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Entomologist’s Record

AND JOURNAL OF VARIATION

EDITED BY J. M. CHALMERS-HUNT, F.R.E.S.

Vol. 92 1980

—

|

ili

CONTENTS 1980

Acronycta rumicis L. Knotgrass. A Dwarf P. O. Winter, 54

_ Aethes beatricella (Wals.) A Northern

| |

British Moth?

Record of P. Sokoloff, 234

Agonopteryx scopariella (Heine- mann) in Kent. NV. F. Heal, 191

Agrius convolvuli L. in Sussex. The Convolvulus Hawkmoth. R. Pickering, 196

Agrotis exclamationis L. (Heart and Dart) in March M. Elvidge, 179

Agrotis puta (Huebner) in Cumbria. N. L. Birkett, 8

Anthocharis cardamines L. in Cumbria J. H. Vine-Hall, 23

Apatura iris L. Observations on A. J. Showler, 24

Apology. An E. H. Wild, 12

Aquatic Insects. A. Wootton, 227

Argynnis paphia L. and _ Limenitis camilla L. in the New Forest in 1941/42 J. N. Marcon, 277

Argyrocupha malagrida (Wallengren) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from the Western Cape Province. A New Race om. GaG Dicksonmand. W. H. Henning, 297

Ashurst, Hampshire in 1979. Notable Moth species at JAGA. Craik, 51

Audio Mimicry in Moths ? A. C. Morton, 75

Badonnelia titei Pearman (Psocoptera: Sphaeropsocidae) in Huntingdon- shire. A Second British Record of R. C. Welch, and R. A. Plant, 123

Biston herefordi ( betularia x _ stria- taria) The Kettlewell 1974 Hybrids. A Report Sir C. Clarke, 70

Blair’s Shoulderknot in Cornwall. C. Hart, 118

Blue Moons and Brimstones. C. F. Cowan, 74

Book Talk Three J. M. Chalmers-Hunt, 239

Brief Encounter; How a Dragonfly made our day. C. F. Cowan, 282

What is a A. A. Allen, ey)

Butterfly Hunte:. Further Reminiscences of a J. A. Marcon, 34

Camberwell Beauty in Spain. The H. G. Phelps, 196

Canna in 1980. Early Occurrence of Lepidoptera on the Isle of J. L. Campbell, 198

Canna List. Addition to Campbell, 238

the: ie.

Cardui Invasion. The J. R. Miller, 228 .

Cheilosia paganus and C. _ fraterna (Dipt.: Syrphidae), The Rearing of A. E. Stubbs, 114

Callimorpha dominula (L.) Scarlet Tiger in South Cumbria. N.L. Birkett, 85 Caloptilia semifascia (Haworth) in Kent.

N. F. Heal, 87 Cataplectica farreni (Wals.) (Lep.: Epermeniidae) at Mushalls, Kin-

cardineshire. P. D. Hulme, 171

Catopsilia florella F.: Larval coloration. D. G. Sevastopulo, 166

Cercyon granaris Erichson (Col.: Hydro- phyllidae) Confirmed as British. J, A. Parry, 211

Changes since 1900 in the Distribution of Butterflies in Yorkshire and Elsewhere in the North of England. S. M. Jackson, 139

Clostera anachoreta D. & S. Some Obser- vations on the Scarce Chocolate-Tip; K. G. W. Evans, 253

Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esper) (Lep.: Noctuidae/Plusiinae) and an account of the Breeding Techniques Used. The Life Cycle of D.R. Stephenson, 157

Chrysogaster Species (Dipt.: Syrphidae) Known in Great Britain and Ireland. The M. C. D. Speight, 145

Clostera curtula L. in Scotland. The Chocolate-Tip P. Marren, 154

(Cly tus arietis (L.)). Overwintering Wasp- Beetle A. Wootton, 190

Cnaemidophorus rhododactyla (Denis & Schiff.) in Hampshire. J. D. Chadd,

102

Cockroaches (Dictuoptera, Blattodea, Nauphoetidae). Names _ involving the Madeira and Surinam K. Mc E. Kevan, 77

Coleophora adjectella WHerrich-Shidffer

1861 (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae) A Species Newly Recognised as British. A. M. Emmet, 129

Coleophora albicosta (Haworth 1828) (Lep.: Coleophoridae) — An Anomalous Life History for a Coleophorid Larva. K. P. Bland, 61

Coleophora lassella Staud. in Kent E. S. Bradford, 121

Coleophora milvipennis Group. Further Observations on the A. Archer-Lock, 266

Coleophora prunifoliae Doets. in 1980. M. Hadley, 282

Coleophora prunifoliae Doets. (Lep.: Coleophoridae) A Species New to Britain and a Consideration of C. cerasivorella Packard and C. coracipennella (Huebner) R. Heckford, 201

Coleophora siccifolia Stainton. The Larval Feeding of A. M. Emmet, 220

Coleophora trigeminella (Fuchs) N. F. Heal, 113

Colias croceus Geof. in Cornwall. The Clouded Yellow B. Chesney, 246

Correction. P. 43, 192

Crete, 1979, M. W. Cooper, and C. I. Rutherford, 239

Cucullia argentia (Hufn.) in Britain. An unconfirmed report of the Silver Spangled Shark J. D. Wallace, 7

Curculionidae (Coleoptera) from Cum- bria_ collected in 1979. Some Records of R. W. J. Read, 176

Cynthia cardui L., Aglais urticae L. and Vanessa atalanta L. in South Devon H. L. O’Heffernan, 258

(Cynthia cardui L.) Behaviour of Painted Lady A. Archer-Lock, 87

(Cynthia cardui L.) in numbers at light, and other Notes on its occurrence near Filey. The Painted Lady. P.Q. Winter, 303

Day-Flying Lepidoptera at Mercury Vapour Light. J. R. Langmaid, 276

Deilephila elpenor L.in Central Scotland. I. MacGOWAN, 124

Deltote bankiana F.: in Essex. The Silver Barred: J. B. Fisher, 210

Deltote bankiana ¥.: Silver Barred (Lep.: Noctuidae) in Kent. A. F. Foster, I$)

Depressaria emeritella Stainton (Lep.: Oecophoridae) B. J. Lempke, 25

Dermaptera from the Grunong Mulu National Park, Borneo. A. Brindle, 172

Diachrysia orichalcia F.: The Slender Burnished Brass A. S. Harmer, 200

Digitivalva perlepidella (Stainton) WN. F. Heal, 97

Donaciinae (Col.: Chrysomelidae); A Postscript A.A. Allen, 152

Donaciinae (Col.: Chrysomelidae), with a List of Recent East Kentish Localities Known to the Author. Notes on the J. A. Parry, 9

Earwig’s Multiple Egg-Brood A.Wootton, 183

East Anglian Beetles. Notes on Some R. Crossley, 247

Ectoedemia argentipedella (Zeller) The Pupation Requirements of A. M. Emmet, 69

Ectoedemia subbimaculella (Haw.) in Berkshire (VC 22) P. J. Johnson, By

Emus hirtus L. (Col.: Staphylinidae) A Few Further Remarks on A. A. Allen, 50

Endangered Lepidoptera. In Support of the Re-introduction and Super- vision of Certain L. McLeod, 221

Ennomos fuscantaria Haworth, Unusual

Foodplant of G. M. Haggett, 97 Entomological Cabinets. A. S. Harmer,

Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lep.: Pyra- lidae). Mating Behaviour of P. J. Johnson, 259

Epichoristodes acerbella Walker (Lep.: Tortricidae) First Capture of the Imago at large in Britain A. A. Allen, 33

Epping Forest D. G. Sevastopulo, 151

Eriogaster lanestris L.: Small Eggar (Lep.: Lasiocampidae). Further Notes on the Larval Habits of R. W. Watson, 193

Essex. Almost Anywhere — Rather than A.M. Emmet, 27

Ethmia bipunctella (Fabr.) in the Rochester District A. G. J. Butcher, 168

Ethmia funerella F. Larvae on Myosotis R. G. Warren, 257

Eublemma parva Hbn. in Hampshire. The Small Marbled J. R. Langmaid, 260

Eumichtis lichenea (Huebner). A Late Date for J. Briggs, 46

(Eupithecia abietaria Goeze) Further Records. The Cloaked Pug) J. M. Chalmers-Hunt, 25

Eupithecia millefoliata Rossl.: A Cor- rection A. A. Allen, 190

Eupithecia phoeniceata Rambur at Ald- wick Bay, West Sussex. Observations on the Cyprus Pug R. R. Pickering, 274

Eupithecia pusillata D. & S. (sobrinata Hbn.) Away from Natural Juniper G. M. Haggett, 144

Eurrhypara perlucidalis (Hbn.) in Kent. A Third Record of A. Archer-Lock, 87

Eurrhypara perlucidalis Hbn. (Lep.: Pyralidae) in Essex A. J. Dewick, 154

Extatosoma tiaratum (Mac Leay). Con- tribution to the Knowledge of Phasmida III. Diapause in the Eggs of U. Carlberg, 180

Folklore of the Lepidoptera. The G. F. Le Pard, 270

Freezing Insects for Storage. Further Observations on R. S. Wilkinson, 273

Gainsborough’s Mistake P. C. Hawker, 279

Gibraltar and Morocco 1979. W. J. Tennent, 206

Gonepteryx rhamni L.: Some Obser- vations on the Brimstone Butter- fly C.J. Tubb, 194

Hazards of Butterfly Collecting. Nigeria T. B. Larsen, 86

Heath and Robinson Moth Traps. A Comparison of the P. Waring. 283

Heliothis peltigera D. & S. and Rhyacia simulans Hufnagel at Portland, Dorset. R. Chaterlain, 193

Helops caeruleus L. (Col.: Tenebrioni- dae). Notes on A. A. Allen, 275

Hippotion celerio L. in Yorkshire. The Silver Striped Hawkmoth. P. Q. Winter, 200

Holly Blue. Raspberry as a Natural Pabulum of the H. E. Chipperfield, 153

Homoeosoma Curtis (Lepidoptera: Phy- citinae) from North India. A New Species of H. S. Rose, and S. S. Dhillon, 184

Horisme aquata Huebner (Cumbrian Umber) A. G. Long, 152

Hydroptilia occulta (Eaton) (Trichoptera: Hudroptilidae), a Caddis Fly New to Ireland, with Notes on Ay- droptilia martini Marshall J. P. O’Connor, and M. A. O'Connor, 167

Hyles lineata livornica Esper in Kent. J. E. Owen, 192

Hyles lineata livornica Esper in South Devon. The Striped Hawkmoth H. L. O’Heffernan, 192

Immigrants in Sussex. Early R. F. Bretherton, 144

Immigration of Lepidoptera to the British Isles in 1978: A Sup- plementary Note. The R. F. Bretherton, and J. M. Chalmers- Hunt, 62

Immigration of Lepidoptera to the British Isles in 1979. The R. F. Bretherton, and Chalmers-Hunt, 89

Isle of Man 1980. Notes on Lepidoptera in the J. Hzdges, 303

Kentish Glory, Speculative Notes on the P. Marran, 235

Ladoga camilla L.: On the Ovipositing Habits of the White Admiral A. S. Harmer, 197

