in accordance
with the code of ethics of his people. The man shot the Armenian on
the Galata Bridge. He was imprisoned, but the Sultan secretly released
him and sent him back to his native village with, it is said, a bagful
of gold. At the same time it was believed that the Sultan was not sorry
to be rid of his turbulent favourite, whose behaviour was getting too
outrageous even for him.
Gani’s brother, Essad Pasha, who became famous in the episode of
the siege of Shkodra, earned a good reputation by protecting the
shattered Serbian army on its dreadful retreat through the mountains
of Albania in November 1915. In return for this service he was
recognised by the Allies as a belligerent. I used to see him at Salonika,
wondering what was the strange flag flying over his villa. He was a
man of picturesque and fierce appearance, with the biggest chest I have
ever seen on mortal man. [Tike Gani, he had a violent end, for he too
was murdered, but for political reasons.
The bridge at Galata, where the Armenian was shot, was a very
different place from to-day. It was carried on pontoons, and a toll of
a hundred paras was exacted from every foot passenger, with a
graduated fee for horses and carriages. The money was collected by
officials clad in long gowns without pockets, which did not encourage
pilfering. It is said that the takings amounted to something like
£T10,000 a day.
The bridge has become internationally famous in a very different
way. One morning, I believe in the ’eighties, an old Armenian who
was a great card player came into the Club and said that he had thought
out a new kind of game that would be a great improvement on whist.
When he explained it to his companions they approved. Someone asked
him ‘‘What are you going to call your new game?”’
“Oh, I don’t know. What do you suggest?’
“Call it Bridge,” suggested one man. ‘‘You use the Bridge twice
a day.”’
And so ‘bridge’ it became. It spread through diplomatic circles
round the world and appeared as a novelty in England in the late
“nineties. It quickly became universal, but the origin of the name was
forgotten, although often discussed.
In the days before trams and taxis, connection with the low-lying
land round Galata and the high ground of Pera or Beyoglu was mainly
by the Tunnel. This was in existence on my visit, for it had been
constructed as long ago as 1875, by a French engineer named Gavon,
but mainly with British capital. It is said to be the oldest underground
railway in the world.
104 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15 /TV /1956
Constantinople has three names. The oldest, Byzantium, is derived
from Byzes, the semi-mythical Greek founder of the colony on these
shores so rich in fish. Re-founded by the Emperor Constantine the
Great in the fourth century, it became Constantinople, for a thousand
years the centre of Christendom, which kept alive the flame of culture
and education while western Europe was plunged in the chaos and
ignorance of the Dark Ages. The modern official Turkish name,
Istanbul, is beyond doubt a corruption of the Greek expression
's tiv modu, ’s teen polin, that is, to the City, or in the City, for in their
eyes it was The city.
Abdul Hamit, who had seen his two predecessors, one his uncle the
other his brother, dethroned and come to a violent end, suffered from
persecution mania and swore he would not meet their fate. He
surrounded himself by the most elaborate precautions. For instance,
he built a double wall round his lair, Yildiz Kiosk, to make entrance
more difficult. He surrounded himself also with spies. His precautions
were justified by events, for he kept his ramshackle empire together
for thirty years and died a natural death. The few years of his exile
in the Villa Allatini at Salonika were no doubt the happiest of his
tormented life, for Fear was no longer at his elbow. When a delegation
of officers came to him in 1912 to take him away he protested.
‘‘T am happy here,’’ he said. ‘‘Why do you want to take me away?”
They told him that it was necessary, as there was a war on.
‘A war?’ he cried. ‘‘Between whom? France and Germany ?”’
When they told him that the impossible had taken place, that the
Balkan states had combined against them, he exclaimed: ‘‘Fools! So
long as I was upon the throne I kept them all at loggerheads. Directly
you remove me, you let them all combine.”
They assured him that they would soon bring him back.
‘No,’’? he cried; ‘‘you have lost this country for ever and in this
way you will in a few years lose the whole empire, which I had kept
together for so long!’
They took him to the palace of Beylerbeyl on the Bosphorus whence
he could look across the water and see on his left the old city of
Stamboul , on his right his old den at Yildiz, the two centres of the
Ottoman Empire that mutually feared each other so much. That
strange man, the last of the tyrants of the Mediaeval pattern, died
there in 1915.
Never did a young enthusiast feel greater pride than I did when ~
I received a letter from the great Brunner himself inviting me to
Vienna to do some monographic work on his collection. It was indeed
a wonderful experience. Brunner was not only the outstanding
authority on the Orthoptera, author of a whole series of revisionary
monographs, but a patrician of the old school, with a gift for vivid
narrative.
He took me one day on an excursion to a place called Oberweiden
in the Moravian Gate, an hour or two in the train from Vienna. The
place is a patch of sandy heath and dunes. Many years ago Brunner
had discovered there what is known as a relict fauna, that is to say
a surviving fauna of ancient conditions that have long since passed
away, exterminated in the surrounding region by modern developments,
MEMORIES OF A NATURALIST— VI. 105
agriculture, or change of climate, yet lingering here and there in a
few such spots, protected by the barrenness of the ground. It was, in
fact, a classic spot in the annals of our science. Brunner had escorted
half the distinguished entomologists of Europe there during the past
twenty or thirty years, but it had changed since his last visit, ten years
previously.
The day was not very successful, but I did catch one kind of grass-
hopper not known elsewhere on this side of central Russia, a survivor
of the days when steppe conditions reigned across Europe a thousand
or so years after the retreat of the glaciers. There were a few others
that belonged properly to the Mediterranean fauna. For me, it was
indeed a truly interesting collecting ground.
Brunner was reminiscent. He lamented the presence of the
racehorses, for which the place was now being used as a training
ground, and the disappearance of the Buhuwhiitte. This had been a
wooden hut where an eagle owl had been kept, for some purpose or
other that was not clear to me, but apparently in connection with
trapping birds. There in the Buhuhiitte he had sat and eaten a frugal
lunch with half the entomologists of Europe, to whom he was showing
this remarkable place. But most of them had departed, together with
the Buhuhiitte, in which they had inscribed the names of the rarities
they had captured there, with their autographs.
The old man shook his head mournfully. ‘‘So-and-So has gone,’’
he lamented, ‘‘and So-and-So. The Buhwhiitte has gone, and now it
is my turn to depart also.”’.
“Oh, Herr Hofrath!’’ I exclaimed with youthful enthusiasm, ‘‘you
are only eighty and what is that for an entomologist? You surely have
many years still in front of you.”’
He shook his head, but time showed I was a good prophet, for he
had another fifteen years to live.
When we sat and sipped our coffee at the little railway station he
noticed that the peasant woman who served us was in what the Serbs
call ‘the second condition’.
‘‘When I was last here,’? he commented, ‘‘ten years ago, she was
enceinte. To-day she is again enceinte. If you come back here in ten
years time no doubt you will find her enceinte again. Thus the world
goes on.”’
I did not, however, have the opportunity of following up the lady’s
domestic history, for a telegram recalled me to my father’s side. He
was suffering from phlebitis, which crippled him for the rest of his life,
but did not prevent him from carrying through an immense piece of
work against apparently unsurmountable difficulties. It was sad to
break off my work in Vienna and lose such a unique opportunity, but
I did at least have the satisfaction of having broken some fresh ground
and had enough done to be worth publishing, a preliminary revision of
a curious and interesting group of grasshoppers called the Acrida.
Some sort of passive resistance, more or less unconscious, led me
constantly to postpone the eating of my dinners and reading seriously
for the bar as my father wished. After coming down from Oxford I
wasted a good deal of time, though in my heart it was not wasted, for
106 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VoL. 68. 15/1V /1956
it was absorbed in Entomology. But one day my mother suggested that
I might prefer to go to the School of Mines.
I leapt at the idea. Dr. Roose’s youngest son, Hubert, had—at my
father’s suggestion—just taken his associateship there. The life of a
mining engineer appealed to me; it was more diversified, more outdoor,
leading to foreign lands and in touch with nature. And there were other
reasons, which won my father’s instant approval.
[Burr duly qualified as a mining engineer and for the next few years
he was actively employed with his father in the development of the
Kentish coalfields. He was kept hard at work, and when the Kast
Kent Railway Company was formed to connect up the collieries with
the main railway line he was appointed its managing director and was
responsible for building some forty and more miles of railway. But he
This excellent cartoon of Malcolm Burr appeared in Vanity Fair,
and we are much indebted to the proprietors of that famous magazine,
namely The National Magazine Co. Ltd., for their permission to
reproduce it together with the letterpress which accompanied it.—Kp.
Men of the Day. No. 23808.
MALCOLM BURR, D.Sc. (Oxon).
The degree that adorns the name of Malcolm Burr does something more
than signify an educational career at our oldest University. It tells in his case
of a sustained enthusiasm for the study of Entomology, which has carried the
holder to distinction, has sent him many a time in quest of valuable material
to the most remote and wild parts of Europe, and has made him a cosmo-
politan and accomplished linguist. He is also the appreciated Secretary of the
International Congresses of Entomology held at Brussels and Oxford, a
prominent member of the Entomological Society of London and of numerous
foreign Societies.
When summer closes and insects betake themselves to winter quarters
Dr. Burr is found riding another hobby. It is the hunting field now, and twice
a week over the beautiful country between Dover and Canterbury he hunts the
West Street Harriers, of which pack he is the popular Master.
The same will-power and spirit which Dr. Burr has given to scientific work
and to hunting he has thrown into the discovery and development of coal
in the county of Kent, and has been to his now famous father an indispensable
assistant aud colleague.
When some future historian comes to tell the tale of his most promising
industry he will write large a name and place it high on the record of English-
men-Who-Have-Achieved—the name Burr, pére et fils.
Their affectionate devotion for each other in the mighty quest will be the
best part of the tale.
JEHU JUNIOR.
found time (as only a busy man can) to form a cricket club among his
employees and in the winter to hunt with the East Kent foxhounds,
at that time under the mastership of H. Selby-Lowndes, for whose
prowess as a huntsman Burr had unbounded admiration. ‘‘He was a
magnificent huntsman,’’ he writes; ‘never beaten even in the big
woodlands near Canterbury, where it was a delight to hear his musical
voice cheering hounds on, and he was a great performer on the horn.
. He told me that he had been a master of hounds since boyhood,
over twenty years, and had not missed one single day’s hunting.’’
Later, Burr took over the mastership of the West Street Harriers and
hunted them for three seasons. ‘‘It was a sheer delight,’’? he writes;
‘‘we were a sporting hunt and held a fine record. I kept hounds in
kennels that I had built under Guston Mill. . . . As kennel huntsman
PLATE I.
VOL. 68.
_
ye
G
lord
MEMORIES OF A NATURALIST—VI. 107
I had Bob Prior, who had been a hunt servant all his life. He was
sixty years of age and as devoted to both hounds and horses as though
they were his own children.’’ Amid all these activities Burr also found
time to get married. But to continue with the narrative. |
In spite of all these activities I did not neglect Entomology. Hast
Kent is good collecting country and it was not long before I had found
most of our British species of Orthoptera within reach of Dover, and
_ from time to time, of course, I paid visits to my beloved Warren.
Systematic work also gave me plenty to do. In 1909 I was invited
to do a monograph of the earwigs of British India for the Indian
Government, which was published in 1910 in the official Fauna of British
India series. This was a good step forward towards the big work for
which I had been preparing for many years, a monographic revision
of the earwigs of the world. Their classification was in a chaotic state
and only a little over three hundred species were known; so I set to
work to lay the foundations of a proper system. I had a fair amount
of material, as almost all the museums of the world sent me their
unnamed material to work out, and the results of expeditions nearly all
found their way to me. I made contact with resident collectors in
different parts of the world, such as the East Indies and Abyssinia.
The examination of the museums gave me the opportunity of seeing
many of the so-called ‘types’, that is, the original specimens described
by older authors. As the descriptions of a hundred years ago were
inadequate as a rule this enabled me to establish beyond doubt the
identity of a number of species that had been otherwise unrecognisable.
In this way I gradually worked out a system of classification that
seemed reasonable. The work, however, was immense and I saw it
would take many years to complete it. I decided, therefore, to publish
each separate piece of work, and events afterwards proved the wisdom
of this step, for circumstances prevented the completion. However,
the main lines of the classification were published in time and in some
cases a certain amount of detail was fitted in. A weak point in the
literature of the subject had been the lack of illustrations or their
amateurish nature. I was fortunate enough to find a first rate
entomological artist, the late Edwin Wilson, in Cambridge, and, thanks
to his genius, was able to collect a fine number of illustrations, some in
colour, others structural, a considerable amount of which was published.
When the war brought my activities in this line to an end the typescript
of the work filled twenty thick files and I was considering the completion
of the first volume, which was to be published by the Ray Society.
But Entomology is not merely a science of the laboratory and
library. One of its greatest attractions is that it takes men and women
out of doors, into the countryside, to meet Nature face to face. There
is not an entomologist worthy of the name who does not treasure
countless memories of days in the field, though there are plenty who
have only that and are satisfied with Entomology as a recreation, busy
men, with their serious work in other lines. To them it is a delight
and a relief, an escape, and one that so often leads to longevity.
Some of my happiest memories of those years in Hast Kent are of
days in the field, either a picnic to the Warren, to renew old memories,
perhaps without any thought of further new discoveries. It was from
material taken there that I had proved the identity of a rare kind of
108 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/TV /1956
earwig that had been reported from the south of England before, but
under the wrong name. 918: net
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Sterrha rusticata Schiff. and S. degeneraria al!
at Torquay, Devon JUN 195)
WIN
By A. H. Dosson. —
pacvn )
With regard to A. J, Showler’s papers on the distribution of Stéprhi a aa
rusticata Schiff. in the British Isles I wish to clarify th reposted TY
occurrences of this species in Devon and Cornwall. The Owing
records are taken from the ‘records’ book of the Torquay Natural History
Society :—
Exeter district, one (EK. Parfitt)
Rame Head, Cornwall (H. S. Bishop)
Rock Walk, Torquay, one, 1.8.12 (H. Lupton)
Torquay, one, 1922 (J. W. Metcalfe).