Lampronia flavimitrella Huebner (Lep.: Incurvariidae). A Second British eee of J. M. Chalmers-Hunt, 195

Lasiopogon cinctus (Fab.) (Dipt.: Asili- dae) in South Cumbria. N. Birkett, 50

Lasius fuliginosus (Latreille) (Hymenop- tera Formicidae) in Buckingham- shire. A. Wootton, 160

Leptophloeus clematidis (Erichson) (Col.: Cucujidae) Discovered in Suffolk. D.R. Nash, 120

Lithophane ornitopus Hufnagel. Grey Shoulder Knot in North Wales. G. E. Higgs, 53

Lulworth Skipper. Insects from Cornwall Including Apparently the First Cornish B. J. Lempke, 189

Luminous Centipedes. 7: D. Fearnehough, 53

Lycia zonaria (D. & S.) (Lepidoptera Geometridae) on Coll, Inner Hebrides. R. C. Welch, 259

Lysandra bellargus Rott. in the Chilterns. The Reappearance of A.J. Showler, 199

Lysandra corydon L. in Lincolnshire. Notes on the Apparent Extinction of the Chalk Hill Blue, P. Hawker, 22

Macroglossum stellatarum L. in Scotland. The Humming Bird Hawkmoth: A. F. Johnston, 194

Macroglossum stellatarum L. in South Devon. The Humming Bird Hawk- moth: A. L. O’Heffernan, 194

Maniola jurtina L. Related to M. Jurtina ab. postaurolancia Leeds. A New Form of C. G. Lipscomb, 205

Maniola telmessia Zeller on Angistri Island, Greece. About the Reported Occurrence of J. G. Coutsis, 197

Maruca testulalis (Geyer) in Wanstead Park A. M. Emmet, 113

Meathop Moss and Catcrag Moss, Wither- slack, nr. Grange-over-Sands J. Ketchen, 205

Meigenia dorsalis Mg. (Dipt.: Tachinidae) an Ecological Note. A. A. Allen, 192

Melanargia galathea L. ab. craskei Tubbs. Notes on Breeding the Marbled White Butterfly; R. Revels, 57

Melanargia russiae Esper from Greece. J. G. Coutsis, 198

Mellicta athalia Rott. in Britain: Notes on Distribution and Ecology. The Heath Fritillary C. J. Luckens, 229

Migrants on the Isle of Canna besides P. cardui and _ V. atalanta. Other J. L. Campbell, 258

Migrant Dragon at Mercury Vapour Light. M. Hadley, 258

Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenbach) f. diluta (Charpentier) (Orthoptera; Tetti- goniidae) a Record for Kent R. H. Cumming, 46

Vi

Mompha nodicolella Fuchs (Lep. Mom- phidae). Unusual behaviour of C. W. Plant, 255

Monmouthshire Lepidoptera: Some Recent Records. G. H. Neil-Horton, 150

Moses Harris’ An Exposition of English Insects. Another Fasicule of R. S. Wilkinson, 143

Mythimna albipuncta D. & S. in Hamp- shire. The White-Speck Wainscot J. R. Langmaid, 246

Neocnemodon brevidens (Eggar 1865) (Diptera: Syrphidae) New to Britain. A. Stubbs, 45

Neofrisaria singula Starg. (Lep. Gelechi- idae) in Rabbit Burrows. J. Parry, EST

New Butterflies from South Africa. Six Further C. G. C. Dickson, 1

New Forest Area. Records of some Non-Lepidopterous Insects from the J. C_A. Craik, 243

Nymphalis polychloros L. in Surrey in 1980. The Large Tortoiseshell: J. Weir, 218

Orange-Tip Butterfly in Northern England. A Theory to Account for the Spread of the EF. Lees, 122

Orange-Tip Butterfly. The Mystery of the A. G. Long, 292

Orange-Tip. The Return of the J. R. Miller, 248

Orgyia antiqua L.: Some Notes on the Vapourer Moth M. Reese, 234

Orgyia recens Huebner. Concerning the Scarce Vapourer Moth: G13, Hyde, 224

Orthoptera Records in West Sussex. Late E. C. M. Haes, 191

Orthosia miniosa (D. & S.). First Recor- ded occurrence in Eastbourne in Three Decades. M. Hadley, 190

Orthosia stabilis D. & S. in December. M. Parsons, 49

Ostrinia nubilalis Huebner (Lep.: Pyra- lidae) in the City of London. R. A. Softly, 302

Oulimnius major (Rey.) (= O. falcifer Berthelemy) (Col.: Elmidae) New to Britain. J. A. Parry, 248

Overwintering Insects. Some Interesting Finds of A. Wootton, 290

Oxygastra curtisti (Dale 1834) (Odonata: Corduliidae) in Bournemouth, an Historical Note. S. C. S. Brown, 118

Pachynematus sulcatus Benson (Hym.: Tenthredinidae). The Femal of A. D. Liston, 47

Painted Ladies and Red Admirals. Isle of Canna: Invasion of J. L. Campbell, 256

Palpita unionalis Hubn. (Lep.: Pyra- lidae) in S. E. England P. Sokoloff, 218

Pammene obscurana Steph. in Stafford- shire. R. G. Warren, 259

Paramesia gnomana (Clerke)(Lep.: Tor- tricidae) in Sussex in 1979 H.C. J. Godfray, 50

(Pararge aegeria L.). Possible Anti- Mating Signals in the Speckled Wood L. H. T. Large, 182

Pararge aegeria L. when Feeding at Flowers. Apparent Colour Selec- tivity by B. K. West, 102

Parascotia fuliginaria L.: Waved Black in Shropshire J. G. Whiteside, 53

Parthenogenesis. P. J. Johnson, 255

Phlogophora meticulosa L. Bred from a Damaged Pupa. Curious Case of a Dwarf D. Dey, 193

Phloiotyra voudoueri Muls. (Col.: Melandryidae) in S. E. London A. A. Allen, 153

Phyllonorycta messaniella (Zell.) (Lep. Gracillaridae). Foodplants of H. C. J. Godfray, 204

Platyptilia isodactylus Zeller in Stafford- shire. A. G. Warren, 248

Plusia gamma L. and Nomophila noc- tuella D. & S. in S. Devon. 4. L. O Heffernan, 251

Poecilmitis Butler (Lepidoptera: Lycae- nidae) from the Western Cape Province. A New Species of C. G. C. Dickson, and C. A. Henning, 294 :

Poecilocampa populi (L.). Early Date for the December Moth: D. Dey, 12

Polygonia agea Cramer in Malta A. Valletta, 97

Polygonia c-album L. in Kent. Abnormal Abundance of the Comma: £&. Carpinter, 195

Polygonia c-album L.in North Yorkshire. The Comma P. Q. Winter, 303

Pontania crassipes (Thomson) (Hym.: Tenthredinidae) New to Wester Ross and Comments on its Local Distribution. A. D. Liston, 249

Precis archesia ugandensis (Lep.: Nymp- halidae): A New Species. L. McLeod, 109

Predators and ‘“Eyespot Butterflies” Feeding on Rotting Fruit and Soupy Fungi in Tropical Forests: Variations on a Theme Developed by the Muyshondts and Arthur M. Shapiro. The Interaction of A. M. Young, 63

Pterostichus angustatus (Dft.) (Col.: Carabidae) in Angus. First Scottish Record A. Garside, 74

Pugs. British F.C. L. Simson, 261

Pyrrhidium sanguineum L. and Criocep- halus rusticus L. (Col.: Longicornia) in Monmouthshire. G. A. Neil- Horton, 52

Relaxing Insects. NV. L. Birkett, 227

Rhodometra_ sacraria L. and Other Lepidoptera at Tonbridge. The Vestal A. FE. Tapp, 248

Rhodometra_ sacraria LL. Discharging Meconium. Feral E. S. Bradford, 200

Rhodometra sacraria L. in Sussex. The Vestal P. F. Walley, 198

Rhodometra sacraria L. on Romney Marsh. The Vestal J. E. Owen, 259

Rhyacia simulans Hufnagel. Curious Dis-

covery Concerning The Dotted Rustic J. N. D'Arcy, 242 Rhyacia simulans Hufn. and Other

Interesting Lepidoptera at a North Warwickshire Site R. J. Thomson,

DI9

Rhyacia simulans (Hufn.) in Kent. A Third Specimen of P. Sokoloff, 250

Saturnia pavonia L.: K. Porter, 175

Saturnia pavonia L.: Larvae in Cumbria. Unusual Foodplant for J. Briggs, 377)

Satyrid Butterfly from Greece. On the Status of a little known J. Brown, 280

Satyrid Spotting Scheme — A Request R.L. H. Dennis, 169

Sawfly Records from Southern Scotland. A Few Interesting A. D. Liston, 216

Scrobipalpa ocellatella (Boyd) (Lep.:: Gelechiidae) on Cultivated Beet. P. J. Johnson, 248

Selenia bilunaria Esp. and Partheno- genesis. The Early Thorn M. J. Symes, 52

Small Tortoiseshell in Flight in February C. J. Randall, 87

Small Tortoiseshell in Kent. An Ad- ditional Early Sighting of A. P. Foster, 260

Spring Moths at Ninfield, Sussex. Some Unusual M. Parsons, 136

Spring of 1980 and its Effects as Reflec- ted in Early Emergence of Spring

Foodplants of

Moths. The Warm M. Hadley, 154 Southern Scotland in 1979. Some

New Records of Lepidoptera from

K. P. Bland, 161 Spatalistis bifasciana

Heal, 175

(Hbn.) INS Es

Vii

“Stared and Grinned at by the Vulgar”. On Being J. A. C. Greenwood, Li)

Sterrha vulpinaria Herrich Shafer (rus- ticata sensu auct.) (Lep.: Geomet- ridae) and a Second Natural Larval Foodplant. B. K. West, 31

Stigmella minusculella (Herrich Shafer) P. J. Johnson, and A. M. Emmet, 37

Stilpon nubilus Coll. (Dipt.: Empididae) New to Kent A. A. Allen, 26

Strange Method of Capturing a Lepido- pteron. AM. J. Wells, 119

Strymonidia w-album Knoch. The White Letter Hairstreak: A. Archer- Lock, 254

Strymonidia w-album Knoch The White- Letter Hairstreak: P. J. Holdaway, 153!

Surgical Spirit as a Relaxing Agent. P. J. Johnson, 49

Surgical Spirit as a Relaxing Agent. D. J. Sevastopulo, 227

Surrey Garden. An Unlikely Find in aN ALA Allen. 6

Switzerland 1979. Butterflies in Eastern C. J. Luckens, 103

Syngrapha circumflexa L.: Yorkshire Y A. D. Torlesse, 28

Teleiopsis diffinis Haworth (Lep.: Gele- chiidae) H. E. Chipperfield, 168

Teritorial Behaviour in British Butter- flies W. G. Shreeves, 267

Thadeus W. Harris and Samuel H. Scudder Papers R. S. Wilkinson, 225

Thanet. A Note from the Isle of M. R. Longdon, 228

Thera juniperata L. in Bedfordshire. The Juniper Carpet: V. W. Arnold, 24

Thera juniperata L.: Juniper Carpet in Warwickshire. R. Smith, 24

Thera variata (Denis & Schiffermuller) and Related Changes in the Nomen- clature. The Apparent Absence from Britain of D. Agassiz, 162

Thereva nobilitata ¥. (Diptera: There- vidae). On the Feeding Habits of Y. Z. Erzinclioglu, 251

Trap for Carrion Flies. A New Y. Z. Erzinclioglu, 219

Trichiura crataegi L. in Kent. The Pale Eggar: M. Enfield, 260

Trichoplusia ni Huebner at Portland in 1980. The Ni Moth: W. L. Coster, 196

Trogonoptera brookiana brokiana (Wal- lace) in Sarawak. Notes on the Behaviour of Rajar Brooke’s Bird- wing Butterfly: A. L. Panchin, 98

Vili

Tutt’s Pterophorina of Britain. The Dates of Publication of C. L. Nissen, 121.

Tyria jacobaeae L. (Cinnabar). Food- plants of XW. L. Birkett, 25

Tyria Jacobaeae L. (Cinnabar) on Colts- foot. Another Record B. Wallace, and J. D. Wallace, 144

Ugyops caelatus (White). Selection of Lectotype R. G. Fennah, 76

Ultraviolet Fluorescent Tubes for Attracting Insects. The Use of Portable 40 Watt R. S. Wilkinson, 187

Utetheisa Huebner (Lep.: Arctiidae) in the Western and Central Pacific, with the Description of a New Species from Nieue Island. Further Observations on the Species of G. S. Robinson, and H. S. Robinson, 13

Vanessa atalanta L. in South Devon. Abnormal Abundance of C. G. Lipscomb, 269

Vanessa atalanta (L.) in Cumbria. An Early Record of WN. L. Birkett, 195

Wiedmannia (Chamaedipsia) lota Walker (Diptera: Empididae) from Nor- thamptonshire. J. G. F. McLean, 191

Yponomeuta irrorella (Hbn.). A New Locality for A. J. Butcher, 138

CURRENT LITERATURE. 8, 16, 56, S87 125, 155,196, 223; 301, 302.

OBITUARY NOTICES: Norman Denbigh Riley, 19 The Baron C. G. M. de Worms, 29 Bishop Skat/Hoffmeyer, Denmark, 127

PRACTICAL HINTS. 18, 54, 83, 300.

Agassiz, D. J., 162

Allen;-A. A., 6, 26, 33, 50, 152, 153, 1905 192) 252,275

Archer-Lock, A., 87, 254, 266

Arnold, V. W., 24

Birkett, N. £5 ‘8, 25, 50,85, 195, 227 Bland, K. P., 61, 161

Bradford, E. S., 55, 121, 200 Bretherton, R. F., 62, 89, 144

Briggs, J., 37, 46

Brindle, A., 172

Brown, J., 280

Brown, S.C. S., 118

Butcher, A. J., 138, 168

Campbell, J. L., 198, 238, 256, 258

Carlberg, U., 180

Carpinter, E., 195

Chalmers-Hunt, J. M., 25, 55, 62, 89, 195, 289

Chesney, B., 246

Chatelain, R. G., 193

Clarke, Sir C., 70

Cooper, M. W., 239

Coster, W. L., 196

Coutsis, J. G., 197, 198

Cowan, C. F., 74, 282

CraikenGeAe sia243

Crossley, R., 247

Cumming, R. H., 46

D’Arcy, J. N., 242

Dennis, R. L. H., 169

Dewick, A. J., 154

Dey, D., 12, 193

Dhillon, S. S., 184

Dickson, C. G. C., 1, 38, 294, 297

Elvidge, M., 179

Emmet, A. M:, 27,°37) 69; 11320129). 220

Enfield, M., 260

Erzinclioglu, Y. Z., 219, 251

Evans, K. G. W., 253

Fearnehough, T. D., 53 Fisher, J. B., 210 Foster, A. P., 193, 260

Garside, A., 74 Goater, B., 54 Godfray, H.C. S., 50, 204 Greenwood, J. A.C., 117

Hadley, M., 154, 190, 258, 282 Haes, E.C. M., 191

Haggett, G. M., 97, 144

Harmer, A. S., 87, 197, 200, 298 Hart, C., 118

Hawker, P., 22, 279

Heal, .N. F287, 97. 113.475.4901 Heckford, R., 201

Hedges, J., 303

Henning, G. A., 294, 297

Higgs, G. E., 53

Holdaway, P. J., 153

Horton, G. A. N., 52, 153 Hulme, P. D., 171

Hyde, G. E., 224

Jackson, S. M. 139

Johnson, P. J., 32, 37, 49, 248, 255, 259

Johnston, A. F., 194

Ketchen, J., 205 Kevan, K. McE., 77

Langmaid, J. R.,

Paree, L. H: T., 182

Larsen, T. B., 86

bees, E., 112 a

Lempke, B. J., 25, 289 5 Bo 210)

Lipscomb, G Cu

246, 260, 276

205,269

Liston, A. D., AF. 216, 249

Long, A. G., 152, 292 Longdon, M. Re228 uckens, C. J.,.229

MacGowan, I., 124 Marcon, J. A., 34, 277 Marran, P., 154, 235 McLean, I. G. F., 191 McLeod, L., 109, 221 Messenger, J. L., 29 Minnion, W. E., 144 Morton, A. C., 75

Nash, D. R., 120 Nissen, C. L., 121

O’Connor, J. P., 167 O’Connor, M. A., ey

O’Heffernan, H. L., 192, 194, 256 Owen, J. E., 192, ne Panchin, J. A.,

98 Parry, J. A., 9, 211, 257, 248

Parsons, M., 49, 136 Phelps, H. Ge 196 Pickering, R., 196, 274 Plant, C. W., 255 Plant, R. A., 123 Porter, K., 175

Randall, C. J., 87 Read, W. J., 176 Reese, M., 234 Revels, R., 57 Richardson, A., 55

Robinson, G. S., Robinson, H. 26 Rose, H. S., 184 Rutherford, CrlE2389

Ow

Sevastopulo, Showler, A. J., Shreeves, W. ee 267 Simson, E. C. L., 261 Smith, R., 24

Softly, R. A., 302 Sokoloff, P., 218, 234, 250 Speight, M. C. D., 145 Stevenson, D. R., 157 Stubbs, A., 45, 114

Symes, M. J., 52

Tapp, A. E., 248 Tennent, W. J., 206 Thomas, R. J., 279 Torlesse, A. D., 28 Tubb, C. J., 194

Valletta, A., 97 Vine-Hall, J. H., 23

Wallace, B., 144 Wallace, I. D., 7, 144 Walley, P. F., 198 Waring, P., 283

Warren, R. A., 248, 257, 259

Watkinson, I. A., 54, 55 Watson, R. W., 193 Weir, J., 218

Welch, R. C., 123, 259 Wells, M. J., 118

West, B. K., 31, 102 Whiteside, J. G., 53 Wild, E. H., 12 Wilkinson, R. S., 143, Winter, P. Q., 54, 200, 303

Young, A. M., 63

ix

227

1875 225, 273

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Six Further New Butterflies from Southern Africa By C., G. C.. Dickson, M:Se.*

(Continued from Volume 91, page 302)

LYCAENIDAE

Stugeta subinfuscata Grinberg, 1910. Denkschr. med.— naturw. Ges. Jena 16: 107, pl. 3, fig. 3. [Type-locality: Wind- huk (sic), two females (Lindt). ]

Stugeta subinfuscata subinfuscata Grinberg stat. nov.

Although treated originally as a separate species, this taxon has for many years been regarded by various workers as a race of Stugeta bowkeri (Trimen) — or has at times beer subjected to an even lower status. Thanks, essentially to Mr. W. H. Henning having drawn attention to the matter and having provided good grounds for regarding this insect as a distinct species, its original status is now recognised by the present writer, in this paper — and after a further detailed comparison, including the male genitalia, with specimens of Stugeta bowkeri bowkeri. The characters given in the original description serve to separate it convincingly from the last named taxon and, in the writer’s opinion, the valves of the male genitalia confirm its specific status — the characteristic features of the valves being as referred to in the description of the race of this insect which appears later in this paper.

Three new members of the Stugeta bowkeri (Trimen) group The first of these insects, from Little Namaqualand, has been known for more than a century, Trimen having received

* “Blencathra’’, Cambridge Avenue, St. Michael’s Estate. Cape Town.

LEGEND OF FIGURES

Stugeta subinfuscata reynoldsi subsp. nov.: fig. 1. ¢ holotype (upper- side); fig. 2. @ holotype (underside); fig. 3. 92 allotype (upperside): fig. 4. 2 allotype (underside). Stugeta bowkeri henningi subsp. nov.: fig. 5. ¢ holotype (upperside); fig. 6. ¢ holotype (underside): fig. 7. 2 allotype (upperside); fig. 8. 2 allotype (underside). Stugeta bowkeri tearei subsp. nov.: fig. 9. ¢ holotype (upperside); fig. 10. @ holotype (under- side); fig. 11. @2 allotype (upperside); fig. 12. 2 allotype (underside). Poecilmitis wykehami spec. nov.: fig. 13. ¢@ holotype (upperside); fig. 14. g holotype (underside); fig. 15. 2 allotype (upperside); fig. 16. 92 allotype (underside). Trimenia macmasteri mijburghi subsp. nov.: fig. 17. @ holotype (upperside); 3 holotype (underside); fig. 19. 2 allotype (upperside); fig. 20. 2 allotype (underside).

Figures approximately 0.84 times natural size.

(Colour reproduction by Unifoto (Pty.), Ltd., Cape Town.)

2 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

a female specimen which was caught by G. A. Reynolds at “Springbokfontein” in 1873; this example being referred to by Trimen in S.A. Butt. 2: 133, and described (but not named separately) by him on the page mentioned as an “Aberration (or Variety?) of Jolaus bowkeri. In later years this butterfly has been associated and considered to be synonymous with Stugeta subinfuscata Grinberg (or St. bowkeri subinfuscata, as the taxon has usually been referred to) which, as indicated above, came originally from Windhoek, South West Africa. Dur- ing the past year or two the present writer had had some mis- givings about these insects being entirely synonymous — but was not convinced that this was not the case until Mr. Henn- ing, in a recent letter, gave his own views and stated that, for various reasons, he believed they were not quite the same taxa. Specimens which he had seen, from South West Africa, and which evidently answered to nominate subinfuscata in every respect, differed in certain details from the Little Namaqua- land taxon. A number of the former specimens were sub- sequently sent to the writer for examination. Furthermore, Mr. R. I. Vane-Wright of the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) has him- self kindly furnished very useful information concerning subin- fuscata, including a photostat copy of the original description in German — which was received by the writer through Mr. Henning.