The Exeter and Rame Head records were most probably about the
end of the last century. On looking through the collections at the
T.N.H.S. Museum I found only one local specimen there, and that was
caught by Lupton, but is labelled 7.7.18.
I have been actively collecting in this district since 1946, and in
1949 I caught one specimen of S. rusticata flying about four feet above
a path in our small walled-in garden at dusk on the 2nd June. Since
that date I have searched intensively for this species in this area.
Lupton’s specimen was found resting on the leaves of an evergreen
in the Rock Walk. I have searched every possible place between our
garden and the Rock Walk, a distance of half a mile. Last year I
extended my search to other parts of the town, but never did I find
this species.
At present I am convinced that the specimen I obtained on 2nd June
1949 was an inmigrant. All the specimens taken in Devon, so far as
I can find out, are single specimens taken at irregular dates. I feel
certain that the species is not a resident of Devon nor Cornwall. Only
a few days alter my capture of this specimen there was a large
immigration of moths, including Celerio livornica Esp. and Heliothis
peltigera Schiff. to Torbay.
According to Air Ministry weather records, a front passed westwards
over the Channel and North-West France in the early morning of
lst June, and during the previous part of the night a moderate to light
southerly wind blew. across North-West France and the Channel. It
is quite possible that this small flimsy moth was carried over in the
late evening and night of 3lst May, or was carried in an upper air-
stream, by a moderate south-easterly wind, in the late evening and
night of Ist June.
Also, I have never heard of S. rusticata being taken so early in
June. July being the usual month for flight; but on the Continent,
I believe this species is in flight during June and July. Immigration
will probably account for odd specimens being caught in South-West
Ireland, Dorset and Suffolk, and for why there appears to have been
a concentration of records in the South-East of England.
With regard to South Devon, I am certain that this area lies within
a “migration corridor’’? which spreads from the West coast of France
up to Brittany and Normandy and across the Channel to South Devon.
I have also been searching for Sterrha degeneraria Hiib., which at
one time was definitely a resident species at Torquay. The occurrences
122. ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/V /1956
recorded by the T.N.H.S. are as follows:—J. Walker, 1897, 1904 till
the last specimen captured by him in June 1908, 1927 in a local cove,
and it was also to be found on cliffs above a beach near the cove (EK. D.
Morgan). However, during 1954 and 1955 I searched the localities but
found no existence of this species. Since the last War there have been
‘Improvements’, for the visitors’ benefits, to the base of the cliffs in the
cove, and the cliffs above the nearby beach have been falling and making
landslides. I have searched all the cliffs around the cove, and all the
safe parts of the cliffs above the beach, and I fear I must consider this
species to be at present extinct at Torquay.
Lepidoptera at Byfleet, Surrey, July-August 1955
By S. WAKELY.
On the 15th of July I returned from my holiday at Camber, Sussex,
and decided to visit my daughter living on the new L.C.C. housing
estate at Sheerwater, Byfleet. The canal tow-path and beautiful
heathlands there had been a happy hunting ground of mine for many
years, and no doubt I am not alone in regretting the great changes
taking place there nowadays. However, the opportunity arising, it
seemed a pity not to try a mercury-vapour hght there—at Paxton
Gardens to be more exact. My daughter’s garden is bordered by the
canal, and there is a small reed bed about 10 yards from where the
light was used. I used the light suspended over a sheet with no trap,
and the results the first night were such that I continued to work the
light there once a week for the ensuing six weeks. Several of the species
were ones I had never had the good fortune to take previously, and
some which I had looked upon as comparatively rare turned up in
numbers. The following is a list of the more interesting species : —
Hyloicus pinastri L., Cerura furcula L., Stauropus fagi L., Pheosia~
tremula Clerck, P. gnoma F., Notodonta dromedarius L., Habrosyne
derasa L., Thyatira batis L., Tethea duplaris L., Drepana binaria
Hutn., D. lacertinaria L., Miltochrista miniata Forst., Hilema griseola
Hb., E. lurideola Zinck., E. complana L., Colocasia coryli L., Apatele
leporina L., A. rumicis L., Cryphia perla F., Agrotis vestigialis Rott.,
Euxoa triticc L., Apamea scolopacina Esp., Coenobia rufa Haw.,
Nonagria typhae Thunb., N. geminipuncta Haw., Petilampa minima
Haw., Dicycla oo L. (v. renago Haw.), Cosmia diffinis L., Cirrhia
icteritia Hufn., Anchoscelis litura L., Parastichtts suspecta Hb.,
Polychrisia moneta F., Lygephila pastinum Treits., Laspeyria flexula
Schiff., Parascotia fuliginaria L., Chesias rufata F., Mysticoptera
sexalisata Hb., Calocalpe undulata L., Xanthorhoe quadrifasciata
Clerck, Hydrelia flammeolaria Hufn., Euphyia unangulata Haw.,
Perizoma alchemillata L., Eupithecia pulchellata Steph., EH. goossensiata
Mab., EH. succenturiata L., Semiothisa alternaria Hb., Itame wauaria
L., Ennomos quercinaria Hufn., Deuteronomos alniaria L., OD.
fuscantaria Haw., D. erosaria Borkh., Apeira syringaria L., Epione
repandaria Hutn., Biston betularia L., Schoenobius forficellus Thunb.,
Dioryctria fusca Haw., D. splendidella H.S., D. abietella F., Phycita
betulae Goeze, Nephopteryx similella Zinck., Crambus falsellus Schiff.,
Anania nubilalis Hb., Hulia formosana Hb., Hyponomeuta evonymella
L.
LEPIDOPTERA AT BYFLEET, SURREY, JULY-TUGUST 1955. 123
Hyloicus pinastri was represented by a single specimen which
appeared on the 15th July. On the same night a grand var. renago of
Dicycla oo turned up, together with one Stauwropus fagi, two Xanthorhoe
quadrifasciata, a very faded Nephopteryx similella, and two LHulia
formosana. Four of these species were new to me in the field and this
fact spurred me on to try for still more rarities as soon as possible.
Habrosyne derasa was very common, but Thyatira batis occurred only
on the 19th August, when four suddenly put in an appearance. The
Hook-tips were also plentiful and a nice supply of eggs was obtained
from Drepana binaria. During the many years I have been interested
in lepidoptera not more than half-a-dozen Miltochrista miniata had ever
- come my way, but on several nights here over a dozen came to the sheet.
Both Notodonta dromedarius and Apatele leporina appeared in numbers
most nights, and a fine yellow-ground variety of Cryphia perla was taken
on 19th August. I had been told that Agrotis vestigialis could be taken
on our Surrey heathlands, but nevertheless I was rather surprised to
take five on one night (29th July), all in first class condition. Two dark
Euzxoa tritici were taken, so unlike my series from the south coast that
I thought they must be another species. I am told that this dark form
is peculiar to the heaths in Surrey. Apamea scolopacina, two of which
were taken, was a pleasant surprise. My daughter gave me a noctuid
larva which was feeding voraciously on the flower petals of Iceland
Poppies growing in the garden, and this later emerged as Anchoscelis
litura.
Alps, and G. Schmidt gives a note on Hvodinus interrogationis L. de-
scribing four new varieties with text figures and a correction. Anna
Muller writes on the Parsnip Beetle and M. Linke on interesting
Coleoptera irom Berchtesgaden. G. Schadewald gives two papers, one
on light- and the other on bait-trapping.
On the Odonata, A. Bilek describes the hitherto unknown male of
Agrion (=Coenagrion) freyt Bilek 1955 with good text figures of
anatomical details; he also mentions a case of a hybrid Anax sp. with
text figures of anatomical details.
H. Buhr gives an account of some Agromyzidae with three text figures
illustrative of the mines. K. Harz writes on the drumming of Meconema
thalassinum De Geer and L. Zirngrebl on the genus Fenusa Leach
(Tenthredinidae). Seventeen species of ‘‘shield louse’’ are noted by H.
Schmutterer.
ENTOMOLOGISCHE ZkrITscHRIFT, Vol. 66, No. 5 (March 1956) has an
account by G. Kauffmann of Lugano on the breeding of Ochlodes venatum
Bremer & Grey, the European subspecies, with some systematic notes.
Dr. Werner Marten continues his monograph of the Zygaenidae of the
Iberian Peninsular.
CURRENT LITERATURE. 141
Forestry Commission Leaflet, 10, on THE Oak Lear Rotter Motu (Tor-
trix viridana L.), (Stationery Office, price 6d.) has been re-written by Dr.
N. W. Hussey, with photographs by Mr. H. Bastin. It gives a very
complete life history of the species and lists insect controls, including
Hymenopterous and Dipterous parasites, and Coleopterous, Hemip-
terous and Dipterous predators, and also the small birds whose feeding
habits have an appreciable effect on populations.
It is pointed out that severe infestations only occur at intervals of
several years as a general rule, but a run of twenty consecutive years of
heavy infestation in Germany is cited. Serious damage to trees 1s rare,
because the lost foliage is usually replaced by Lammas shoots.
Artificial controls are considered uneconomic, having in mind the
facts that the damage is not very serious and the feeding site of the
young larvae is in the higher levels of large trees; insecticide sprays from
the ground would not be practicable, and from aircraft they would be
unwarrantably expensive. )
What a pleasure to read an account of an injurious insect without
the cry heard much too often to-day: ‘‘Off with his head!”’.
A.E.S. Leaflet, No. 28, Kinninc, Serrinc aND StorRInG BUTTERFLIES
snp Morus (103d. post free from the Secretary, A.E.S., 1 West Ham
Lane, London, E.15) is compiled by Mr. L. W. Siggs, the former publica-
tion under this title being out of print.
This is an excellent pamphlet for the beginner, and should not be
beneath the dignity of the more advanced lepidopterist. The question of
killing is first dealt with and the dozen different agents mentioned are
fully discussed and their advantages and disadvantages explained.
The transport of specimens from the field, relaxing, setting and
storing are dealt with in order, and finally there is a useful section on
the equipment required with notes on the making of many items, thus
enabling the young collector to start with apparatus which might other-
wise have been out of his reach. Another consideration is that making
such apparatus will provide interesting work for the winter evenings.
OpuscuLtA Entomonoerca, 21 (1956), Pt. 1, has a description of a new
Trypetid fly, Tephritis rydent, from Sweden, by Dr. Erich M. Hering,
with a text figure of the wing-pattern. Arne Sundholm writes on the
genus Phyllodecta Kirby (Col. Chrysomelidae) with twelve text figures.
Sven Olof Larsson deals with the shore Coleoptera in the North Gote-
borg Archipeligo with a map and four half-tone views of collecting sites.
The main paper is by Einar Wahlgren, Part II of his work on gall-
causing plant lice, listing the species under the plants they infest.
Another major paper is by Per Bruck, in English, on the reproductive
system and mating of Plecoptera with many text figures of anatomical
details.
In the BULLETIN DE LA SoctiTE ENTOMOLOGIQUE DE FRANCE, 59, 151,
there is an account of some interesting experiments on the directional
movement of the female Operophtera brumata L. given by P. Grison
and R. Silvestre de Sacy. Desiring to establish how the female winter
moth found its way from its place of pupation in the soil, to its food
plant, the authors set out on a series of experiments.
In the first experiment, a wooden fence 15cm. high was set up
142 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, Vou. 68. 15/ V /1956
around and at a distance of 2°50 M. from an apple tree, the top of
the fence and the apple tree being sticky-banded. In twenty days, 60
females were found adhering to the band on the tree, but none were
found on the fence.
The next experiment involved an enclosure with 2M. sides. This
was placed against an apple tree or a 10 cm. stake, and a pot containing
sometimes a considerable number of pupae, and sometimes of females
which had emerged in breeding cages, placed in the middle. Sticky-
banding was again employed, and again it was found that practically
without exception, all the insects found the tree or stake at whatever
cardinal point this stood with relation to the frame.
To assess the vision of the females, an experiment similar to the last,
but employing stakes of various sizes, was made, and it was found that
while practically all moved towards a stake 8cm. diameter or larger,
only about 50 per cent appreciated the presence of a 5cm. stake, and
3°50 cm. seemed to be about the limit of discernment.
ANNALES DE LA SocrETé ENTOMOLOGIQUE DE FRANCE has a comprehen-
sive and well illustrated monograph of the Tenebrionid genus
Leptonychus Chevrolat (Col.), describing as new species L. reymondi,
L. lislec and L. grassei and a new subspecies of LZ. pellucidus which he
names iguidiensis.
A Simon monographs Rhopalopus insubricus Germ. (Col. Ceramby-
cidae) with text sketches and a fine figure of this beetle, while H.
Coiffait writes on the Tachinus (Col. Staphylinidae) of France with a
key and description of a new species, 7’. ochsi and G. Guignot describes
14 new species of Dytiscidae (Col.) from the Zimmermann collection
(Brazil, India, Oceania, etc.).
For the lepidopterist, Pierre Viette describes 41 new species of
Tineoidea, and C. Herbulot 16 new Geometrinae from Madagascar,
being part of the material collected by them during their recent visits
to that country together with other recent Madagascar collections. Both
papers are illustrated by genitalia drawings, and that of P. Viette
also has figures of several of the species described.
A Steiner writes on the predatory Hymenoptera of the Black
Périgord district, while C. Quénu writes on the bees of that district.