It seems probable that a specimen taken by William Burchell in 1814 at ““Chue Spring, on the Maadje Mountains” in Bechuanaland (now Botswana), which is in the remains of Burchell’s collection in the University Museum, Oxford (vide Trimen, op. cit.),would correspond to the present subinfuscata. In at least one of his important publications (or ones in con- junction with Bennett), Monsieur H. Stempffer has figured very accurately the valves of members of this group from various localities in Africa; and the “‘spines” and their dis- position, at the distal end of the valves vary in accordance with the different taxa in a number of cases (vide Stampffer & Bennett, 1958. Bull. Inst. fr. Afr. noire, Sér. (A): 1264-5, figs. 13-15).

The other two insects included in the present paper are both from the Transvaal. The first of these seems only to have been found in the more southern portion of the Province, apart from two known captures (by K. M. Pennington and an unspecified collector) in the Orange Free State. The second is not apparently found so far to the south (these butterflies are not, of course, known to be sympatric), but it spreads widely through much of the rest of the Transvaal and enters adjoining territories such as Botswana and Rhodesia, and_ possibly extends still further to the north.

The question of the status which should be accorded to these latter two insects has been by no means easy to decide. It is nevertheless felt that, on balance, specific status would not be fully justified without entirely satisfactory evidence of this being likely — and with deference to M. Stempffer and

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SIX FURTHER NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA 3

his rather conservative treatment of the group as a whole. If in either case specific status was found later to be more correct, such a change could then be made. Comparisons have been included in the first description concerned, hereunder, with both nominate Stugeta bowkeri and St. subinfuscata subinfus- cata.

Stugeta subinfuscata reynoldsi subsp. nov. Upperside

In both sexes this insect is of a full, rich violaceous — blue colour — i.e., in the case of genuinely fresh or unfaded specimens. Its general pattern, which includes the broad black bordering and other prominent black marking of the forewing, in conjunction with smaller white (or some times partly bluish- white) marking, and, in the hindwing, a black apical patch, is on the whole of a more clear-cut and striking form than in nominate Stugeta bowkeri itself. (The ¢& holotype happens to have the white marking much better developed than in the allotype 2.)

Underside

The general colouring of the hindwing (and, in the darker- marked examples, the forewing also) is grey to brownish-grey, with alternating white or whitish areas present in the forewing (basal, medial and postmedial); and, in the hindwing, a white transverse band beyond middle. Less heavily marked specimens have the white portions of the forewing expanded sufficiently to form the more general colour of the wing. On the hindwing, and especially in the female, the area from the base to the dark, discal transverse band (not always clearly defined in- wardly as such) is frequently of a lighter grey, owing to a suffusion, here, of white scaling; while the distal borders of all wings are less dark than the other definitely defined dark por- tions of the wings.

At first glance this insect may not look very different from examples of St. subinfuscata subinfuscata, but a number of differences, in detail, have been observed and, it is believed, warrant its recognition as a separate race. The blue of the upperside in the specimens that have been examined has been deeper than in ones of the latter taxon that have been used for comparison, especially in the males and, on the underside, the darkening in all wings has been more general, and par- ticularly so in the males, of reynoldsi. Points of difference on the underside also include, in the hindwing, in reynoldsi, the less well-defined tracery of thin dark marking in the area from the base to the medial dark transverse band or streak; and the less noticeable constriction in about the middle of the post- medial white band. Specimens of reynoldsi that have been caught 11 miles north of Kamieskroon have shown a less full development of the underside dark marking.

Length of forewing: male, 14.5-16.5 mm. (the former measurement, in holotype); female, 16.0-18.25 mm. (16.25 mm. in allotype).

4 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

Specimens show some variation, as would be expected, in the size of the white upperside markings. The underside varies as regards the depth of the darker areas as well as, within limits, their extent.

This taxon (as well as the nominate race of subinfuscata) can be separated very easily from other species that have been studied, by the valves of the male genitalia, which are of the form figured by Stempffer (op. cit., fig. 15), of another Spring- bok specimen, referred to as Stugeta bowkeri subinfuscata (and which the writer has found to be quite the same as in the nominate race from South West Africa). The valve has the second acute spine at its distal end much further removed from the first one, than in other Southern African taxa which have been examined, and is also more inwardly deflected (but this deflection is certainly more apparent in specimens that have dried out after dissection). The small size of the valve is very apparent in reynoldsi (and the nominate race).

& Holotype, WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE: 17 miles N. of Springbok, 8.XII.1977 (I. Bampton); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18682.

2 Allotype, W. CAPE PROVINCE: data as for holo- type; British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18683.

Paratypes in author’s collection: as holotype, mid-Septem- ber, 1950, two 92 (Col. H. C. Bridges). Eleven miles N. of Kamieskroon, C.P., 2.1X.1962, 1 9; 27.IX.1962, two oo (C. G. C. Dickson).

Paratype in Coll. C. W. Wykeham, loc. as above, 27.1X.1962. one 2 (C. W. Wykeham).

Paratypes in Coll. W. H. Henning: 17 miles N. of Springbok, C.P., 30.XI.1974, three 99: 4.XII.1974, one o (1. Bampton).

Paratype in Coll. W. Teare: O’okiep, C.P., 16.XI.1978, one oO (W.T.).

Paratype in Coll. National Museum, Bulawayo, Rhodesia: Springbok, 3,000 ft., 20.X1.1938, one ¢ (R. C. Wood),

Paratype in Coll. South African Museum: data on one side of label —‘“‘Cape. Namaqualand. Springbokfontein [now Springbok] ;’’ data on other side of label —“G.A.R. [G. A. Reynolds]. 1873. Matjes-kloof:” one female. (Specimen examined through the courtesy of Dr. V. B. Whitehead and Mr. A. J. Prins of the Entomological Dept. of above museum.)

Paratypes in Coll. Transvaal Museum: Braki, Richtersveld. C.P., 15.X1.1933, one male (G. van Son). Profadder, C.P., 12.X.1946, two males (K. M. Pennington). Springbok, C.P., 4.X.1955, one male, 6.X.1955, one male (H. Cookson). Three miles S. of Garies, C.P., 10.IV.1965, one male (R. C. Little- wood).

It is interesting to note that specimens from the Rua Cana Falls, South West Africa, taken by Mr. C. W. Wykeham in June, 1977, have lost or largely lost (at least in the hind- wings) the infuscation so characteristic, on the underside, of

subinfuscata, although having the same disposition of the spines on the valves.

SIX FURTHER NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA 5

This present race of St. subinfuscata will doubtless occur in many other localities in Little Namaqualand, as yet un- recorded.

Stugeta bowkeri henningi subsp. nov.

This insect is, in both sexes, also of a deeper violaceous- blue colour than nominate Stugeta bowkeri (Trimen), and is of rather greater average size, too. Weight is added to the significance of external differences which are present in the wings, by some generally discernible difference in the valves of the male genitalia. The first example of Stugeta bowkeri bowkeri was caught by Colonel J. H. Bowker, “‘at the edge of a forest”? on the Bashee River, Kaffraria, and was described by Trimen in Rhop. Afr. Aust. 2: 225; and is figured extremely accurately in colour on Pl. 4, fig. 4, of this work. It is con- cluded that specimens of St. bowkeri from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape Province correspond to the original butterfly and such specimens have been used as the basis of comparison in the present description. The above-mentioned figure agrees well with females from Queenstown; both sexes having been caught there in good numbers by Mr. C. W. Wykeham in February, 1967.

Upperside

Apart from the point mentioned concerning the ground- colour of the upperside, there is a tendency for the white marking to be less pronounced, in all wings, in the present taxon, and more noticeably so when the respective females are compared — and more obviously in the hindwings. In the male, at least, the inner and outer series of dark markings parallel with the distal margin of the hindwing are better developed than in bowkeri bowkeri, and the latter markings are of a more sagittate form than in this insect.

Underside

No completely constant difference seems to be apparent in henningi, although there is a quite frequent tendency for the broad space between the first and second lines parallel with the distal margin to contain darker scaling, in the case of all wings; also for the lines and even other markings to be more noticeably rufous-coloured, generally, and the lines somewhat thicker than in bowkeri bowkeri.

Length of forewing: male, 15.75-18.25 mm. (16.25 mm. in holotype); female, 16.25-20.0 mm. (18.25 mm. in allotype).

There is some variation, as might be expected, in the individual marking of both surfaces in both sexes.

The valves of the male genitalia have shown some rela- tively small but generally apparent difference in a very fair representative number of specimens which have been com- pared with nominate St. bowkeri. In henningi the small outer spine at the distal end of the valve has usually had a more outward curvature in relation to the distal margin, than in bowkeri bowkeri, and the valve has been more angular and less widely curved beween the distal and dorsal margins. (In one

6 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

exception in the material examined, the valves of bowkeri bowkeri itself have been equally angular at this point.) There is a tendency (i.e., judging by the specimens that have been compared) for the larger spine at the distal end to be more robust, in henningi, than the corresponding spine in bowkeri bowkeri.

3 Holotype, TRANSVAAL: Potchefstroom, 16.XII.1973 (S. F. Henning); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18684.

9 Allotype, TRANSVAAL: data as for holotype (Si Henning); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18685.

Paratypes in Coll. W. H. Henning: data as for holotype, 18.X.1970, one 3, one 2 (G. A. Henning); 23.11.1973, one o&, one ° (G. A. Henning), one ¢ (S. F. Henning): 18.X.1973 one 3, eight 92 (G.A.H.), one ? (I. Bampton), one of, seven 99 (S.F.H.); 22.XII.1973, one ?, 3.111974, one 9, 4.1I.1974, one 3, 5.11.1974, one 9, 13.1X.1974, one o,28.1X.1974, one oF, 5.X.1974, one o, 13.X.1974, one o, 15.X.1974, one oC, 10.X.1974, one 9, 23.X.1974, three 99, 23.XI.1974, one oF, 16.XII.1974, one ?, 9.11I.1975, one ? (G.A.H.). (Final series largely bred examples.)

Paratype in author’s collection: Rhenoster Kop, Orange Free State, 30.1X.1945, one & (K. M. Pennington).

Paratype in Coll. National Museum, Bulawayo, Rhodesia: Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, 29.XI.1918, one male.

This beautiful insect is named, with much pleasure, after my nee Mr. W. H. Henning, and with his two sons also in mind.

(To be continued)

AN UNLIKELY FIND IN A N.E. SuRREY GARDEN. — One afternoon or evening in the first half of August 1978, an extraordinary stroke of fortune befell my friend Dudley Col- lins. On a clump of golden-rod (Solidago canadensis) in full flower, in his garden at Carshalton Beeches, were two Lycaenid butterflies settled or at rest, which he was able to take for examination before finally releasing them. One was a ¢ Plebejus argus L. (Silver-studded Blue); the other, yet more surprising, was Strymonidia w-album Knoch (White-letter Hairstreak) — in a weak and worn state, as would be natural at such a late date for the species. He had not definitely seen either in the district before, or anywhere near. De Worms (1950, Butterflies of the London Area and its Surroundings) cites for w-album only Box Hill and, in the supplementary list of 1959, two casual sightings on Bookham Common — both localities on the fringe of the area; while the nearest ones for argus would seem to be the heathlands from Oxshott westwards. The possibility, however, of a colony somewhere on Banstead Downs, only a few miles away, cannot be ruled out. The chances of meeting with either species in an ordinary small garden so near to the environs of London are remote enough; but that the two should occur together on the same

clump of flowers is surely a coincidence nothin : short of astounding. — A. A. ALLEN. 3

An Unconfirmed Record of the Green Silver-spangled Shark: Cucullia argentea (Hufn.) in Britain By I. D. WALLACE’

In 1977 Merseyside County Museums, Liverpool were fortunate to be bequeathed 7,000 British Macro-lepidopera, the collection of John S. Greenhill (1898-1976) of Barnett Wood Lane, Ashtead, Surrey. Among many fine insects, the collection includes a female of Cucullia argentea (Hufn.) The data label, written in Greenhill’s hand is “KENT 7/1932”.

The only other reputedly British specimen appears to be that now in the Stephens/Stainton collection at the British Museum (Natural History). It was collected about 1809 by a Mr. Shelton near Dedingstone? (Stephens, 1829) and placed in the museum by Dr. Leach (Humphreys, 1860). The validity of this record has been questioned (e.g. Humphreys, 1860; Kirby, 1882, 1890); Stainton (1857) and most later authors omit the species from the British list®. Efforts have therefore been made to establish the authenticity of Greenhill’s specimen.

Greenhill, who was born in Wolverhampton, worked for the Liverpool-based printers Eric Bemrose Ltd. and moved to Ashtead about 1948, whence much of his material comes. He did not include his name on data labels until about 1960; earlier labels give only place, month and year. He set Lepidop- tera in a distinctive manner and may have set the moth in quest- tion. At some stage the right wings have been glued back to the body but no evidence can be seen of repinning. Many speci- mens in the collection come from other collectors (he bought at sales) and either have the original label, are labelled ‘from old coll.’ or ‘origin unknown’, or have obviously been re- labelled by Greenhill as there are examples in his hand dated as early as 1898. No specimen has both an original label and a Greenhill copy. Perhaps he wrote individual labels for speci- mens from groups covered by general labels, but no other moth has the same data and style of setting as the C. argentea specimen.

It is obviously quite conceivable that Greenhill could have obtained C. argentea from another collection and by error labelled it as having been found in Kent. It seems unlikely that a specimen of C. argentea from Kent could have passed through the hands of auctioneers such as Stevens, Glendining and Debenham & Storr without being recognised. The moth had been placed in a series of eleven Green Silver-lines (Pseu- doips fagana britannica Warren). This may seem curious, but they were several other errors of identification. Mr. Greenhill apparently belonged to no entomological society, and probably did not exhibit his collection. I am told he did not keep collect- ing notebooks.

It will probably never be possible to prove whether this is

"Merseyside County Museums, Liverpool, L3 8EN.

“The location of Dedingstone cannot be traced.

‘Kirby (1903, The Butterflies & Moths of Europe, plt. 41, figs. 9a, 9b, 9c) illustrates in colour the moth, larva & pupa.

8 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

a genuine Kent specimen, but the likelihood seems great enough to merit this note.

Acknowledgements I am particularly grateful to Messrs. Weld and Bevan (Solicitors), C. G. Bruce, R. E. Butler, A. H. Hayes, A. S. Wheeler and Dr. C. G. M. de Worms for their help.

References Humphreys, H. N., 1860. The Genera of British Moths, p. 68. Allman, London. Kirby, W. F., 1882. European Butterflies and Moths, p. 26. London. Kirby, W. E. [1890]. Butterflies and Moths of the United Kingdom, p. 261. Routledge, London. Stainton, H. T., 1857. A Manual of British Butterflies and Moths, Vol. 1.

London. my Stephens, J. F., 1829. I/lustratrations of British Entomology, Haustellata, Vol. 3, pp. 91-92. London.

AGROTIS PUTA (HUEBER) IN CuMBRIA.—On 25th August1976 I was pleased to capture a specimen of the Shuttle-shaped Dart in my trap here at Kendal Wood, New Hutton. I have been running a m.v. trap for many years and this is the first occasion on which I have taken this species in this district. Charles G. Barrett (1896, Lepidoptera of the British Isles, 3: 305) states “‘. . . recorded, though very rarely, in Cheshire, Yorkshire and Cumberland: . . .”. Agrotis puta is common on the sandhills of south-west Lancashire, as at Formby, but I have never noted it on the apparently similar dune areas bordering the Cumbrian Irish Sea coast.

The only other record for this species from this area is that of Mr. J. Briggs who took a specimen at his light trap in Beetham on 29th May 1978 (vide Birds in Cumbria, 1978: 53. Published by Association of Natural History Societies in Cumbria). — Dr. Nevit_e L. Birkett, Kendal Wood, New Hutton, Cumbria.

Current Literature

The Lepidoptera of Warwickshire: a Provisional List. Part I,

Butterflies 1900-1977, by Roger Smith and David Brown.

55 pages and 2 addenda slips, printed in offset, 4to.,

wrapper. Warwick, 1979.Price £1 plus p.&p. 25p. Obtain-

able from the Warwickshire Museum, Market Place,

Warwick.

The list begins with an introduction (pp. 3-5), and an account of the geology and habitats (pp. 6-7). Then follow the records arranged chronologically, in which altogether 48 different species of butterfly are treated, and including 40 distribution maps in the text (pp. 8-44). The work concludes with an index of recorders and collectors, an index of species (scientific and vernacular) and an index of places.

Local lists are almost always interesting, and this one is

rae ae We look forward to the appearance of Part II.

2

Notes on the Donaciini (Col: Chrysomelidae), with a List of Recent East Kentish Localities known to the Author

By JOHN A. Parry, M.P.S.* (Concluded from Volume 91, page 326)

The nine species found in the Canterbury area were: —

1. Donacia simplex F. At least a dozen different localities, amongst them Sandwich, Westbere, Stodmarsh, Chartham, Ash. On Sparganium erectum (ramosum) only.

2. D. vulgaris Zsch. All over the Sandwich area but never abundant, always in drainage dikes, and at Grove Ferry in a small ditch leading into the Stour. [On Typha and sometimes Sparganium — A.A.A.]

3. D. marginata Hoppe. Perhaps the commonest species in the area, though just lately I have not seen so much of it. Evenly distributed over the Sandwich area; Westbere and Stodmarsh, Denstroode, Sarre, Canterbury (Thaning- ton), etc. On Sparganium erectum.

4. D. clavipes F. One locality only, in the ditches along the main road between Ash and Sandwich. I took only a few specimens for fear of erasing the colony, but it seems to have died out anyway. On Phragmites communis. The individuals lay close to the upper stem, with antennae stretched out in front and hind legs stretched behind, and were very sluggish.

5. D. semicuprea Panz. The foodplant of | this species, Glyceria maxima (Poa aquatica in older books), occurs commonly in small colonies but is hard to find in the quanitities apparently need to support the beetle. I have the species from Fordwich, in a ditch leading to one of the lakes, and from two adjacent localities in Sandwich: each time in some numbers. One of the Sandwich sites is in a field opposite the R.A.F. Radar Station on the Canter- bury road, from which area I have on more than one occasion in the past been escorted by polite RAF military policemen, for reasons of National Security”!

6. D. versicolorea Brahm. Although occurring more gener- ally in the Rother Valley in south-west Kent, in the area in question I could find it in one place only, in a pond near the coast at Faversham Creek, where it was present in profusion, as usual on Potamogeton natans. It occurs also at Maytham.

7. Plateumaris sericea L. Frequent around Sandwich, Mins- ter, Stodmarsh, often in company with D. marginata but rather less common than that species. On Sparganium erectum (ramosum).

8. P. discolor Panz. The distribution of this species appears to be limited by the availability of sphagnum, which I have always assumed without justification to be the foodplant.

* 38 Heather Drive, St. Michaels, Tenterden, Kent.

ENTOMOLOGIST ’S RECORD 1/1/80

Mr. Philp of Maidstone (a much more experienced coleopterist than I) has pointed out that this is a non sequitur. Few other insects seem to find sphagnum a delicacy, and it is, I suppose, more likely that the foodplant is a grass or sedge favouring the same conditions*’. The beetle ocurrs on Hothfield Common near Charing (where the unique Kentish peat-bog is situated). _ P. braccata Scop. Again one locality only in the area, in the ditches bordering the main Ash to Sandwich road, on Phragmites communis, with D. clavipes (above). The con- ditions appear to be duplicated in a hundred other places in Kent, yet there must be a special invisible factor which suited both species at this particular spot.

The four species found in the extended area (see above)

were: —

10.

Donacia sparganii Ahr. This occurred in surprising abun- dance in a drainage ditch on the road from Rye to Win- chelsea, on Sparganium emersum (simplex), on which plant alone I have found it in several localities in East Anglia. The colony remained for some years, and then the ditch suffered salt-pollution (or just possibly a massive dose of herbicide) and has not since recovered. [Occurs abroad on Butomus also. Hansen gives Nuphar as the primary host in Denmark. — A.A.A.]

D. dentata Hoppe. Found in several places in the May- tham area of the Rother levels, near Rolvenden, where it still seems to be well established. The foodplant apparently likes a maintained water-level and the River Board drains, which are kept full throughout the summer, are ideal for its welfare. Always on Sagittaria sagittifolia’*. [Abroad, also on Alisma (Mohr.). — A.A.A.]

D. bicolora Zsch. Discovered in some numbers at Botolph’s Bridge near New Romney. Having found this species very commonly on the Basingstoke Canal I looked for it in similar places on the Hythe Military Canal, but without success. The Botolph’s Bridge colony seems to be quite isolated. [Several recorded foodplants, but chiefly on Sparganium erectum. — A.A.A.]

D. cinerea Hbst. A single specimen from Typha angusti- folia in a gravel pit at Dungeness. [I have an example taken in this locality by the late S. Wakely. Mainly attached to Typha spp. (reedmace); other foodplants abroad. — A.A.A.]

One further species was found, not by my own researches

but by the kind courtesy of Mr. Philp, who told me of its

14.

occurrence in the locality some years before: —

Macroplea mutica F. A number were taken in a large expanse of water near Rye’, on Potamogeton pectinatus. Their capture was rendered the more difficult because on removing the net from the water the beetles remain quite motionless for about ten minutes, and then move so slowly that they are very easily missed. It is notable that this

NOTES ON THE DONACIINI (COL.: CHRYSOMELIDA) 11

species appeared very much earlier in the year than the members of Donacia or Plateumaris, the bulk being taken in May. Later, the plant often reaches mattress propor- tions and is then impossible to search.

[While the first two genera are very close and were formely united under Donacia, the third (with only two British species) stands apart in several respects and is somewhat aberrant within the tribe.

*This is made possible by the hydrofuge (unwettable) covering of the underside, consisting of an extremely dense and short pile — silvery, or golden in a few species — which holds air-bubbles; an example of ‘plastron respiration’ exactly like that found in the pondskaters (Ger- ridae). It is not, however, possessed by Macroplea, which lives fully submerged in all stages, and to which, therefore, apart from their great tenacity, Mr. Parry’s general remarks on adult habits in the tribe are of course not intended to apply.