R. Benoist describes seven new bees from Madagascar.
ZEITSCHRIFT DER WIENER ENT. GESELLSCHAFT, 67, No. 1, has an
account of ultra-violet lamp collecting with a long list of macrolepi-
doptera taken by Hermann Amanshauser of Salzburg. L. G. Higgins
and E. P. Wiltshire write a joint paper in which the former deals with
the Melitaea and the latter the Pararge of the Middle East.
Dr. H. G. Amsel describes microlepidoptera collected by Emmanuel
de Bros. in Spanish Morocco, with a photographic plate of the species
and three plates of ¢ genitalia dissections; these include a new sub-
species, maroccanensis of Mecyna (Pyralis) lutealis a new Pterophorid,
Oxyptilus maroccanensis and two new Tortricidae, Steganoptycha
(Epiblema) ketamana and Epagoge pygmaeana. In the Tineoidea, we
have a new Oeccophorid species, Pleurota dissimilella, while in the
Tineidae two new genera are set up, Tineomorpha to accommodate
Meyrick’s Tinea hirundinella, and Praelongicera for P, palaestinella, a
new. species.
FIFTY YEARS AGO. 143
In Oreuscuta Enromonoetca, Vol. 20, Nos. 2-3 (1955), H. Rambring
notes Vanessa ranthomelas Esp. as a species new to Sweden, a speci-
men having been taken at Sandhammaren, S. KE. Scania. It will be
remembered that an example of this species was taken within the past
two years in this country. There is a paper in English on Cockroaches
from Trinidad by K. Princis and D. K. McK. Kevan, and Thure Palm
contributes two papers on Swedish Coleoptera. Stellan Erlandsson
monographs bees of the family Coelioxis Latr.
Bo. Tjeder, writing in English, gives preliminary descriptions of five
new species of crane Hy from Sweden: Austrolimnophila consobrina,
Limnophila Udioptera) macropteryz, Nephrotoma ramulifera, Rhabdo-
mastiz cunctans and Hrioptera (Psiloconopa) lindrothi, and. the same
author gives a list of the Swedish Tipulidae in tabular form showing the
distribution, to be read in conjunction with an explanatory map.
CanaDIAN Entomo.ocist, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Jan. 1956), has an interest-
ing note on the Limitations of Natural Control of Phytophagous Insects
and Mites in a British Colombia Orchard, by J. Marshall and C. V. G
Morgan of the Entomological Laboratory, Summerland, B.C. It is
pointed out that when an apple orchard is abandoned in Eastern
Canada, the trees grow reasonably well for many years, and although
the fruit is usually ruined by Scab, the damage by insects is relatively
of minor account, while in B.C., trees die from desiccation in a short
time, although in places favoured by sub-irrigation, they may last ten
years or more, but produce no marketable fruit due mainly to Codlin
Moth (Carpocapsa pomonella L.) and Blister Mite (Hriophyes pyri
Pgst.) also other pests.
W. C. McGuffin writes on larvae of the Geometrid genus I[tame, witi
a key to the ‘‘mature’’ (is not full-fed a better description) larvae,
based on head, colour pattern, and chaetotaxy, the various features
being also described by text figures. Ten species are dealt with of which
I. brunneata Thbg. is the only species represented here.
Fifty Years Ago
(From The Entomologist’s Record of 1906)
BEETLES AND BUTTERFLIES.—Between the end of last May and the
beginning of October I took from a dozen traps in my butterfly-house
nearly 3,000 carnivorous beetles, including many of the larger kinds,
one of which I think I have identified as C. violaceus, and towards the
end of the period I found that my butterflies did not disappear with
anything like the frequency with which they used to during the early
summer. Chary as I know one should be of hasty generalisations in
matters of this kind, I should like to suggest that the danger from
carnivorous beetles and other nocturnal enemies may have had much to
do with evolving the sleeping habits, and appearance when at rest, of
the Rhopalocera as we know them. The vertically-folded wings would
protect the insect from a sudden attack from behind on its head, which
I have observed to be the point generally chosen, whilst the wing-cases,
legs, etc., would adequately shield the sides. ... I have noticed that
the Papilios, which represent a somewhat primitive form of butterfly,
sleep with their antennae outstretched as though to warn them of any
144 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/ V /1956
danger, while the more highly specialised kinds, such as the Vanessids,
sleep with their antennae pressed up against the costa of the forewings,
and evidently rely for protection upon their resemblance to surrounding
objects . . . . I have noticed, too, that I lose butterflies protected like
Pyrameis cardui, Vanessa 10, Hugonia polychloros, etc., much less fre-.
quently than the Papilios. Again, the habit of so many butterflies such
as the Lycaenidae, Satyridae, etc., of roosting on slender grass stems,
may serve as a protection against bulky enemies such as the larger
beetles, which would bear them down in the effort to climb, and so
awaken their prey.—CrciL FLOERSHEIM.
HIBERNATION OF ALUCITA GALACTODACTYLA.—The fact that the larva
of .... galactodactyla hybernates as a comparatively small larva is
well known, but the further fact that its foodplant, burdock, dies down
in winter has always made the exact position it was likely to take up
during the winter rather problematical, nor do any observations on the
point appear to have been recorded. It may, therefore, be advisable to
note that whilst Mr. Foreman and myself were entomologising at Cuxton
to-day we found the small larvae of this species attached to the half-
decayed fibres of the main stem of a plant of burdock, but under the
outer skin, which was less decayed. There was no trace of green leaves,
nor had the main bud broken at all through the crown of the plant.—
J. OveNDOoN, 28th February 1906.
Obituary
JOHN ANTONY THOMPSON, whose death was announced in our last
issue, was born at Bucklow, Cheshire, on 14th May 1907. He graduated
in Classics, with honours, at Caius College, Cambridge, and on leaving
the university settled in North Wales, where he founded a preparatory
school. In 1940 he married Lucy Elizabeth, younger daughter of the
late Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sutcliffe of Coed Mawr Hall, North Wales.
It was while living in North Wales that Thompson began to study
the Welsh forms of our Rhopalocera, and soon he acquired an outstand-
ing knowledge of the butterflies of that area and of Cheshire. He
probably knew more than anyone else of the distribution of Coenonympha
tullia Mull. in Caernarvonshire and was the discoverer of the remark-
able dwarf and early races of Plebeius argus (ssp. caernensis Thompson)
and Humenis semele (ssp. thyone Thompson) which occur on the Great
Orme.
After the War he moved to Wells, Somerset, where he founded Milton
Lodge School, and devoted his limited leisure to the study of the
butterflies of that area and to breeding Pieris napi L. and its aberra-
tions, in which he met with remarkable success. It was at Milton that
he was attacked by his last illness, a seizure which left him partly
paralysed last December, and although he was making a good recovery
he suffered a further attack last March, from which he never regained
consciousness, and after lingering for a few days passed away on 6th
March.
We are indebted to his widow, Mrs. L. E. Thompson, to whom we
offer our sincere sympathy, and to Dr. H. B. Williams, Q.C., LL.D.,
for the above particulars.
-EXCHANGES AND WANTS
Sn TE RE ae Oe
= caso Pi Patty
Wanted.—Pinned or alcohol preserved adult winter gnats (Diptera, Tricho-
eeridae), particularly members of individual swarms, for study of varia-
tion of species. Postage refunded.—B. R. Laurence, Birkbeck College, Lon-
don, W.C.4.
Warwickshire Lepidoptera.—Will Entomologists please assist in compiling a new
“County of Warwickshire Local List of Lepidoptera’”’ (Macro and Micro) ?
Records giving date and year, and locality of capture should be sent to
Trevor Trought, F.R.E.S., c/o The Curator, County Museum, Warwick.
All assistance will be acknowledged.
Wanted.—European (excluding Great Britain) Rhopalocera. Would collect
English insects of any order in exchange. Fresh or papered butterflies
preferred. Any offers?—Dr. N. L. Birkett, $ Thorny Hills, Kendal, West-
morland.
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BRARY
UL 13 1956
Collecting Exp ionaesy
By M. J. LeEeca.
The season opened on 3rd February with a visit to Delamere Forest
in Cheshire. The weather was quite mild for the time of the year
and insects seen included Phigalia pedaria both type and var. mona-
chara and Hrannis marginaria. Conditions deteriorated within an hour
of collecting, heavy rain set in which brought a close to any further
activities. On 23rd March, in the company of Mr. S. Coxey, we re-
turned in the hope of obtaining Apochewma hispidaria; for the past
few years we have been intent on obtaining this species from Dela-
mere but always without success. This season, however, we were
lucky. Altogether we obtained nine males, some of which were at-
tracted to m.v. light, the others to paraffin lamps and one came to
the car head-lights. Their arrival to light is rather similar to that
of Odontosia carmelita in that their actual flight is not observed until
they are quite close to the source of light when they are to be seen
fluttering near the sheet. Other species included P. pedaria, Erannis
marginaria, H. leucophaearia, Conistra vaccinti and Orthosia incerta.
On 4th April we went over to Wallasey in search of Nyssia zonaria.
We were apparently too early, due to the backward season. We spent
two hours examining the area but were not successful. Examining
the golf links area for eggs of Orthosia advena also resulted in failure.
Formby Moss claimed my attention on 8th April. The usual spring
insects were in evidence, although the sallows were backward owing
to the lateness of the season. Assembling with a female Biston
strataria produced no males. On 16th April the same area was visited
—species as already mentioned were in evidence. The O. advena,
which have become common in this area recently, appeared to be
scarce this spring.
Our first visit to the Witherslack district was on 20th April. Moths
were flying freely at dusk, but afterwards the sallows were untenanted.
We took one Gypsitea leucographa in company with the commoner
species. Both Nothopteryx carpinata and Nothopteryxz polycommata
were quite common and we also took two hibernated specimens of T7'ri-
phosa dubitata; Ectropis bistortata was just making an appearance.
Back in Formby on 23rd April produced very little, only common
species were. taken at sallows—a single specimen of Orthosia cruda
turned up at mercury vapour light—a scarce insect in the district.
The following day was spent in the company of Mr. and Mrs. S. Gordon
Smith. No collecting was undertaken but a pleasant day was had
browsing through the collections and the breeding quarters.
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169
HARVARD Collecting in 1955
UNIVERSI? iy By A. C. R. RepeRave.
-——~ These ER are of the 1955 season’s collecting with Mr. Harold
Symes and the late Dr. Harold King, partly in west Hampshire, but
chiefly in east Dorset. Our collecting excursions together consisted
almost exclusively of night work with a portable m.v. lamp.
The first evening’s work was on 5th May with Dr. K. in a birch
wood near Canford. The birches included some fine old trees and we
were hoping to take Odontosia carmelita Esp. The night was cool and
windy and the lamp was set up in the open near the trees. Only five
moths of five species appeared, but one was carmelita. I returned to
the wood on the 10th, this time with H.S., and on this occasion we set
up the lamp under the trees some little distance further from the road.
The night was rather warmer and we were rewarded with 11 species
including half-a-dozen specimens of carmelita. We were particularly
pleased with the result as this moth is scarce in Dorset and had not,
I think, been recorded previously from this locality.
June 14th and 17th found us on the open heath on the other side of
the road, and on the first of these two nights, with Dr. K., 30 species
were recorded, including Hupithecia arceuthata Freyer and several
Hadena thalassina Hufn. On the second night, with H.S., we recorded
28 species, amongst them Drymonia dodonaea Schf. and numbers of
Jaspidia pygarga Hufn.
On 2list June we all three visited a wood near Bloxworth where
Mr. Symes had once taken the larva of Apatele alni L. We recorded
45 species including Hyloicus pinastri L., Stauropus fagi L. and four
specimens of alnt.
Two nights later Dr. K. and I visited one of the more accessible
parts of Holt Forest, a locality which proved to be one of the most
interesting worked in 1955. A total of 59 species was recorded, including
Polia hepatica Cl., Apamea characterea Hb., A. crenata Huf., Helio-
phobus anceps Schf., Plusia pulchrina Haw., and Zanclognatha grisealis
Schf.
On the afternoon of 2nd July H.S. and I went to Hurst Castle in
search of Setina irrorella L., but although the day was sunny the wind
* was strong and we saw none. In the evening we set up the lamp by a
stream near Wootton Enclosure in the New Forest, but luck was against
us and we saw only 12 species, of which the most abundant was Cybosia
mesomella L.
A week later I went alone to Hurst Castle. The weather was still
sunny and windy, but I found many irrorella of both sexes resting on
grass stems just before 5 p.m. Earlier not a specimen was to be seen.
While boxing this species I put up several specimens of Scopula emutaria
Hb., all in very fresh condition.
The evening of 12th July found Dr. K. and me on Sopley Marsh.
By the time we had recorded 26 species the marsh was enveloped in a
mist, and we were considering packing up when our minds were made
up for us by an irate farmer and his companion, who complained in
forceful and unprintable language that the noise of our generator was
preventing them and their friends from sleeping. Our record included
170 ENTOMOLOGIST’ S RECORD, Vou. 68. 15/ VIII /1956
large numbers of Cerapteryxr graminis L., fair numbers of Apamea
ophiogramma Esp. and two fine female Cossus cossus L.
On 15th July Dr. K. and I set up the lamp on Canford Heath,
particularly to try for Coscinia cribraria L. and I was fortunate in
securing a short series of this species. Of the 56 species noted the most
abundant were Pachycnemia hippocastanaria Hb. and Anarta myrtill
L. We all revisited this locality four days later and recorded 43 species,
including two more cribraria, and while hippocastanaria was still abun-
dant, myrtilli had disappeared.
Holt Forest was the scene of our night’s work on 26th July and
Dr. K. and I set up the lamp in the same place as before. 62 species
were recorded, the highest total of the year, the most interesting, to me,
being Cleorodes lichenaria Hufn.