‘During the last 30 years or so I have found D. marginata more often and D. simplex less, as compared with the two previous decades. Marginata is today much less local than e.g. bicolora, which was evidently not so in Fowler’s time (late 19th century). I believe that D. cinerea also — considered rather rare — underwent a similar relative increase from about the mid or late 1940s.

‘Of these species I have found semicuprea in more places and more freely than any other, followed next in order by discolor and (sparingly except once) vulgaris; sericea (supposed to common) less frequently.

“However, even isolated wayside ponds and ditches, well away from extensive marshes, can harbour several species together and are by no means to be neglected.

®Also occurs in England (Norfolk, Cheshire and Cumberland) if the records are correct; isolated ones from Sussex and Dorset may just possibly have been based on abnormal unicolorous individuals of mar- ginata, further recorded from several Irish localities.

"Fowler (1890) includes May for several species but agree with Mr. Parry that nowadays, at all events, they are seldom about much before June — perhaps because our summers tend to begin later than they used to. D. marginata appears to have a longer period which can extend to early September, at which time I have also taken versicolorea singly. The latter species and also dentata occur in August as well as July. The late J. Cribb used to find crassipes from late April to July at Pond Lye in Sussex, but mostly May-June (and told me that it is often easier collected in cool, dull or wet weather when it may be found hiding under the water-lily leaves — on fine days it is very wary and hard to catch). Victor Hansen gives May-August for about half the Danish species; and for some, April-August. For some abnormal occurrences of Donacia spp. see Allen, 1973, Ent. mon. Mag., 109: 125.

SJ have found D. vulgaris in early spring concealed deep in the axils of young reeds (Typha) and believe that these and Mr. Parry’s winter specimen(s) of simplex were new-generation beetles that had emerged from their cocoons the previous autumn, this probably being the rule. Hansen (1927) mentions that D. obscura overwinters as an imago.

*Such reservations must be very considerable, for authorities are unanimous in assigning at least two foodplant genera to most of the species, and not infrequently more; monophagy thus seems to be the exception, though there may well be a greater tendency to it in our insular fauna as with other phytophagous insects.

The discrimination shown by this colony of D. crassipes is indeed curious and seemingly unaccountable. From the records, there can be little doubt that both water-lily genera support it — with, however, Nymphaea as the primary host in Britain. Possibly, certain isolated colonies tend to become monophagous. Nuphar is given (in second place) mostly by foreign authors (as Reitter, Hansen, Mohr), and Mr. Parry’s record above may perhaps be the first definite British association with this plant to be noted.

12 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

“My first find of D. versicolorea was of two specimens hidden in the axils of burreed (probably S. erectum) in a field pond in N. Somerset in 1931, and two more in the same way a year later. Pondweed, the true foodplant, was doubtless present but the beetle was not to be seen on it. This seems to show that Donaciini may utilize other plants for shelter than those on which they feed, and serves to underline the point made by Mr. Parry that in unsuitable weather they may be discoverable only by very careful searching, if at all.

“This very handsome species (Fowler’s D. dentipes F.) I regard as our most uncommon Donacia (leaving aside obscura), and thalassina the next. D. aquatica, like obscura, appears to be absent from Kent but several Sussex localities are on record. The foodplants in Britain are not well ascertained, but foreign authors mention Ranunculus lingua and that favourite Donacia-plant, Sparganium. When I took it, sparingly and very locally, in a ditch at Arundel in 1930 and 33, most if not all were on a floating ‘grass’ (possibly Glyceria fluitans). Further research seems indicated.

“IT know of no recent Kent record, but the V.C.H. list gives Pegwell Bay and Deal. J. J. Walker used to take most of the British species in ditches behind the Deal sandhills, including the present one. Recorded foodplants are Scirpus, Carex, and Typha. I have only once met with D. thalassina — a few examples at the Wake Valley Pond in Epping Forest (1954), apparently from a Carex sp.

“D. impressa and P. discolor can occur in profusion (for the former cf. Allen, 1954, Ent. mon. Mag., 90: 56).

“Besides those suggested here, I think that other contributory factors may be the persistence of residues from the widespread use of organochlorine pesticides in the 40s and 50s, and the continual seepage of nitrates into the water from inorganic fertilizers, leading to oxygen deficiency.

*For Donaciini in Sussex see Cribb, 1954, Ent. mon. Mag. 90: 80; Allen, ibid.: 144.

“As with D. aquatica, the foodplants of P. discolor in Britain appear uncertain, despite the comparative frequency of the species, but I think that almost certainly Mr. Parry’s second suggestion is right. Sphagnum, besides being inherently unlikely as a foodplant in the group, is some- times absent where the beetle occurs, nor is the situation always boggy. This was the case when I first found discolor, in a N. Somerset valley, very copiously on flowers of kingcup or marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) in or near a shallow, more or less stony-bottomed stream. Continental authors associate it with unspecified sedges and also cotton-grass (Erio- phorum), which are closely related.

*On 13.vili.70 my late friend G. Shephard and I each swept an example of this species off flowers of arrowhead which abounded in a pasture drainage-ditch on the marshes at Amberley, Sussex; we could not get near enough to search the leaves, but could see no beetles on them. This is the only time that I have fallen in with D. dentata — metaphorically, I hasten to add (though it was a near thing, with over- friendly and highly inquisitive cows persistently shoving and jostling us).

“This was fresh water, I understand — a circumstance very unusual for this normally brackish-water species. The other principal host-plant is Ruppia; Zostera, given by the older writers, seems questionable because of its marine habit. — A.A.A.]

Earty DATE FOR THE DECEMBER MOTH: POECILOCAMPA POPULI (L.). — Amongst the 15 species of moths that appeared at my m.v. trap at Trosley Country Park, Kent, on 20th Octo- ber was a fresh male of this species. This seems a very early date for this moth. — D. Dey, 9 Monmouth Close, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent, 24.x.79.

An ApoLoGcy. — In my review of David Carter’s The Observer’s Book of Caterpillars (Ent. Rec., 91: 176), I was in error in naming the larva figured as Xylena exsoleta as X. vetusta. — E. H. WILD.

Figs. 1-4. Utetheisa maddisoni sp. n. (1) Antennal segments. (2) 6 ems (3) Aedeagus with vesica everted. (4) @ genitalia. Scale ine = 1 mm.

13 Further Observations on the Species of Utetheisa Huebner (Lep.: Arctiidae) in the Western and Central Pacific with the Description of a New Species from Niue Island (Concluded from Vol. 91, page 322) By GADEN S. ROBINSON? and HuGH S. ROBINSON? Description of new species Utetheisa maddisoni sp. n.

3&. Wing-span 37-38 mm (PI. IX, fig. 14). Vertex bright yellow with patches of red; frons yellowish white with large central black spot; underside of head whitish. Antenna (fig. 1) with deeply dentate segments, each with a whorl of cilia and a pair of lateral setae. First segment of labial palpus with ventral brush of yellow scales, second segment yellow with red spot on outer surface, third segment black. Patagia bright yellow with anterior black spot. Thorax and tegula yellowish white, bright yellow anteriorly, patterned with black spots. Forewing yellowish cream, patterned with black and crimson. Hindwing white with broad charcoal-grey terminal fascia; anal angle with fold containing yellow scent-scales. Abdomen white. Legs white, marked above with black, foreleg with some yellow scales.

2. 36-41 mm. Of similar pattern to g but vertex with black spot and without red scales. Hindwing without fold and scent-scales.

GENITALIA @ (Figs. 2, 3). Similar to genitalia of U. salomonis Roths. and U. clareae Robinson but uncus tapered at apex to curved point. Tip of valva slightly concave. Vesica with scobinate medial zone and group of thorn-like cornuti opposite aperture of ductus ejaculatorius; cornuti of second (lateral) group small, short and numbering only about 20.

GENITALIA 9° (Fig. 4). Similar to genitalia of salomonis and clareae but emargination of seventh and eighth sternites extending almost one-half length of antrum, deeper and broader than in salomonis or clareae. Posterior region of ductus bursae near junction with ductus seminalis sclerotized, smooth, lacking spines.

LARVA (PI. IX, figs. 17, 18). Base colour pale iemon- yellow with black patterning. Dorsal stripe continuous; sub- lateral line of conspicuous whitish bars. Head light tan with dark brown markings on epicranial plates bordering medial and adfrontal sulci and around ocelli. Foodplant: Messer- schmidia argentea (Linn. f.) Johnston (Boraginaceae). Feeds on upper epidermis of leaves, cutting through the whole leaf only in the later instars.

REMARKS. Utetheisa maddisoni is closely allied to U. salomonis Rothschild (Plate IX, fig. 13), but males of the latter species lack a fold of scent-scales in the hindwing. The black

"Department of Entomology, British Museum (Natural History), London SW7 SBD.

*9 Tor-O-Moor Road, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.

14 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

hindwing markings of maddisoni are not as extensive as those of salomonis and both sexes of the latter have a large black spot on the vertex and no red scales. The male genitalia of the two species are similar but the apex of the valva is concave in maddisoni and convex in salomonis and the uncus of the latter is cygnate but tapered in maddisoni. The lateral group of thorn-like cornuti on the vesica of maddisoni is smaller, the of cornuti and the tip of the uncus is cygnate as in salomonis. the female genitalia have a large patch of thorn-like signa anterior to the junction with the ductus seminalis at the pos- terior end of the ductus bursae: this group of signa is absent in maddisoni. Utetheisa clareae Robinson has less heavily marked and more rounded forewings than maddisoni and the red of the forewings is paler. The vesica of clareae has only one group of cornuti and thetip of the uncus is cygnate as in salomonis. The antennal segments of maddisoni are deeply dentate and similar to those of clareae and salomonis but much broader than in U. pulchelloides marshallorum. The red forewing markings of maddisoni are crimson, a warmer tone than in marshallorum; the red of clareae is scarlet, that of salomonis dark scarlet.

The larva of maddisoni is of similar appearance to that of clareae but the black markings are more extensive, particu- larly on the sides (compare pl. X, fig. 4 in Robinson & Robin- son, 1974). The ground-colour of the larva of salomonis is orange-brown and the dorsal stripe is discontinuous.

DISTRIBUTION. Niue Island.

MATERIAL EXAMINED

Holotype: ot, NIUE IL: 23.ix.1975 (Maddison) (BMNH).

Paratypes: 7 o, 9 9, 1 larva, data as holotype; 1 9, NIUE L: Alofi, 2.iv.1975 (Dugdale); 2 ¢, NIUE I.: Amanau, 14.vi.1975 (Maddison); 2 §, NIUE I.: Amanau, 16-17.iv.1975 (Maddison) (BMNB).

General Observations and Discussion

Although we have made field collections of some dozens of eggs and larvae of salomonis, clareae, stigmata and mar- shallorum, none have ever been found to be parasitized and the agents of larval mortality remain undetected. It is possible that small climbing crabs, frequently observed on Messer- schmidia bushes, may feed on larvae and pupae.

Both H. S. Robinson and Dr. P. A. Maddison have observed that, when populations of Utetheisa larvae on Mes- serschmidia grow to high levels, great numbers of larvae are attacked by a white fungus which affixes them to leaves and twigs and ultimately engulfs and destroys them.