In 1951 Mr. B. Goater and I had spent a number of very successful
nights on a marsh at Lymington working with petrol vapour lamps, and
in an effort to repeat this success Dr. K. and I went to the marsh on
28th July again with petrol lamps, as owing to the proximity of houses
we were precluded from using the generator. The night was most
disappointing, the only species recorded being Arenostola phragmitidis
Hb., Leucania straminea Tr., Celaena leucostigma Hb. and Hydraecia
paludis Tutt. Not a single specimen of either Nonagria dissoluta Tr.
or Chilodes maritima Tausch. was seen, although in the earlier year we
had found them in quite fair numbers.
On 30th July H.S. and I tried Canford Heath again and noted 27
species, including two specimens oi Calocalpe undulata lL. and a single
cribraria; hippocastanaria. abounded and myrtilli had reappeared in
numbers.
On 6th August H.S. and I spent an afternoon at Winspit, a delight-
ful valley on the Dorset coast. I cannot remember ever having seen
so many butterflies before. I saw numbers of Colias croceus Fourc. and
took a few Thymelicus acteon Rott. In the evening Dr. K. and I
worked the lamp on Canford Heath, recording 45 species including
singletons of cribraria and Plusia festucae L.
On 20th August, while the generator was undergoing repair, I took
a petrol lamp to the sandhills at Studland in Dorset where I joined
Mr. Stuart from Lymington. I was very pleased to take a short series
of Agrotis vestigialis Hufn. and see Mr. Stuart take a perfect Actebia
praecox L. Unfortunately this was the only occasion on which I was
able to visit this locality, but I am sure it would be well worth trying
with the m.v. lamp.
Two days later Dr. K. and I were again at Holt Forest and on this
occasion recorded 56 species, including Nonagria geminipuncta Haw.
and N. dissoluta Tr. (var. arundineta Schm.). These two species were
a considerable surprise, as the wooded locality in which we were work-
ing seemed a most unlikely place for them.
August 24th found us at the watercress beds near Cranborne, Dorset.
Here amongst the butterbur (Tussilago petasitis) Dr. King was sure
we should find Hydraecia petasitis Dbld. We recorded 39 species
including two Zenobia retusa L., several Cosmia affinis L., a single
Atethmia xerampelina Esp., a veritable plague of Tholera popularis
Fab. both males and females, and a single H. petasitis, which appeared
to make its way to the sheet by walking instead of flying. It occurred
COLLECTING IN 1955. 171
to us later that we might have had more success with this species had
we set up our lamp amongst the tall plants of the butterbur instead of
on a slight eminence which we had hoped would command the whole
area of the plant.
On 29th August Dr. K. and 1 went to Badbury Rings, but a mist came
up and we were obliged to leave early, recording 29 species which
included very large numbers of male (. graminis and both sexes of
T. popwaris. Two nights later we were all three at our accustomed
pitch on Canford Heath, noting 27 species amongst which were Milto-
christa miniata Forst. and Tholera cespitis Schif.
By 9th September the warm nights were over. We tried the lamp
at Parley Heath and succeeded in attracting only 12 species, including
a single specimen of Amathes agathina Dup., a usually common moth
in this locality. The following night we searched the heather on the
other side of the heath and found a further single specimen of agathina.
The night of 19th September was also cold and Dr. K. and I worked
the lamp at Canford Heath, rather higher up the slope than usual. We
only recorded 10 species including the season’s first Deuteronomos
alniaria L.
On Saturday, 24th September, H.S. drove me to Portland, picking
up Brigadier Warry on the way and joining Dr. K. near Church Hope
Cove. The night was warm with slight drizzle, but a strong wind from
the sea prevented us from putting our lamp right on the cliff edge.
A total of 18 species appeared, amongst which we were pleased to see
Leucania l-album LU. Aporophyla australis Bdv. was abundant and
Leuchochlaena hispida Geyer was common later. About 11 p.m. a
specimen of Vanessa atalanta L. flew in and settled down on the top
of the tripod immediately under the lamp and remained there until
disturbed when we dismantled the gear to go home about midnight.
Mr. Symes secured a single Humichtis lichenea Hb., a female which
subsequently laid eggs. It is hoped that his experience of breeding this
species will form the subject of an article in this magazine at a later
date.
On 8th October we all three went to Durlston Head, near Swanage.
Here we recorded 12 species at light and seven at sugar. Those at light
included L. l-album, Peridroma porphyrea Sch., A. australis, Aporophyla
nigra Haw. and very large numbers of Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw. At
sugar there were l-album, porphyrea, australis and a few lunosa.
Mr. Symes and I tried sugar at Hurn on 14th October with singular
lack of success. The wind was cool and only three moths arrived to
taste our feast. They were Scoliopteryx libatrix L., Agrotis ipsilon
Hufn. and Griposia aprilina L. It is perhaps worth mentioning that
on the same posts the year before we were getting 60 to 100 moths a
night (Hnt. Rec., 67: 15).
The next night it was even more windy and we visited Badbury
Rings. The lamp was set up in the shelter of a copse, and while
Mr. Symes watched this, Dr. King and I sugared a number of trees in
the beech avenue. These produced nothing, but the lamp attracted
four species, amongst which Agrochola lychnidis Schf. was represented
by quite 50 individuals including a number of the form pistacina.
Dr. King believed that Dasypolia templi Thun. should be found in
the area near Corfe Castle where the foodplant Heracleum sphondylium
172 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/ VIIT/1956
grew in profusion. We went to a carefully selected spot on 22nd
October, but weather conditions were against us and no templs
appeared. Our only visitors were A. lychnidis, A. nigra and a few
Oporima dilutata Schf.
On 27th October H.S. and I sugared at Hurn again and although
the night was not unduly cold we saw only eight moths of four species,
one of which was Allophyes oxyacanthae L. and one Agrochola lota Cl.
The night of 5th November was damp and mild and followed a week
of similar weather. Dr. King and I went to Holt Forest and switched
on the lamp at 6 p.m. Our first visitor was Colotois pennaria L., which
arrived as soon as we began and continued in abundance all the evening.
The other 19 species noted included an abundance of A. lota and single-
tons of Brachyonycha sphing Hufn. and Anchoscelis helvola L. Although
the number of species (20) was quite small, the number of moths on the
sheet exceeded all but the very best nights of the summer. It was
indeed fitting that this should have been so, as it was to prove Dr.
King’s last field excursion, for he died suddenly and quite unexpectedly
on 26th February 1956.
Melanism in the Lepidoptera
By J. W. Hestop-Harrison, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.R.S.E.
I. IntTRopvucToRY.
In 1926 (Proc. Roy. Soc., B. 99, p. 24) I made the following
statement: ‘‘The question of melanism in the Lepidoptera is one of
paramount importance inasmuch as this is one of the few recognizable
evolutionary changes which have occurred in Nature in recent times,
and, for the most part, before the eyes of the present generation’’.
This is a very important declaration and, on account of its significance,
investigations into the problem of industrial melanism, commenced by
me in 1903, have been continued until the present day. This work,
then, has proceeded for a period of over fifty years.
Recently, others have taken up the study of the phenomenon. This,
in itself, is a very healthy sign, but less satisfactory is the tendency
to misrepresent, or ignore, the results of previous researches. One of
the aims of the present paper is to draw attention to instances of such
happenings in which I am concerned personally.
Ford, on page 197 of his Moths, dealing with the work described in
the paper mentioned above, refers to it, quite gratuitously, in the
following terms: ‘‘Harrison was thereby investigating a phenomenon
that seems never to have occurred; the spread of recessive melanism’’.
Independently of the illogical nature of the assertion, it is open to strong
criticism of another sort. My researches, as Ford well knows, were
planned to seek a solution to the problems of industrial melanism; that,
by sheer accident, important results of a totally different nature were
secured did not affect the original aims. Moreover, it was made abun-
dantly clear that no claim was ever put forward that these experiments
of mine supplied any explanation of industrial melanism. Thus, in my
paper ‘‘A Further Induction of Melanism in the Lepidopterous Insect,
Selenia bilunaria Ksp., and its Inheritance’’ (Proc. Roy. Soc., B. 102,.
MELANISM IN THE LEPIDOPTERA. Ws
1928, p. 346), I very carefully wrote ‘“‘It should be made clear that the
present work is not regarded as solving the problems of industrial
melanism’’. Further, in the Durham University Journal, (25, 1927,
p. 102), in discussing the same researches, it was remarked ‘‘Whether
our experiments throw light on the origin of melanism in Nature is less
certain .. . there is nothing to show that either lead or manganese is
responsible for the rapid changes in the colour of moths in England’’.
It is worth mentioning here that, if such criticisms of my results
are allowable, then the experiments with Biston betularia, stressed so
strongly by Ford, are equally vulnerable. In the opinion of several
competent Continental workers, the blackening of B. betularia must
not be regarded as a case of industrial melanism but one of nigrism,
i.e. an extension of the black pattern elements, already present,
at the expense of the general ground colour.
My friend Kettlewell, referring to the same Royal Society article
in Discovery (16, p. 509, 1955), makes the following astounding state-
ment: ‘‘The battle over the inheritance of acquired characters was thus
started again, this time on the grounds of industrial melanism.
Nevertheless, in (sic) the idea that the change was a case of inherited
‘acquired characters’ was rejected for two reasons’. This is simply
nonsense, and the alleged reasons for the imaginary rejections are even
worse. No claim was ever made by me that the inheritance of acquired
characters was involved. To be precise, I looked upon the experiments
then, as I do now, as illustrating induced mutation. Besides, to prevent
the less-learned from thinking in terms of such an inheritance, I
produced a paper, specially designed for the purpose, in the Vasculwm
(13, p. 103, 1927). It will require some remarkable mental gymnastics
to convert that paper into a claim that the experiments lent any support
to the doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characters, or were even
remotely connected with it. Moreover, in another work (Proc. Roy.
Soc., B. 102, p. 345, 1928), it will be seen that I stated unequivocally:
‘“‘No claims are made here, or elsewhere, that we are concerned with a
Lamarckian effect’’.
It appears necessary to add that Kettlewell, in dealing with this
induction work and its import in his Discovery article, not only supplies
a wrong literary reference, but also misquotes that which is erroneously
given.
On the other hand, Huxley and Wells (Science of Life, Third Volume,
p. 189, 1934), in discussing the same 1926 paper, show a complete and
correct appreciation of its contents in citing it as giving ‘‘proof that
environmental factors (chemical substances) can actually induce muta-
tions in animals’’. This, they carefully add, must be distinguished very
clearly from the Lamarckian method of inheritance—precisely the
position I had taken up myself.
Again, on page 198 of his Moths, in a section entitled ‘“‘The
Explanation’’, Ford states that the spread of industrial melanism is
due to three main causes. Two of these are those that have been urged
by numerous authors, including myself, but his third reads: ‘‘A gene,
which in normal circumstances is only at a slight physiological advan-
tage, may be at a considerable premium in the unsatisfactory conditions
of the soot-begrimed trees, where, quite probably, the deathrate of the
larvae is unduly high owing to their contaminated food’’. That he
174 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/ VIII /1956
originated this view has been claimed by Ford, not only in Moths, but
in various other publications, e.g. ‘‘Problems of Heredity”’ (Biol. Rev.,
12, p. 489, 1937). It cannot be too strongly emphasized that his action is
quite unjustifiable. Instead of this explanation emanating from Ford,
it was first put forward by me in the Journal of Genetics (9, pp. 242-3,
1920). In my article entitled ‘‘Genetical Studies in the Moths of the
Geometrid Genus Oporabia (Oporinia), with a Special Consideration of
Melanism in the Lepidoptera’’ the matter is discussed at some length.
That Ford should miss that section of my melanism work to the extent
of imagining that he was the first to develop that important point seems
inexplicable, more especially as he has quoted the paper on various
occasions.
Further (l.c., p. 189), Ford asserts that, in discovering the ‘‘unsus-
pected’? extent to which leaves in rural districts are polluted by soot,
Kettlewell has found the most potent cause (!!) of non-industrial
melanism. Once again, we are concerned with a ‘‘discovery’’ anticipated
long ago by me. In the Oporabia paper (l.c., p. 238) I wrote: ‘‘I have
not elaborated this point to show that such smoke affects vegetation,
but to show that such interference, whilst progressively diminishing as
one leaves urban conditions, still possesses enormous powers at great
distances from the source of the contamination’’.
Also, in considering melanic forms in rural areas, Ford (l.c., p. 192)
includes no instances of the spread of melanics in Germany, but states
that he has seen reports of this occurrence, but of a rather vague kind.
His knowledge of the Continental literature on melanism must be slight
indeed, for Warnecke in an article ‘‘Der Gebirgs- und Kusten-
Melanismus und -Nigrismus. Zugleich ein Betrag zur Frage des
Industrie-Melanismus’’ (Intern. Ent. Zeit., 21 Jahrgang, Nr. 29, 31, 32,
33, 34, 35, 36, 1927) gives numerous examples, including some wonderful
forms described by my old friend Lange from the Erzgebirge mountains
in Saxony.
Kettlewell, likewise, fails to refer to earlier anticipatory work. Thus
(Ent. Rec., 48, pp. 18-21, 1956) he declares that contamination has been
proved to take place a long way off by means of leaf washings. Thirty
years ago (Proc. Roy. Soc., B. 99, p. 243, 1926) I remarked ‘‘The man-
ganese content of hawthorn leaves shows a progressive diminution as
we pass westward from Newcastle upon Tyne’’. These determinations
of manganese salts and other polluting agencies were carried out, not
by washing, but by direct chemical analysis of a long series of leaves
and their surface films. Similarly, in the same article, Kettlewell makes
the following statement: ‘‘One of the earliest effects is the disappear-
ance of lichens, and their presence on tree trunks and boughs has been
shown to be proportional to their distance from industrial areas’’. The
credit for this discovery is assigned to Dr. E. W. Jones (Rev. Bry. et
Lich., T. 21, pp. 1-2, 1952). In 1920, in my Journal of Genetics paper,
in setting forth other important changes noted in affected areas simul-
taneously with the appearance of melanism, I gave my views: ‘‘The
most striking is the disappearance of cryptogams. No one who has
studied the cryptogamic botany of North Durham and North Yorkshire
would fail to contrast the rich moss and lichen floras recorded for Long
Acre Dene Wood in the Team Valley by Winch ninety years ago with
their paucity now. The same holds good to a less extent in Cleveland.
Pp
MELANISM IN THE LEPIDOPTERA. 175
In the Durham locality, whilst matters slightly ameliorate as we leave
the soot zone, the apparent extermination of the lichens has been more
complete. In the Clevelands, as one leaves Middlesbrough, lichens
reappear, pari passu, so that in the remoter dales the whole flora
comprises the same species, and in the same abundance, as fifty years
ago. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that a score of miles out,
the lichens are materially influenced. The differences in the two cases,
coupled with their progressive reappearance as towns are left behind,
show that the deleterious agent at work is the smoke, and that the
apparent exaggeration of its effects in Durham, when compared with
the conditions in Cleveland, is due to the more prolonged industrialis-
ation of the more northern district’’. On page 245 of the same work,
I emphasize this point further by remarking that Lancashire smoke
affects Lake District lichens seventy miles away.
Kettlewell, also in his Record note (l.c.), states that Protococei, which
cover the trees in these (affected) areas, and are in no way connected
with lichens, do not serve to give typical betularia any protection what-
ever. This statement fails to give the true position, for very often the
trunks are covered with a mixture of Protococci and immature lichens.
This was so obvious that in 1920 (I.c., p. 236) I uttered the warning:
‘““‘We must guard against assuming that the lichens are entirely gone;
this is far from true, as careful search reveals that many exist on walls
and trees in the immature granulose condition’’. Besides, the presence
of numerous colonies of Cryphia perla, a lichen-feeder, on apparently
bare walls well within the smoke zone, amply demonstrates the existence
of wall lichens there. Just a fortnight ago, by direct microscopic
examination, I confirmed the fact for both trees and walls in the Gates-
head area. In the same locality, the trees may frequently be quite free
from both Protocceci and lichens. This does not imply that they are
smoke-blackened, for many are distinctly pale. The trees principally
involved are sycamore, birch, beech, ash, elm, and certain species of
poplar. On such trees it is perfectly easy to discern specimens of typical
and black forms of Biston betularia at very considerable distances.
Il. Remarks on RECENT EXPERIMENTS.
We now come to a consideration of recent researches into the rise
and progress of melanism. Except in my own case, these, carried out
in the main by Dr. Kettlewell, have been concentrated on one species,
Biston betularia. This, in my opinion, is a fundamental mistake; the
investigation should have been planned to include several species of
diverse habits and habitats.
Ford (l.c., p. 204), in his preliminary exposition of Kettlewell’s
liberation experiments, asserts that that worker set free, in the Cadbury
Bird Reserve, 171 normal Peppered Moths and 416 of the melanic form
carbonaria—a total of 587. Lower down on the same page, he informs
us that, out of a total of 584 males released, 141 were recovered,
including 25-5 per cent of the freed black moths and 13 per cent of the
pale ones. Kettlewell, in his Discovery article (l.c.), supplies the same
set of figures as appears in Ford’s second account whilst in Heredity
(9, pp. 323-342, December 1955) he informs us that 630 males were set
free (447 carbonaria, 137 typical and 46 insularia). Of these 149, made
‘176 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/ VIII/1956 |
up of 27-5 per cent carbonaria, 13 per cent type and 17-4 per cent
insularia, were recaptured. These accounts, in several particulars, are
discordant; surely the discrepancies demand an explanation?
Ford (l.c.) sums up the results of the experiments by remarking:
“The mystery surrounding the selective elimination of normal and
melanic Lepidoptera has thus been solved’’. In fact, the real problem,
the cause of the development of melanism in the insect concerned, has
never been touched.
That there must be an inciting agent responsible for the appearance
of black mutants in the first place is perfectly obvious. To assert that
such mutants occurred before 1850, but that they failed to spread
because the mechanism for their dispersal did not exist simply burkes
the issue. If the early appearance of black mutants in England was
sporadic, and they occurred before that date, surely the capture of at
least one individual would have been announced. Even more definitely
would this hold true on the Continent. However, no one ever recorded
such melanie forms belonging to the species with which we are con-
cerned. We are therefore left with two questions to answer: (1) What
is the agency responsible for the induction of the melanism? (2) What
is the reason for its spread? I believe, on the basis of experiments of
my own discussed above, that the melanism has been induced by a
melanogen or melanogens present in industrial smoke, and that such
inductions are recurrent.
Let us now return to Kettlewell’s results. As just indicated, they
fail. to give any explanation about the cause, or causes, of the develop-
ment of melanism. Further, before they can be regarded as decisive
in the matter of selective elimination, many details of the greatest
importance, now lacking, should be furnished, whilst in several
directions, additional experimentation is demanded. In the first place,
the original work was carried out in an oakwood containing a sprinkling
of birch and other trees. To my certain knowledge, melanic forms of
Phigalia pedaria, Biston betularia, Tethea duplaris and Oporinia
autumnata have arisen in birch woods well within heavily polluted areas.
The trees in these woods are quite free from lichens, and possess clear
silvery trunks. The experiments ought to be repeated in such woods,
as well as in mixed woods far away from the sphere of influence of
industrial smoke, and in others as close as possible to the sources of
pollution.
In the case of the wood in which Kettlewell carried out his experi-
ments, many pertinent and essential particulars are lacking. For
instance, we should know the relative numbers of oaks, birches and
other trees present, the numbers of each form of betwlaria liberated on
each species of tree, and in what positions in every case they were placed.
This information is especially necessary in the case of moths liberated
on birches. Besides, much more information is required about how and
where the insects settled down. It is true that some details have been
given. Nonetheless, the general position needs much clarification.
In my own work, I have tried to free typical betularia from the
Isle of Lewis on lichen-clad bark in North Durham; but, most perversely,
all that happened, except in one instance, was that the insects vibrated
their wings rapidly and then flew away, or came to rest just where they
were put down. No movements indicative of adjustment were observed.
MELANISM IN THE LEPIDOPTERA. 177
In the aberrant case, the moth moved from the lichen to a bare place
where it remained until dusk set in. Then it took up a station a short
distance away with its wings uplifted shghtly and began to call. Next
morning I discovered it in a shght hollow, free from lichen, with its
head upward and its wings horizontal.
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STUTTGART-W SCHLOSS-STR.80
MUS. ips
By H. Symes.
A good deal has been written about this species since it first estab-
lished itself in England in 1952, the year when the first larvae were
found, but very little has appeared in the Record. So far as I am aware,
although the imago has been taken at light in Essex, the larva has
been found only* in Kent and Sussex, and nearly always on the coast.
It has been well described as having the size and shape of Pieris bras-
sicae L. and the markings of a Cucullia, presumably OC. verbasci L. or
C. lychnitis' Ramb.
The normal foodplant is yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris), but if
this cannot be obtained I have found that the larva will readily eat
the lilac-flowered creeping toadflax (L. repens), an uncommon local
wild flower in Britain—I have seen it in only two localities, one in
Carmarthenshire and the other on the Berkshire Downs—but common
enough in gardens, where it may become a pest. I am told that the
larva will also eat Antirrhinum.
The cocoon is thin and tough, with a texture like thin parchment.
In my opinion it resembles that of Craniophora ligustri Schiff. One was
found among the seed-pods of L. vulgarts at Dungeness by Mr. P. Cue,
and this may well be the normal position for pupating: the cocoon would
be very well concealed. But although I provided my larvae with plenty
of dry seed-pods, not one took advantage of them, but they all pre-
ferred to spin up on the sides or among the debris at the bottom of the
breeding-cage, often choosing an angle.
The full grown larva is easy to see on the flower-heads of the toad-
flax, and at this stage it much prefers the flowers to the leaves. I
found several stretched out at full length on stems of broom, bramble
and grass, and one even on a pebble, all close to the foodplant. I have
been told that in its early stages the larva is difficult to find and diffi-
cult to rear. When found in their last instar they present no difficulty.
A member of the ‘South London’ reported (Proc. S. Lond. ent. nat.
Hist. Soc., 1954-5, p. 10) that he had ‘‘had difficulty in rearing this
larva. After making a cocoon the larva left it and died. This was
thought to be due to lack of moisture’’. Two of my larvae left cocoons
before they were completed, owing, I think, to interference by other
larvae; but they did not die: they changed into pupae in the open,
and from one of the pupae a perfectly good moth emerged.
Having read with much interest Mr. B. Goater’s note on the emerg-
ence of C. lunula (Ent. Rec., 67: 274), I kept a watchful eye on my
cocoons when the moths were due to appear, in order to see if my ex-
perience tallied with his. Such, however, was far from being the case
with regard to the time of day when the moths appeared. Of 22
imagines, only one to my certain knowledge emerged at 9.15 p.m.
B.s.t., and there was another that I did not see until 10 p.m., after I
had been out all day. Other times of emergence were, before 8 a.m.
(1), just. before 9 a.m. (1), before 9.30 a.m. (2), at 10.32 a.m. (1), ex-
panding wings, 10.30-11 a.m. (1), between 10.30 a.m. and 1 p.m. (1),
*Larvae were taken at Southend-on-Sea, Essex, by Mr. Huggins on 19th Sep-
tember 1952. See Ent. Rec., 65: 322.—ED.
~~
202 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/1X/1956
between 12 noon and 3.30 p.m. (5), about 5 p.m. (1), before 5.30 p.m.
(2), before 6.15 p.m. (8), at 6.30 p.m. (1). Altogether I had 22 good
moths and 3 cripples from 31 pupae; four moths were found dead in-
side their cocoons and in two cases the imago did not develop inside
the pupa. The period covered by the emergence of the moth was a
long one, extending from 3lst May to 16th July. The peak period was
from 19th June to 29th June, and during these ten days 18 moths
emerged. A second brood appears early in August, so it is not surpris-
ing that wild larvae have been found at almost any time in July, August
and September.
As regards the expansion of the wings, I did not notice the pheno-
menon compared by Mr. Goater to the blowing up of a balloon, but the
wings certainly did not take long to expand. I find in my notes: ‘19th
June, imago emerged 10.32 a.m. Wings fully expanded 10.47, folded
down 11.4’’. This is only seven minutes longer than Mr. Goater’s aver-
age. Again: ‘21st June, imago emerged just before 6.30 p.m., wings
folded down, 7.15’’, and again: ‘16th July, imago emerged just before
7 a.m., wings folded down, 7.50 a.m.”’
Up to the present time C. lunula has extended its range into West
Sussex, but has not, I believe, penetrated the Portsmouth-Southampton
area. It will be interesting to note whether in the next few years it
will succeed in spreading further west into Hampshire, Dorset and
Devon. Linaria vulgaris is common enough in these counties, though
not always close to the sea coast.
Some Observations on Breeding Catocala fraxini L.
By Brian O. C. GARDINER.
Having learned from several people of their lack of success in breed-
ing Catocala fraxint L., I hope that these observations on my own suc-
cessful breeding over the past few years will be of help and interest.
In 1953, I was kindly sent 18 eggs laid by a Ham Street (Kent) ©
female. These were kept in a muslin covered larva-cage and placed in
an open shed for the winter. On 25th April 1954 they were put in a
glass-topped metal box and brought into the warm, where they shortly
hatched. Black poplar (Populus nigra) was supplied, and while ten
larvae started to feed, eight wandered round the tin and eventually
died without feeding. In the second instar the larvae were trans-
ferred to a muslin-covered larva-cage and kept in the sitting-room of
my house. Nine pupae were obtained, one larva having been drowned
in the bottle in which the poplar had been placed.
On 31st July the first moth appeared and on 7th August the ninth.
The first three to emerge, together with another obtained from different
stock, were placed together on 3rd August in a larva-cage 15” x 12” x
18” high, with glass back and front and muslin sides and top. A piece
of crumpled paper was placed inside the cage for shelter and a piece of
cotton-wool moistened with molasses for the moths to feed on. The
moths were inspected night and morning, but no pairing was observed.
However, on 21st August the first eggs were seen to have been laid on
the muslin, and further eggs were laid up to 8th September, when the
last female died. The eggs were not counted but were left in the cage.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON BREEDING .CATOCALA FRAXINI L. 203
During the winter of 1954/55 the cage containing the eggs was left
in a wooden shed, and in April 1955 the first larvae were seen one night
to have hatched and were dashing madly round the cage. An arduous
journey in pouring rain to the nearest poplar tree produced two or
three just bursting buds, and the larvae were collected and placed with
these in a glass-topped metal box; but most of them refused to start
feeding, and died.
Fortunately it was possible to find some poplar more forward and
this was cut and placed in the cage. Further larvae were also gathered
up and placed in glass-topped tins; but again about half of them died
without feeding. The larvae still hatching in the cage found the
poplar all right but were not so good as transferring themselves after
it had wilted, which was a matter of only some two days, and further
losses occurred. However, from the second instar onwards no further
trouble of this nature occurred, and a good number of healthy pupae
were obtained.