The frass of larvae of ciareae has a strong and extremely unpleasant smell, reminiscent of rotting fish. This is so pro- nounced that where there is a large larval population the smell can be detected some distance from the bushes on which the larvae are feeding. This odour has not been observed in other species and is definitely not produced by the frass of larvae of marshallorum, a species which we have bred in large numbers.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE SPECIES OF UTETHEISA HUBNER 15

The outlines of the biogeography of the Pacific Utetheisa species have already been discussed (Robinson, 1971). The discovery of maddisoni strengthens the conclusion that the salomonis-group species (salomonis, clareae, maddisoni) were early colonizers of the Melanesian Arc, Fiji and New Cale- donia and restricted the subsequent spread of marshallorum by monopoly of the only available foodplant. The island groups (Lau and Tonga) separating the populations of clareae (E. Fiji) and maddisoni (Niue) are less than a million years old and do not harbour salomonis-group species. The islands on which the salomonis-group species are found are older (with the exception of parts of the New Hebrides chain) than Lau and Tonga and it is reasonable to suppose that maddisoni reached Niue before seafloor spreading began along the Lau-Colville Ridge with the genesis of the Lau and, later, Tonga groups (Robinson, 1975).

U. p. marshallorum has a much wider geographic range than the salomonis-group and its local populations have developed their own typical colour-pattern. It is likely that many of these populations are temporary — marshallorum is now absent from Tarawa but was collected from that atoll in 1951. There are no apparent trends in the variation of the different marshallorum populations. At first sight, specimens from atolls appear larger than those from ‘high’ (volcanic) islands, but specimens from the Phoenix Islands are an excep- tion to this. It is not at all clear to us why, for example, specimens from the Cook Is. have ‘extra’ black and specimens from Napuka I. have ‘extra’ red but specimens from Caroline I. show both extremes of variation in forewing pattern. These isolated populations were established perhaps by only a single ‘ancestor’ and, being small colonies, have inbred thus con- solidating a pattern peculiar to each colony. Marked variability within a colony would be due to a sudden expansion of the population or the addition of ‘new’ genetic material by immi- gration: the cause of variability within (for example) the Caroline I. colony is unknown.

The various Pacific species of Utetheisa are not easy to identify in the absence of comparative material. Females, lacking the antennal and secondary sexual characters of the hindwing, pose a greater problem than males and we have refrained from constructing a key for females as we believe it would smack of an authority which, in reality, it lacked. Indentification is best begun by examination of males and comparison with the illustrations here and in earlier works (see the bibliography).

Erratum

In couplet 5 of the key (above — p. 271), read ‘margin’ for ‘markings’.

References Butler, A. G., 1885. Lepidoptera collected by Mr. C. M. Woodford in

the Ellice and Gilbert Islands. Ann. Mae. i ist. : Sn nn ag. nat. Hist., (5) 15:

16 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

Comstock, J. A., 1966. Lepidoptera of American Samoa with particular reference to biology and ecology. Pacif. Insects Monogr., 11: 1-74, 13 pls.

Chivenbe. C. C. J. & Edgar, J. A., 1972. Dihydropyrrolizine secretions associated with coremata of Uretheisa moths. Experientia 28: 627-628.

Holloway, J. D., 1977. The Lepidoptera of Norfolk Island — their bio- geography and ecology. Series Ent., 13: i-vi, 1-291, figs. 1-140, pls. 1-29.

Manser, P. D., 1973. FAO insect survey of GEIC — list of specimens’ numbers. 25 pp. [Photocopy of MS (in Agricultural Dept., Tarawa) in authors’ library.]

Moul, E. T., 1954. Preliminary report on land animals at Onotoa Atoll, Gilbert Islands. Atoll Res. Bull., 28: 1-28.

Paeniu, I., Smith, R. E. N., Vickers, M. E. H., Watt, J., Grossmann, H., Grossmann, H. & Ward, E. V., 1974. Line Islands Expedition: August-October 1974./Sailing directions for the Line Islands. 114 pp., 11 pls. Tarawa.

Robinson, G. S., 1971. The genus U‘setheisa Hiibner in Fiji with a description of a new species. Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var., 83: 123-130, figs. 1-11, pl. V.

Robinson, G. S., 1975. Macrolepidoptera of Fiji and Rotuma: a taxono- mic and biogeographic study. vi + 362 pp., 173 figs., 357 pl. figs., 10 pls., maps, etc. Faringdon.

Robinson, G. S., & Robinson, H. S., 1974. Notes on the genus Utetheisa Hiibner in the western Pacific with larval descriptions. Entomo- logist’s Rec. J. Var., 86: 160-163, pls. X, XI.

Tams,W. H. T., 1935. Heterocera (exclusive of Geometridae and the Microlepidoptera). Insects Samoa, 3: 169-290, figs. 1-12, pls. 4-18.

Viette, P. E. L., 1954. Lépidoptéres récoltés aux Iles Gilbert. Annis. Soc. ent. Fr., 122: 123-130.

Current Literature

A Field Guide to the Smaller British Lepidoptera by Members of the British Entomological and Natural History Society. Edited by A. M. Emmet. 271 pp., stiff wrapper. Edition limited to 1,000 copies. Published by the Society. Obtain- able from R. F. Bretherton, Folly Hill, Birtley Green, Bramley, Guildford Surrey, GU5 OLE. Price £9 (plus 75p postage and packing). Special price to members £6 (plus 75p postage and packing).

Founded on the late L. T. Ford’s Guide to the Smaller British Lepidoptera (1949) and Supplement (1958), the work under review is similar in format, but differs notably regard- ing the use of taxonomic arrangement, revised nomenclature, details of species since added to the British list and the addition of much fresh information on those already included.

The book begins with a list of contents, short introduction and list of abbreviations, symbols, etc. (pp. 5-10). Then follows the main body of the work (pp. 11-228), in which altogether 1,501 numbered species are treated, with the original numbers in Ford being entered in parenthesis. The work concludes with two indices: one to foodplants and other food substances and situations (pp. 229-246); the other of families, genera and species (pp. 247-271).

CURRENT LITERATURE 17

Despite the mass of information contained in this book, there appear to be relatively few errors. Augasma aeratella Z., “Tast seen in 1934’, should be “‘Last taken at Wimborne, Dorset about 1955, by Dr. D. A. B. Macnicol” (cf. Proc. Brit. ent. nat. Hist. Soc., 1975, 7 (3): 75); and Agonopterix astrantiae Hein. should have Westwell, 1961, and not Dun- geness as stated (cf. Ent. Rec., 73: 242). The entries relating to the early stages of Monochroa hornigi Staud. (on “‘Poly- gonum sp.”); Ancylosis oblitella Z. (larvae on ‘“‘Chenopod- iaceae, especially in salt-marshes’’): Agonopterix astrantiae Hein. (on “Astrantia major or Sanicula europaeus’) and Eurrhypara perlucidalis Hbn. (on Cirsium oleraceum), should have been asterisked to indicate that this information was not based on British, but on foreign occurrence. Regarding Ptero- phorus fuscolimbatus Dup., the late H. C. Huggins (Ent. Gaz., 4: 124) wrote that emergence starts about June 20, and that he took the moth in fresh condition as late as July 31. One suggests therefore, “I. 5-7” be replaced by “I. 6-8”.

Some errors (or suspected errors) in Ford (apparently copied from Meyrick), are reproduced here without explana- tion. For example, for Bucculatrix artemisiella H.-S. there is “TL. 4-5: 7. On Artemisia campestris’. Yet, the only British record of artemisiella is based on an unconfirmed example said to have been bred from a larva found at Folkestone on Achillea millefolium in 1865. Finally, there are a few mistakes in the Index. P. 247, for acanthodactyla read acanthadactyla. P. 250, for Caloecimorpha read Cacoecimorpha. P. 252, for corticella read corticella; for Cosmopteryx read Cosmopterix. P. 254, for Elutalis read elutalis; for Epichnopteryx read Epichnopterix. P. 265, for roseticolana read roseticolana. P. 268, swammerdamella should precede Swammerdamia; for Teleporia read Taleporia. P. 269, for tinctella read trinotella.

The following supplementary information may be of interest; the larvae of these species having been found by me on these foodplants in the wild and successfully reared. Stephensia brunnichella L. on Glechoma hederacea (cf. Ent. Rec., 88: 160); Agonopterix ciliella Stainton on Aegopodium podagraria (Perthshire) and Peucedanum palustre (Norfolk); and Acleris sparsana D. & S. on Acer campestre (Isle of Wight and Surrey).

Curiously enough, the name of the printers does not appear anywhere in the book. This is all the more strange, because the printing is of a high standard and the paper is of good quality. It is a pleasure therefore, to identify them as Messrs. Headland Printers Ltd., Bread Street, Penzance, Cornwall.

For maximum serviceability and satisfaction, one recom- mends the book be strongly bound in hard-wearing cloth or buckram, the attractive cover bearing Eric Bradford’s illus- tration of Ethmia funerella being included and the whole volume interleaved for notes. Moreover, those possessing Ford’s Guide (now virtually out of print), may find it useful to

18 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

keep the two works side by side for ready reference, especially sO aS many copies of Ford were annotated by their owners.

This is an invaluable work, brimful of essential detail presented in a concise and readily accessible form. Indeed, it is questionable whether so much condensed information on the whole of the microlepidoptera of this country, or of any other, has ever before been collected together within so small a compass. No student of the micros, either here or on the continent, should be without it. — J. M. C.-H.

Practical Hints — March

In 1978, I found a nest of larvae of the Small Eggar (Eriogaster lanestris L.) on the Burren. The cocoons were brought indoors in early March, 1979, and exposed to the mid- day sunshine whenever there was any. March 11th was much milder, and sunny, and between 12.20 and 14.00 hrs. five males and five females emerged, the males first. A few came out on either side of that date, the last on March 24th. The remaining pupae, about half the original total, are lying over (GOATER).

You can tell when pupae of the Kentish Glory (Endromis versicolora) are going to emerge because they protrude from their cocoons for several days before hatching. Emergence occurs early in the morning; on March 14th 1979, three females and a male emerged before 08.30 hrs. The male paired with one of the females at 13.30 and stayed in copula until 16.30. Within minutes, the male had flown and paired with another female. Both females subsequently laid a plentiful supply of fertile eggs (GOATER).

Larvae of Lithophane leautieri Boisd. seem to need flower blossom when starting to feed. An ornamental cypress supplied the answer for me (A. RICHARDSON).

Towards the end of March or later, two local species of Phyllonorycter may be found. P. junoniella Zell. is still feed- ing in mines on Vaccinium vitis-idaea, usually the lower leaves of more isolated plants growing amongst heather are pro- ductive. Similarly the lower leaves of Vicia sepium may some- times after mild winters be found well buried in the grass growing under sheltered hedges. These leaves can be searched for mines of P. nigriscentella Logan although summer and late autumn are usually more productive. Both species have mines occupying the whole leaf or leaflet causing the upper leaf surface to curve downwards in an un-natural way (WatT- KINSON).