Most of the larvae went down to the floor of the cage to pupate, the
floor having been covered with a two-inch layer of coarse peat, on top
of which was a litter of withered poplar leaves. The larvae did not
burrow down, but made their rather fragile cocoon on the surface, pre-
_ ferably underneath a withered leaf. About fifty larvae were kept in a
cage 18” x 18” x 24” high, muslin covered with glass in front, and in
some cases two larvae shared the same cocoon, indicating that this
represents overcrowding, although the larvae did not seem to disturb
one another, and losses during moulting were negligible. In a few
cases it was noticed that larvae had fallen or had been pushed out of
their cocoons, and when they were placed alone on top of peat they
all successfully pupated.
All the pupae were removed from their cocoons and some were suc-
cessfully sent through the post wrapped in ‘Cellosene’ tissue. Some
three or four pupae were accidentally dropped and these were all
damaged, either producing a crippled moth, or dying. Of twenty
pupae that I kept for myself all produced perfect specimens during
August.
This time, five pairs were placed in the same cage that had been
used the previous year, and after ten days the first eggs were laid.
Again, no moths were seen to pair. Possibly because one of the females
lost a wing a number of eggs were laid on the floor of the cage, but
the majority were laid on the muslin. No count of the eggs was made,
but a rough estimate gave about 400; this is only 80 per moth, con-
siderably less than the number which has been obtained from wild
caught females, and of these some 150 failed to hatch.
Once again the eggs were left in situ in the cage in a wooden shed
over the winter 1955/56. The first larvae hatched on Ist April, some
two weeks before the poplar was to come into leaf! Precautions had,
however, been taken, and a fine potted poplar plant which had been
kept in a greenhouse was available. The top of this plant was placed
inside the cage, the glass front having been removed for this purpose
and replaced by a muslin sleeve, glued to the sides of the cage and tied
round the stem of the poplar. The newly hatched larvae soon found
their way on to the food, and no losses through not feeding or through
failing to transfer to fresh food occurred. In spite of the fact that
204 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15 /TX /1956
there was a very considerable number of larvae (about 250) feeding on
it, the poplar grew rapidly enough to hold its own for over three weeks.
By this time, the outdoor poplar was in leaf and the larvae were
transferred. At the time of writing (12th June 1956) they are start-
ing to pupate. Interestingly enough, this year they are tending to
spin up amongst the leaves of the poplar rather than on the peat and
withered leaf litter.
Several interesting points arise from my breeding observations, and
these may be summarised as follows.
Newly hatched larvae are better supplied with growing food. Mor-
tality is highest in glass-topped tins; it also occurs in small larvae
owing to the poplar foliage wilting quickly when placed in water.
Larvae do not seem to mind being over-crowded; some 250 small
larvae were kept for a short time on a limited amount of poplar in a
cage 15” x 15” x 18”. About 50 were kept in a cage 18” x 18” x
94”. In general, the larvae tend to rest on the poplar branches, but it
has been noticed that many go up to the roof of the cage (which is of
wood) for skin changing.
Even when pupating larvae are disturbed it does not seem to be
fatal; if removed to peat they pupate safely.
No harm seems to be occasioned by removing the pupa from its ~
cocoon; in fact, I should say that this is the best thing to do, for when
several pupate close together it seems very likely that the emerging
moth would get stuck, and consequently crippled on its way out of the
cocoon. It should be borne in mind, however, that the pupa is rather
fragile, and dropping it or holding it too tightly will undoubtedly cause
damage.
In order to obtain eggs from this species patience is required. The
moths should be placed in an airy cage and kept fed. I used molasses
on cotton-wool, but do not see why treacle or sugaring mixture should
not do just as well. In this connection a careful watch should be kept
for ants; in 1954 a steady stream of these was found to be raiding the
molasses. Fortunately they had not attacked the moths, but thereafter
the cage was stood on flowerpots in a tray full of water. In 1955 ten
days, and in 1954 eighteen days, passed before any eggs were laid and
the oldest moth lived for thirty-seven days.
When feeding larvae I have found that it is best to use second or
third year growth of poplar; this keeps better in water; new growth
wilts overnight. If the poplar has to be carried home and cannot be
put straight into water, cut two or three inches off the end of the stems
before putting them into water; it will keep much longer if this is done.
After the second instar it is not necessary to transfer the larvae by
hand to fresh food. Place the new supply in the cage alongside the
old. Next day remove the old, and if there are any larvae still on it
they will probably be skin-changing. Place the stalks so occupied on
the floor of the cage and the larvae will all walk upwards when they
have changed, and will not return.
Whether it has been luck, or the choice of the correct food—clean
black poplar, and occasionally some Lombardy poplar as well was used
—or the right type of cage, no disease has so far broken out amongst
my fraxini larvae. In 1954, next to the ten fraaini larvae were some
larvae of C. nupta which went down 90% with a bacterial disease, to
FOUR DAYS IN THE BRECKLANDS. 205
which this species is prone. The cages I have used for fraxini are glass-
fronted, wood top, and the back and sides are covered with either
muslin or Egyptian cotton netting, which allows plenty of ventilation.
They are also large; personally I think that many people use cages
which are too small. I keep my cages in a wooden shed which has large
glass windows along one side, facing the sun. This gives a partial
greenhouse effect during the day, and it gets very warm and does, I
feel, suit many larvae, including frazint.
Four Days in the Brecklands
By G. H. B. SE.
Staying at Brandon, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, from 12th to
15th July this year I saw few butterflies owing to the dull weather, but
found some interesting moths.
Searching a single row of Seots pines one afternoon I found two
Hyloicus pinastri L. Owing to its size the moth is not difficult to
see at any time, but these were particularly noticeable as they had
just emerged from the pupa and their limp wings were partly raised to
aid drying. The time was about 3 o’clock. This row of pines also
yielded, on the one inspection, two Huphyra cuculata Hufn., five Hadena
serena Schf., one Semiothisa liturata Cl., two Hadena conspersa Schft.,
and a few of the commoner Carpet Moths.
The following day I took another freshly emerged H. pinastri on
the same pines. t was haif-past three, and the wings were in the
normal resting position, although not completely dried. These three
hawkmoths were all about two feet from ground level. Another, found
elsewhere on the same day, which had been flying before capture, and
three found on an earlier stay in the area (16th-18th June) were all
between 4 and 8 feet from the ground. All were on rows of pines
isolated from any pine plantation: to look for them in the large areas
of pine forest in that part of the country would be too much like look-
ing for a needle in a haystack.
Mothing in some wooded areas near the village of Mundford before
dark, and afterwards with the aid of a pressure lamp, I found Colo-
stygia pectinataria Kn. to be one of the commonest geometers on the
wing. Zanclognatha cribrumalis Hb. was common in one damp, but
not marshy, spot.
A feature of the district was the great abundance of Abrazas sylvata
Scop. in the wooded areas. By day they could be found in quantity as
they rested listlessly on the undergrowth, and by night they swarmed
in places. Comacla senex Hb., Scopula immutata L. and Lygephila
pastinum Tr. were flying in a marshy spot.
In two nights’ sugaring here I got nothing unusual, but the follow-
ing moths, all in some quantity, made a very attracitve sight: Thya-
tira batis L., Habrosyne derasa L. (pyritoides Hufn.), Dypterygia
scabriuscula L., Euplexia lucipara L. and Polia nebulosa Hufn. There
were also an Agrotis vestigialis Hufn., a Phalaena typica L. and an
Apamea sublustris Esp.
A trip one evening to one of the Cambridgeshire fens produced a
specimen of Perizoma sagittata Fab.
One afternoon I came across a tract of broom in flower, on a planta-
206 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/1X/1956
tion of young Forestry Commission pines just outside Brandon. Beat-
ing the flowering branches of this plant I found that the larva of the
Green Hairstreak, Callophrys rubi L., was abundant there. TI beat
them at the rate of one every one-and-a-half-minutes on an average,
although it took some time to search through the flower-heads in the
beating-tray. The only other ‘catch’ was a gentleman of the Foresty
Commission who, after observing my activities through binoculars,
from a fire observation tower a good distance away, and not being able —
to see what was going on at that distance, came over to investigate.
He thought my white beating-tray might be a tent, which would not
have been welcome there owing to the fire risk.
Collecting in Berwickshire: January to June 1956
By A. G. Lone, M.Sc. |
During the early months of 1956 I made several excursions to search
sallows for borings of Sphecia bembeciformis Hubn. At Kyles Hill,
Gordon Moss, Kaysmuir, Duke’s Wood, Middlethird Bog, and Threep-
wood, near Lauder (Roxburghshire), I discovered many old borings, but
only at one locality did I find living larvae, betrayed by the presence of
newly formed frass. This was by the Dias to Greenlaw road, about a
quarter mile west of Woodheads Farm.
In March I sawed the sallow trunk and removed about one foot,
which I placed on a tray of damp sand in an old meat safe. The larvae
continued to produce frass until June, when I discovered that three
larvae had left their borings and were lying in the bottom of their cage
looking very shrunken and under-nourished. I concluded that the wood
had become too dry, and although I replaced the larvae in their borings
I failed to get any moths. Perhaps it would have been better to have
left the sawing of the sallow trunk until late May.
I saw my first moth of the year fluttering round a Gavinton lamp
on 29th January, but failed to catch it. On 6th February, eight
Phigalia pedaria Fab. and four Theria rupicapraria Schf, appeared at
these lamps, and others followed through the month. After severe wintry
weather towards the end of February, March came in with some fine |
spring-like days and on the 3rd I found a larva of Phragmatobia |
fuliginosa L. sunning itself at Kyles Hill. Others were found on the
llth March at Elba on the banks of the Whitadder. They spun up |
within a week but one produced puparia of a Tachinid fly.
By 9th March I had taken Alsophila aescularia Schf., Hrannis mar-
ginaria Fab., and EF. lewcophaearia Schf. at Gavinton lamps. These
street lamps keep one well informed of emergences in the early part of |
the year when it is scarcely profitable to work a solitary m.y. light trap.
On 24th March I found a young larva of. Dasychira fascelina L. at
Kyles Hill, but as it went into aestivation I released it. I also searched
oak trunks at the same locality and found one £. lewcophaearia sitting
about two feet above the ground.
On 25th March I again searched oak trunks at the Aale Wood, near
Whitegates, on the Duns-Grantshouse road, and found another #. leuco-
phaeria together with one P. pedaria and one female Colostygia multi-
strigaria Haw.; it was a beautiful sunny morning with skylarks and
COLLECTING IN BERWICKSHIRE: JANUARY TO JUNE 1956 207
chaffinches singing, and several times I heard the ‘yaffle’ of a green
woodpecker in the woods bordering the Whitadder. At night I tried my
m.v. lamps for the first time this season at Kyles Hill road (Bent’s
Corner). The temperature was at 50° F. to begin with but later fell
to 40°. It was calm and the full moon was obscured by cloud. Between
7.15 and 9.45 p.m. I recorded nine species, including about eighty
Achlya flavicornis L., three Orthosia incerta Hufn. and hibernated
specimens of Eupsilia transversa Hufn., Conistra vaccinu LL. and
Xylena exsoleta lu. I was also visited by two Greenlaw policemen who
had been given a telephone call by a well-meaning motor cyclist who
had seen my lamps and imagined vain things concerning their purpose.
On 27th March a pupil brought me a nice batch of larvae of Setina
irrorella LL. from the sea braes about one mile north of Burnmouth. Later
I visited this spot and found the larvae in fair numbers both on the
rocks and among the herbage.
On 3lst March I visited Threepwood Moss, near Lauder. During
last century the late Andrew Kelly, one of several Berwickshire collec-
tors of that time, recorded Dasychira pudibunda L. from near this
locality. So far this species has evaded me and I cannot help wonder-
ing whether any collector who reads these words knows of its occurrence
in Scotland. As I walked round the moss searching sallows for
bembeciformis borings, I found larvae of Lasiocampa quercus Li. var.
callunae and P. fuliginosa sunning themselves on the bushy heather. A
short-eared owl was hunting over the heather, gliding and turning on
its long wings, which gave it almost the appearance of a harrier. Cur-
lews and reed buntings were back at their breeding haunts and a large
dark fox came trotting down a field where some tups were feeding un-
concernedly. As I climbed the wire fence to leave the moss I accidentally
dislodged a specimen of A. flavicornis which I had overlooked.
On Ist April I visited Dogden Moss, approaching by way of the
Kettleshiel Burn and the Kaimes—large gravel ridges bordering the
moss to the north and supposed to be of glacial origin. My object was
to spy out the land and look for larvae of Macrothylacia rubi L., of
which only one was found. Golden plover, black grouse, redshanks and
curlews were seen, and one rabbit! At night I took my lamps to Kyles
Hill and worked them near the oak trees, hoping to get Biston
strataria Hufn., but it failed to appear. Eight species were recorded
including Orthosia gothica L.
On 7th April I was at Gordon Moss in the company of Dr. Macnicol
and Mr. Pelham-Clinton of Edinburgh. A south-west wind rather
spoiled the moth flight though the temperature remained steady at
44° F. The most interesting species taken was one female Dasypolia
templi Thun. Not even QO. gothica nor QO. stabilis put in any appear-
ance. The following night I took stabilis abundantly at Oxendean Pond
and a single Panolis fammea. Schf.
On 9th April I paid my first visit with m.v. lamps to the Hirsel, near
Coldstream (by kind permission of the Earl of Home). I pitched my
lamps under the large oak trees in the valley of the Leet, near Montague
Drive. It was my surmise that B. strataria might be breeding there,
and my hopes were more than realized when at least 38 specimens of
this moth put in an appearance. There is no doubt, therefore, that
this species is established in Berwickshire. Altogether I recorded ten
208 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/1X/1956
species between 8 p.m. and 12.30 a.m., when I switched off, well satisfied
with this first visit to a new locality. Motoring home I nearly struck
a barn owl which rose from a ditch at the side of the road. The follow-
ing night, 10th April, I took one more strataria at a Gavinton lamp.
On 12th April I was back at Gordon Moss and worked my lamps from
7.45 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. The wind was moderate north-westerly and
the temperature steady at 43° F. I recorded eight species, including
thirteen fresh Orthosia advena Schf. and one female D. templi. I was
also surprised to find one Orthosia cruda Schf. as I know of no oak trees
on the moss. On this date the first of a good series of Ectropis bistortata
Goze emerged, bred from a female taken in Duns Castle Woods.
On 20th April I revisited the Hirsel, but the night became clear with
moonlight and ground frost. No strataria came on this occasion, but I
took EHarophila badiata Schf. and Hupithecia abbreviata Steph. I
packed up about midnight, the flight having virtually ceased.
Again on 21st April at Gordon Moss the temperature fell rapidly to
30° F. and I had to finish collecting at 10.30 pm. I saw my first
Nothopteryx carpinata Bork. for the season. Back at Gavinton I
found the thermometer at 45° F. and a good flight of moths round
my garden lamp.
On 22nd April I visited Dogden Moss again by day, approaching
from Hallyburton Farm near Greenlaw. The only moth seen was a
male Saturnia pavonia L. but I noted that the habitat seemed well
suited for Coenonympha tullia Miill. and this surmise proved correct
as later in the year (12th July) I found this butterfly flying abundantly.
I also noted a good growth of cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris) and won-
dered whether Carsia paludata Thun. could be found here in August.
I was at Gordon Moss again on 24th April hoping to get Orthosia
gracilis Schf., but ground frost put an early stop to collecting. Cerastis
rubricosa Schf. appeared at the lamps in fresh condition. Back at
Gordon again on 28th April I was rewarded by my first gracilis. This
species had been recorded from only one other locality in Berwickshire,
viz. Pease Dean—by James Hardy, over a hundred years ago. The
temperature again dropped below freezing point and I returned home
soon after midnight.
My next quarry was Odontosia carmelita Esp. and on 4th May I
took my lamps to the birch strip near the main Greenlaw Road west
of Polwarth. I placed the lamps on the south-west side about 150
yards apart, but results were disappointing—eight common species ap-
peared, but no carmelita. Last year I tried hard to get this species at
Kyles Hill where birch abounds, but I drew a blank so I began to
doubt whether it could be in the county. Bolam recorded it in 1898
at Foulden Hag, but the birches there have been cut and replaced by
conifers. He also recorded a specimen bred from a larva taken at
Earlston by Mr. Haggart of Galashiels in 1901. These were the only
Berwickshire records known to me but sufficient to raise hopes. On
5th May therefore I went to the Hirsel and after seeing the gamekeeper
I pitched my lamps on one of the rides in Kincham Wood. This was
formerly an oak wood but within recent years the oaks were felled and
in their place are thickets of self-sown silver birch, ash, hazel, crab
apple, and privet. The night was very windy but I was able to find
sheltered spots and switched on my lamps about 9.30 p.m. At 10.20
COLLECTING IN BERWICKSHIRE: JANUARY TO JUNE 1956 209
p-m. I found two Chaonia ruficornis Hufn. in one trap. Then I walked
back to my other trap and saw a moth come into the cone; immedi-
ately I recognized the yellow flashes on its wings and knew it was car-
melita. This was the only one I took that night, but it was sufficient
to show that the species was probably breeding among the young silver
birches. I also recorded two O. gracilis (a new locality), one Selenia
lunaria Schf. (an early date), and several S. bilunaria Esp. in a total
of thirteen species.
Back at the same place on 7th May I took two more carmelita at
9.45 p.m. and 10.15 p.m. (B:s.t.). Again there was a strong S.W.
wind which rather spoiled collecting though the temperature stood at
56° F. I returned the following night (8th May) and saw a roe deer
near where I put my lights. At first there was a cool wind but later
this died down. Another carmelita came about 10.5 p.m. and then no
more until suddenly four appeared between 11.45 p.m. and midnight.
Other species noted were Pheosia gnoma Fab., Ectropis bistortata
Goze., P. flammea, Colocasia coryli L. and Ecliptopera silaceata Schf.
On 12th May I returned to Kincham Wood in the Hirsel but failed
to take any more carmelita. Celama confusalis H.-S. and _ several
Inthina chlorosata Scop. were present in a total of 18 species.
On 14th May I went to Gordon Moss. Sedge warblers and reed
buntings were singing though the evening was rather cool. Fourteen
species came to light including one fresh Nanthorhoé ferrugata Cl.
and one early Hadena thalassina Hiifn.
At Kyles Hill on 18th May I worked one lamp in the disused quarry
at the edge of the heather moor and the other I placed to the south
overlooking the belt of oak trees. Results were disappointing—many
gothica and stabilis and one Hadena bombycina Hiifn.
On 19th May I paid a visit by day to a moor by the Hen Toe Bridge
near Abbey St. Bathans. Here six dotterels had been reported. We
found them feeding on a bare patch of burnt heather. Afterwards we
searched the moor for larvae and found one Dyscia fagaria Thun. My
small daughter spotted a cocoon of Macrothylacia rubi L. which later
produced a fine female moth and was very useful for assembling.
On 21st May I visited Gordon Moss again. The day had been hot
but the night was cold with ground frost. Only four species came to
my lamps, including one male Cerura vinula L. I caught a fresh
Xanthorhoé designata Hufn. under my hat while laying down the flex.
On 23rd May I was back at Kyles Hill Quarry, and succeeded in
taking three H. bombycina and one D. fagariua—an early date. Back
again on the 25th I failed to get any more bombycina but took one
female M. rubi. The night became very clear and cool with a full moon.
May 26th was a glorious sunny day, and I visited Coldingham and
walked down the coast to Linkum Bay. In a little gully near the south
end of this bay, I netted one specimen of Cupido minimus Fues. (an
early date); a few Coenonymphu pamphilus L. were also on the wing.
On 27th May my pupa of M. rubi produced a fine female moth so I
took it to Kyles Hill and set it down in a cage on a grassy knoll behind
the quarry. Between 7 p.m. and 8.15 p.m. over twenty males assembled
although the evening was dull with a cool easterly breeze. In the after-
noon I saw a few Anarta myrtilli L. feeding at bilberry flowers in the
same locality.
210 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15 /1X/1956
On 29th May I visited Kincham Wood again, thinking I might
possibly get Drymonia dodonaea Schf., but in this I was unsuccessful. I
recorded thirty-two species, including Thyatira batis L., Tethea duplaris
L., four fresh Deilephila elpenor L., Pterostoma palpina Cl., and one
Scoliopteryx libatria L.
On 3rd June I visited White Gates on the Duns-Grantshouse Road in
order to beat the junipers growing at the edge of Drakemire. I soon
had large numbers of larvae of Hupithecia sobrinata Hb., though I
discovered later that a good proportion were parasitized by a small
Chalcid. The first imago emerged on 17th July.
On 7th June I visited The Retreat, where I treacled oak trees and
worked the m.v. lights from 10.30 p.m. to 1.30 a.m. Thirty-one species
were recorded, including Hupithecia pulchellata Steph., T. batis, several
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ALFRED KERNEN VERLAG
STUTTGART-W SCHLOSS-STR.380
A Successful Rearing of Lysandra corido
ab. syngrapha Ket.
By Major A. E. CoLuierR
At noon G.m.t. on 6th August 1954 I found a fresh specimen of
Lysandra coridon ab. syngrapha on a Wiltshire down. On the off-
chance that it might not already have been mated I took a few males
and proceeded on my way to Surrey.
At 5.0 p.m. the same day I caged them together and, within a few
minutes, a pairing took place.
Between the 8th and the 25th of August more than 70 eggs were
laid, when the butterfly died, after being attacked by ants,
The eggs were kept exposed to the weather, but protected by
muslin, on an open balcony. At the end of December a small number
of eggs were seen to be holed and empty, but, as the foodplant was
dead, no signs of larval feeding could be seen.
On 21st March 1955 one or two eggs began to hatch and 75 eggs
in all were counted and placed on a pot of Hippocrepts comosa grown
from seed sown in 1958. By 3lst March 1955 most of the eggs had
hatched. The larvae progressed without serious casualties and pro-
duced 50 pupae by 6th July 1955. From these there emerged 15 gd
and 32 2 9, all apparently typical. A number of 2 2 were caged with
their brothers, some individually and some in company. By 28th July
1955 eight matings had been observed. When four 9 Q were seen to
be laying they were caged, two separately and two together.
Most unfortunately the eggs from the individual insects proved to
be sterile. The two caged together produced approximately 280 eggs,
most of which appeared to be fertile. These eggs were kept exposed
to the weather, but in contact with living comosa, A small number
hatched in the late summer and were feeding till the end of the year,
when they settled down to hibernation. They were, however, all
killed by the very severe frosts in February 1956.
During March the larvae began to emerge and 203 larvae were
counted on 3lst March 1956. A number of eggs failed to hatch. There
was considerable mortality, particularly in the penultimate and final
instars. This was probably largely due to overcrowding and the occur-
rence of mildew.
Ultimately. 125 pupae were obtained and from these there emerged
110 imagines, consisting of 32 type dd, 42 type 99, and 36 ab.
syngrapha 9. The high proportion of syngrapha in the F2 brood is
of great interest, as is also the very low proportion of gd in both
broods.
The high mortality, and the fact of the brood being a mixed one,
make it impossible to be dogmatic about the genetics of the syngrapha
character, but it does at least appear to be a recessive. Further mat-
ings having been obtained it is hoped that future broods may help to
clarify the position.
In the course of the above experiment I was also breeding from
normal coridon 2 2 in order to try out various foodstuffs. I was greatly
disappointed to find that at no stage would the larvae accept Coro-
nilla glauca, of which I had a large supply. In every case, and in all
282 ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD, VOL, 68. 15/X11/1956
instars, they preferred death by starvation. Lotus corniculatus was
also refused, and green peas or pea pods caused sickness when eaten
Ada all,
Serious losses in the earlier stages can be caused by slugs. On two
occasions all the larvae in a sleeve disappeared, and slugs have been
found buried among the roots of the comosa.
This summer [I was pleased to get a pairing, fowleri 5 xX syngrapha
©, from which I obtained a number of eggs, laid partly on comosa, dug
out and potted in situ, and partly on the cage net. A routine inspec-
tion one day revealed that 80 eggs had disappeared from the net. The
plant was examined and a thriving nest of ants, with large numbers
of ant larvae, was found in the roots. Fortunately, the eggs laid on
the comosa and the dead herbage were undisturbed. There is no doubt
that the only safe food is H. comosa grown from seed. This produces
luxuriant growth in its second year, and the pots can be kept free
from slugs, ants and other predators.
About 10 per cent. of the eggs laid this year by the syngrapha pairs
have hatched, and the larvae have been feeding freely; some have
reached their second instar. I propose to give them reasonable pro-
tection from the extreme cold this winter, a condition which, in the
wild state, many would find among the roots of the comosa under
dense grass.
On Some Forms of Aglais urticae L.
By B. J. LEMPKE
In 1909 Raynor gave a survey of the variation of Aglais urticue
(Ent. Rec., 21: pp. 4-8). Since that year much has been published
about this subject, so that a critical study of the infrasubspecific varia-
tion of the Small Tortoiseshell would certainly not be out of place. In
this note I only discuss a few points which struck me when writing the
text for the fourth supplement to the Catalogue of the Dutch Macro-
lepidoptera.
1. Form ichnusioides de Selys. Apart from the correct spelling
of the name-there has never been much discussion about this form.
Everybody had a more or less clear conception of its appearance, al-
though it was redescribed a few times under different names. In 1950,
however, Verity declared (arf. It., 4: p. 366) that nobody had taken
the trouble to read de Selvs’ original description, and that this form
is in reality nothing but that which I described in 1931 as umpuncta
(Lambillionea, 31: p. 98) lacking the two discal spots on the upper
side of the fore wings, but otherwise quite normal. Let us see what
is true of this:
The form was first described by de Selys in 1837 (Cat. Lép. Belg.,
p. 18) under the name ichnustoides with the following description :
“This accidental very remarkable variety has once been taken at Huy.
There are only four spots on its forewings as in var. ichnusa from Cor-
sica, of which it imitates all the characters. It is in the collection of
M. Ch. Donckier’’. According to this description the fore wings of
ichnusioides have only the three costal spots and the spot at the inner
margin, while the two discal spots are absent, so that at first sight
one is inclined to agree with Verity. But in 1844 de Selys once more
ON SOME FORMS OF AGLAIS URTICAE L. 283
mentioned the form (Hnumération des Insectes Lépidoptéres de la Bel-
gigue), this time under the name of ichnusoides (l.¢., p. 4), a spelling
which was continued until in 1928 Derenne drew attention to its in-
correctness (Lambillionea, 28: p. 3). De Selys then gave the follow-
ing description (l.c., p. 31):
“There are only four spots on the fore wings as in var. ichnusu
from Corsica, of which it completely reproduces the most striking
character. Moreover there is a melanic suffusion over a large part of
the hind wings’’.
The author further adds that it was taken at Huy and formed part
of the Donckier collection, so that there cannot be the slightest doubt
that this description again refers to the same specimen. From this
ampler description it is clear that ichnusioides is not the same form
as impuncta, because in the latter the hind wings are quite normal.
The type specimen of de Selys was figured by Lambrichs in 1878
(Ann. Soc. ent. Belg., 21: pl. 1, fig. 5). It has the basal and middle
costal spots of the fore wings connected with each other by a black
bar along the subcostal nervure, whereas the middle and outer costal
spots are connected by a strong black suffusion, so that they form in
reality one black blotch. The hind wings have a broad reddish post-
discal band, which is crossed by black nervures. The blue lunules along
the outer border are present. An excellent figure of such a specimen
is that in South’s Butterflies of the British Isles, p. 68, fig. 22, repro-
duced from The Entomologist, 29: p. 73, 1896, after a specimen taken
at Darlington.
In my opinion the following names are synonyms of ichnusioides:
(A) Form atrebatensis Boisduval, 1873, Revue et Magasin de Zool.,
Be série, 1: p. 409, pl. 17, fig. 1. Described from a specimen taken
near Arras, France. The fore wings show the same characters as f.
ichnustoides: second and third costal spot coalescing, discal spots
absent. The hind wings differ in that the red postdiscal band is re-
duced to five small reddish spots. But all transitions exist between
the two extremes figured by de Selys and Boisduval, so that it is im-
possible to make a sharp distinction between them. The former author
wrote in 1874 (Comptes-R. Soc. ent. Belg., p. XXXIX): “This figure
is identical with my type (of ichnusioides) except that the reddish ante-
terminal band of the hind wings is reduced’’.
(B) Form lucia Derenne, Lambillionea, 26: p. 82. On the fore
wings the second and third costal spots are connected by a greyish
suffusion, the two discal spots are absent, the hind wings are black
with some feeble traces of reddish near the centre. Clearly this is the
same principle of variation as in the two preceding forms.
(C) Form semtichnusoides Pronin, 1928, Lep. Rundschau, 2: p. 179,
fig. on p. 178: “I name Vanessa urticae ab. ichnusoides with blue spots
on the hind wings ab. semiichnusoides m.’’? wrote the author. So the
name is a pure synonym, even to the most extreme ‘‘splitter’’. The
figure shows an ichnusioides in which the extension of the red colour
on the hind wings is intermediate between the two types of de Selys
and Boisduval, again a proof that a real distinction between them is
impossible.
Here I may add that the blue lunules vary as much as the red hind
wing colour: they may be completely present (ichnusioides and atre-
284 ENTOMOLOGIST’ S RECORD, VOL. 68. 15/X11/1956
batensis), reduced in size or number (lucia), or absent. It goes with-
out saying that it would be absurd to give names to all these small
differences.
(D) Form semitnigra Frohawk, 1938, Varieties of British Butter-
flies, p. 92, pl. 22, fig. 2. (No description.) The figure, drawn from a
specimen in the Rothschild collection, shows all the characters of
ichnusioides: the two outer costal spots of the fore wings coalescing,
discal spots absent, hind wings with red postdiscal band crossed by
black nervures.
2. The ichnusioides with completely black hind wings. This form
is often indicated as nigricaria de Moffarts, 1895, Misc. Hnt., 3: p.
122. At the place indicated, there is actually a note by de Moffarts
entitled: ‘‘Description d’une aberration de Vanessa urticae L.’’, in
which he describes an aberration with velvety black hind wings, taken
at Bouillon in Belgian Luxemburg. lbBut there is not a trace of a
name in the article for this form! The first author who used the
name nigricaria is Lambillion in his book Histoire naturelle et Moeurs
de tous les Papillons de Belgique (1902, p. 64). He attributes the
name to de Moffarts and gives an ample description of the specimen
in which he says: ‘‘The hind wings are completely black with the ex-
ception of three reddish spots placed on the side of the outer border’’.
So the specimen was in fact an extreme ichnustoides.
The correct name for specimens with ichnusioides-ike fore wings
and completely black hind wings is nigrita Fickert, 1897, Jahreshefte
Ver. vaterl. Naturk., Wiirtemberg, 53: p. LXVIII. By means of tem-
perature experiments this author produced specimens with ‘‘com-
pletely brown-black hind wings’’ with only traces of yellowish lunules
along the outer border. See also Eimer in Ontogenese der Schmetier-
linge, p. 408, 1897, for a further description of these specimens.
In English literature especially such specimens are sometimes de-
scribed as f. nigra Tutt. The description by Tutt reads simply (1896,
Brit. Butterflies, p. 335): ‘‘The hind wings are sometimes entirely
black’’. As the author does not say a word about the fore wings, and
as no type specimen is known, the name must be used for the (very rare)
specimens in which the fore wings are normal, but in which the hind
wings are black. A specimen approaching this form is figured in The
Entomologist, 29: p. 73 (1896), from Darlington (copied in ‘South’,
p. 69, fig. 23). Another strong transition to this form is mentioned by
Lipscomb (Entomologist, 68: p. 207, 1930), taken near Tidworth, Hants.
It had normal fore wings, but the hind wings were purplish black, ‘“‘with
just the faintest tinge of the normal red band and the lunules repre-
sented by thin blue streaks’’.
(The form with only the fore wings of the ichnusioides type and with
normal hind wings is also known. This is f. leodiensis Cabeau (1927,
Lambillionea, 27: p. 38).
3. The ichnusioides with the three costal spots of the fore wings
coalescing.
The oldest name for this form, which is much rarer than true
ichnustoides, is no doubt osborni Donckier de Donceel (1881, Feuille
jeunes Nat., 11: p. 33, pl. I, fig. 4). The figure shows a specimen in
which the three costal spots of the fore wings are united into one large
black blotch, the two discal spots are absent, but the spot at the inner
ON SOME FORMS OF AGLAIS URTICAE L, 285
margin is present; the hind wings are black with long brown hairs at
the base and a row of blue lunules along the outer border. It was taken
by Osborn in Ireland.
[Stichel (Seitz, 1: p. 204, footnote; 1908) is of opinion that osborni
is a form of Nymphalis polychloros Li. identical with f. testudo Hsp.,
principally because of its large dimensions. He forgets, howéver, that
no authentic records of this species are known from Ireland. The figure
is doubtless an enlarged representation of a form of Aglais urticae. |
Another name for the form is conjuncta Neuburger, 1905 (Soc. Ent.,
19: p. 170). It is described as being identical with atrebatensis, but
having the three costal spots of the fore wings connected with each
other. One male from a number of caterpillars bred by Dannenberg.
Two specimens were bred by Sutton, probably from the neighbourhood
of Birmingham (Entomologist, 75: p. 88).
4. Forms related ‘to f. ichnusioides. There are some forms which
clearly belong to the same group but are sufficiently different to justify
separate names.
(A) F. selyst Donckier de Donceel, 1881 (Feuille jeunes Nat., 11:
p. 34, pl. I, fig. 2). The figure shows a specimen in which the two outer
costal spots of the fore wings are only connected by a feeble suffusion
of black scales. For the rest there is no real difference from ichnusioides.
The red colour of the hind wings is intermediate between the two types
of de Selys and Boisduval. The name can only be maintained for speci-
mens in which the three costal spots are all unconnected, or in which
the outer ones are only connected by a feeble suffusion, so that the
independent character of the spots remains. The type was taken in
Belgium, but the exact locality is not known.
(B) F. dannenbergi Neuburger, 1905 (Soc. Ent., 19: p. 170) differs
from ichnusioides in having yellow instead of blue lunules along the
outer border of the upper side of fore and hind wings. This specimen
was bred in a temperature of —3° C.
An interesting question is whether all these forms are environmental
or hereditary ones. I am convinced that the answer is simply ‘‘both’’.
It is well known that ichnusioides-like specimens can be produced by
exposing the chrysalids to extreme temperatures, but it is very unlikely
that the specimens caught in the wild state would be the result of such
unnatural circumstances. Though it is not proved experimentally, I
suspect that ichnusioides and the other forms related to it are recessive
hereditary forms. SS eee 49
PTErOStiChils) MAalGgidilS ieee es eee eee 113
— niger. AG Ree 113
— StrenuuS aes AM aaee
Ptinus: brunneus’ sce eee eee BY
— ) pPUSiLUs || > nce eee cee eee 57
= tectus: .....20 SRS a7
Quedius TwMlieinoSusy | eee seeeteeee eee 112
TEVA UoNAM TOMONECIE IS seconconosssocenccnes45500" 113
Rhantus Grapple eee eee eee 312
RhIZObDIUS Taha see eee 219
Rhizophagus parallelelocollis _......... 215
— perioratus eee 215
Rhopalopus iMswbricuSiee eee 142
Rhian Gites a Waxdl See 299, 300
Saperda, populnea: See eee 299
Saprinus: TUSiONS eee eee eee 49
Scaphidema metallicum _.................. 49
Scaphidium quadrimaculatum _....... 113
SGYMUNUS AUMGUS sesso eee eee eee 219
— DUN Cine eee 249
Sericoderus, laiieralliis) (ese eee 219
Simplocania: SemilStiria tales 222
Sphaeridium bipustulatum _............. 113
— scarabaeoides .............. 162
Stapp hiyAi MSs Sinise eee 49
Stilbus Testaceus) fo snste eee eee eee 220
Strangalia armajtasn see eee eee Qh4
— CWA G2 ARR SEM ATSC on ancoadscdogedee QhA
— attenuata, > “Aaa eee QhA
— maculata: 9 yA 162
— Qua drifasciatamee esses 312
SLLOPHOSOMMUS) COT ysl ese eee 112
SUP GiyitiS CONES settee eee eee 119
Sylpha. TuSOsa | ce. eeenee eee 311
Symcalypta SpiINOSA, ies eee eee eee 49
TACHINUS, OCDSI | c.ccccctes. cose eee 442
Telephorus) pellucidus yeeeteeeeeeee Q4A
SPECIAL INDEX. 3
PAGE
HMI Menor eee TENA AIOIEN OF © be coonsonospodaosepcraadaoods Qh4
— SOLICCANS as ctieaicscceaseee cone soenens Qhh
4RIN@S), OPE OWUOKCES WIE) Sonnodnsoaboopboooonbacodoass6 219
IDTEACIONYS: 1TTUTTNDRIEY _ posocccscsvedoobodescdsossoncod 300
MMCIMUSTASCTATUS Heese eto ceretceeeee 162
ayiphiaea SUCrCORCAS nto ie accseaneaces 218
Vincenzellus viridipennis ......:......... 49
Xylodrepa quadripunctata _............. 113
DERMAPTERA
Lesmerate (Hort Cilla) nese ees eee 108
DIPTERA
NC US Ayan (OMEST A bie a eee te hen tee ee 250
acuminata (Drosophila) ................... Q54
ATMOS (DOSE WIT) Sannecanaccosoonsnocoaecec6 52
ANIMIMUS. CEMNOMINT7E))) — sobocoectoncoobocse04050 717
AV OHINs, (DIROSTOEIE)) = Sodccassbsosebooousosecoooe 254
arbustorum (Eristalis) ....... 242, 243, 275
SSHMINCR, ((CTENOTEEMTINEY)) 7 2oscsescccencceneatoscone 250
Ayelerainles, (SRY OOO) ~~ Socneoscscocosbeo- 255
AitTee. (CHMOCINITED)) seracsoacccossocecoconssoeeoas 441
atricapillus (Machimus) _.................. 212
atricornis (Phytomyza) ............... 1B), UU
TOAIIGGIS (GWA OMS)” cocadcssccdosssboncodaee 243
LOA ORI, (TEXOEOIMOUE)) —” ekanecoscconosdoonooccce 255
bardanae (Tephritis) ...................... Q75
BACH D ANOUMS ies ssetcsee eeas eee ecee ee ese 110
TOLOUOCRUG, “(MINVOINEY) ~~ coacoeosccssonacsecoonoseoe56o 275
CAMMTOSS IES (EVTUTAVETIB)) sopsoncocdssocn600509 Q42
CAC. ON Vaal a cee sees chaser tos reek Oe cee eee 276
COTO ((LOMEOIMINCTEEY) — Sosccosecssocbonaccee 76, 78
(CIM TIMNEVES NAF OMNIS, ~ - Sooscoosnsccoscondansocunscq00¢ 160
(CLUE SOLS SI HETPS natn Aen eH cas chocbondaancasecaac 275
CHiPSHeOle, CEUMVOMANA) — sdacooocoddosneocoaa: 7
Giese (CLM O GLOSS) sae eee ee eee 77
GuESViy GMEACTOLODIS)) Aeeeeeneectecsss.s ccc cee V7
CHES (GEINAIOMARVAE)) conccocceonssccosoosoob500e 77
GUESIG Olam ha ap lelila) ie Weeerecsccso: fetcsscese 77
GOLOMBACHBVDETA)) | seeeeecee us coe osacadeterees 215
COMASUEY (AMSMTEMETS)) os sscdeasdonsbaneoodasaouce 76
compositarum (Dasyneura) _............ 7
(COINO OE Sesbaac SRO Ac GA cack Gnaite Son eucacdscacioas 5Q
COMSIMMNTISS (SCarp LOmnyi7a)) sees sedeateteeeees 255
consobrina (Austrolimnophila) _...... 143
COMUNE), ((CINETOINTENTIS)) yoke dacosnocannsaoadooss0oc 76
COlmiening, (Orewa). acdbacocasosceoosoner 243
CORMUTAs (CELIO CELA) ip vectenesteec-k eeosceneees 214
Corollace (Siva PWS) ieee ssecs ke eeoee cess 243
(CHAKO ETE MIA fe Wye Ata ne er nr RENN Aa seer ea 110
cuhicitormis a(Mochloniy:x))” j..2.226. «004 119
cunctans (Rhabdomastix) _............... 143
(Gyaayoy cs gl 00 Seen eean sete cree ane er GRe a Rae tee 110
muspar ((Paralilelommay yy .s.tccdc-.0res 255
disticha (Parascaptomyza) .............. 255
TENDS Sasso eseeeion nos de Sate ee eee ae 311
erythrophthalma (Rhamphomyia) .. 256
fenestrarum (Drosophila) _............... 255
live (TL apolinetayy 2 qacetcretcs sc. ieeeceeereteere ec 311
Haveola- (SGapboOmlyzay