In late March or April, webs of Scythris grandipennis Haw., often containing many larvae, may be found spun around gorse twigs. If the twigs are trimmed and then pushed into damp sand in a plant propogater, the moths are easily reared without the need to change the foodplant (WATKINSON).

(Photo

IC ANINE), ID

ING D=RILBY

by courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum (Nat.

Hist.)).

19 OBITUARY

NORMAN DENBIGH RILEY (1890-1979)

On the 25th of May 1979, there passed away in his 89th year, one of the best-known figures in the world of Entomo- logy. For the name of N. D. Riley was known wherever butterflies were studied, as well as not least for his long association with the Natural History Museum at South Ken- sington, which lasted for well over half a century.

Born on the 20th of September 1890, he was brought up at Balham in south-west London, where he found that his next- door neighbour was none other than the celebrated lepidopterist Richard South. Riley recounts how as a small boy of nine he used to be invited round to see the collections, and occasion- ally had the great privilege of accompanying the famous naturalist on some expedition. This was where the spark was lit that began the lifelong interest in butterflies and moths. After being educated at Dulwich College from 1904 to 1909, Riley received his first introduction to the Natural History Museum, it is generally believed, through South. He became demonstrator to the eminent naturalist, Sir Ray Lancaster, its Director, and two years later in 1911, a vacancy appeared on the Museum staff to which he was appointed. This was the start of a remarkable career and eventual tenure of office there. But when the first world war came in 1914, he joined the Army Service Corps and went out to France, being appointed Supply Officer to a cavalry brigade. Later, as Captain, he was transferred to the Queen’s Royal West Sussex Regiment. It was after the war that his main flow of literature began, which continued without a break for the next fifty years, first when Dr. Gahan was Keeper of Entomology, and later under his successor Major E. E. Austen, at whose behest a complete census of all the insects was undertaken in 1931. Riley, who became Keeper in 1932, inherited no less than a population of nearly eight million individuals comprising 279,000 species and 21 Orders of insects. It is difficult to com- pute the present population of insects in the entomological department nearly half a century later, especially after the huge accessions under his excellent keepership extending over a span of near 23 years. For it was in 1937 that the second Lord Rothschild died, leaving his immense collection of lepi- doptera to the Museum at South Kensington, and the whole Museum in which it was housed in Tring also became part of the national heritage. In 1939, the onset of the second world war saw the removal of a large portion of the insect collection to the West Country, while during the next six years the Museum survived many hazards, not least when a flying bomb fell just in front of it in Cromwell Road, damaging some of the insect collection in the south-west basement wing, and with some of the staff there having narrow escapes. In 1952, the collection of insects was transferred to a newly-built wing, where it now occupies five floors. Included in it is the

20 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

Rothschild-Cockayne-Kettlewell collection, by far the biggest ensemble of British lepidoptera, which Riley helped to inaugu- rate in 1948. So that when he retired from being Keeper in 1955, to be succeeded by Dr. W. B. China, through his wise and shrewd judgment and under his able administration, he left by far the largest assemblage of insects under one roof in any part of the world, and the most renowned of collections visited and studied by experts everywhere.

During his time at the Museum covering over 60 years, his output of literature was remarkable, with a complete record of just over 400 items. The first of these appeared in 1913 in the Entomologist, which magazine he took over from Richard South in 1923, and became its editor (with the exception of a short break in 1952-53) for the next 36 years till 1959, when it was probably the best known journal of its kind in the world, until it ceased publication in 1973. Naturally most of his contributions found their way into the Entomologist, including obituaries of 44 eminent entomologists. He had a great aptitude for writing obituaries, the first of which seems to have been on Fruhstorfer in 1922, followed by that on Charles Oberthiir in 1924. In 1937 he extolled the qualities of the redoubtable Lord Rothschild, and after the war, those of the great Karl Jordan, who died in 1959 at the age of 97, and finally Francis Hemming in 1964. But the versatility of his pen was very wide, mainly where descriptions of butterflies were concerned. In 1923, he wrote up the butterflies brought back from the 1921 Mount Everest expedition, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, to which he also con- tributed freely over the years, as well as papers in the pub- lications of the Natural History Museum. As already men- tioned, the output of these papers and notes continued with- out a break right through the 1939-45 war and well into the 1960’s on a great variety of subjects, including conservation and innumerable observations in the field. All his accounts and descriptions of a large number of new species were carried out with the same care and attention to detail, but chiefly on superficial features of the insects. The microscope and other scientific aids do not seem to have played a part in any of this work, and apparently he never undertook any major mono- graph on any special group of butterflies.

It was in the middle 1960’s that Dr. Lionel Higgens mentioned to Riley, that no comprehensive book had been written on the butterflies of Europe since the great work of Lang in 1884. It was decided to compile an up-to-date new book easily readable and not too bulky, and thus the birth of A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe was initiated. This eventually appeared in 1970, beautifully illus- trated by Brian Hargreaves and was at once a best-seller, with editions in no less than eight foreign languages. But not con- tent with being a co-author in this excellent work which has become a sort of “bible” to continental students of butterflies, in 1975 he published another field guide under his own pen,

OBITUARY: NORMAN DENBIGH RILEY 21

entitled The Butterflies of the West Indies, which remains as a fine monument to his memory and industry.

For one with such wide interests in entomology, it is not surprising that he should have been associated with important positions both at home and abroad. He attended most of the International Congresses of Entomology between the wars, and the five held after 1945, at Stockholm (1948), Amsterdam (1951), Montreal (1956), Vienna (1960) culminating with that held in London in 1964. In 1948 he became Permanent Secre- tary to these Congresses, and did invaluable work in helping to organise them. He also, in 1950, became one of the chief com- missioners on the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, a post he held with distinction till 1965. All this work in so many spheres of entomology was recognised in 1952 by the honour of the award of the C.B.E.

Naturally many societies numbered Riley as one of their most eminent and staunchest members. For he joined the Entomological Society of London in 1912, became its Secretary from 1926 till 1929, and again occupied this position, after being Treasurer 1939-1940, for ten years from 1941 to 1951, was President in 1951 and 1952 and became a Life Fellow in 1959. He was for many years too, a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London and of the Suffolk Natural History Society. But it was perhaps the South London Entomological and Natural History Society (now the British Entomological and Natural History Society) which was dearest to his heart. This body he jointed as far back as 1908, when such “‘giants”’ as J. W. Tutt, H. Rowland-Brown and G. H. Verrall were still very much alive. He was by far its oldest and most distinguished active member, becoming its President in 1923 and 1924, and seldom missed attending its Annual Exhibition each autumn. He was elected an Honorary member of this Society in 1959.

In 1912, he attended his first Verrall Supper, which suppers were inaugurated to carry on the tradition of its cele- brated founder, G. H. Verrall, who began them in 1887. From that date it is doubtful if he ever missed being at one of these annual assemblages of entomologists in general, who until 1952 used to meet in the old Holborn Restaurant, with the modest number of about a hundred. By the time he made his last attendance at this function in 1978, where it is now held in the large refectory of Imperial College, the figure had grown to over three-hundred. The success of these gatherings was very much due to the efforts of Norman Riley, who undertook the organisation of them soon after the end of the last war, and only relinquished this task quite recently when ill-heath began to overtake him. These gatherings were latterly much sponsored by the Entomological Club, the oldest body of its kind, with its members presiding each year at the Verrall Supper, including Norman Riley who had been associated with the Club for many years.

In the running of this notable annual occasion, as with many others of his activities, he was helped throughout by

22 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

Edith Riley, who was a great support to him during their near 60 years of married life. Almost every year used to see Norman and Edith in some part of Europe, always armed with a net. Though he never made a_ personal collection, he always deposited the fruits of the chase in the Museum. Only in 1970, apart from attending the Congresses, did he venture to Africa when he visited Uganda just before the onset of the Amin régime. He was a great raconteur with a fine sense of humour, especially in matters entomological. These included many anecdotes. One such delightful incident he use to recount, took place many years ago in the Pyrenees when he was collecting with one of the Adkin family. The wives were sitting down watching operations when a French couple came along. The young woman enquired what the two men were doing with their nets, to which came the answer “They appear to be catching butterflies”. ‘““But they look quite intelligent” came the disarming reply.

The amusement he derived from this episode typifies the happy and cheerful outlook Norman Riley had on most aspects of life. He admired frankness and high integrity of character, and was a staunch and good friend to all who gained his con- fidence. A very popular and well-loved figure has gone from our midst, the like of whom we may not see for a very long time. All who had the privilege of knowing him must wish to express their sympathy to his widow and other members of his family extending to the fourth generation. — C. G. M. DE W.

Notes and Observations

NOTES ON, AND THE APPARENT EXTINCTION OF, THE CHALK- HILL BLUE: LYSANDRA CORIDON L. IN LINCOLNSHIRE. — On the day when the paper and wireless contrived together to tell us that the Large Blue was extinct in England, Mr. Les. Hare came to see us. I think the sad news may have spurred him, but he had other sad news, which, alas, I could confirm. Lysandra coridon seems to have disappeared from its small habitat north of Grantham. He had been there early in August: I had been there late in August. Our friends had been in between, but all without avail. The N.C. notice of the Nature Conservancy does not seem to have been effective. We think the foodplant has been ousted. But we look back on the days when coridon flew there. I remembered taking two specimens, which I sent to the Museum at Tring. He had other memories, for Les is a photographer of no mean talent.

It was, he said, a sunny August — mid-August — day a few years back when he and his wife set out to observe coridon flying on the narrow strip of grass, about three metres wide and about half a kilometre long, that lines the left side of the hill as one goes up it to where the road forks. There are some small trees and growth in about the middle, but we usually like the top stretch. Mrs. Hare sat in her deck chair near the car reading, while Les went to see the oviposition by coridon

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 23

females amongst the grass in the area that we like so much down the hill. Before long, a purposeful female hove in sight and nose-dived into the grass. Les followed the flight. No egg had been dropped at the bottom of the flight path. She was too cunning for that. She wandered to right and to left and then... an egg. Gently laid. With glasses in hand, Les watched. She flew about ten centimetres to the left, and then . another egg. Again she moved, again ten centimetres but at forty-five degrees to the last line of flight, and then... a third egg — in a perfect equilateral triangle.

Les lay flat on the grass, watching. First there came another female, and then yet another, always laying in the same pattern. He was recalled to other things by a man’s stern voice saying: ‘“‘Are you all right, sir?”’ He looked up to see the biggest pair of boots he had seen for ages, looked higher, and looked into the face of a policeman. “I’m watching a chalk hill blue lay eggs’, he said with perfect truth. “Now, old man’’, said the bobby, “that there butterfly is brown and not blue, and butterflies don’t lay eggs. They just have cater- pillars. Sure you’re all right?’’ Les had got up by now. He handed his spy glass to the arm of the law. He pointed to a female about to do her stuff and whispered, ““Get down and watch her through the glass”. The policeman did as he was bidden. He mouth got wider and wider, and at last, with a rather fierce oath, he said: ‘““****! ***! You’re right; she has laid an egg’”’. The other policeman in the panda car went on reading. Perhaps he was too hard-boiled to care! — CANON PETER HAWKER, St. Botolph’s Vicarage, South Park, Lincoln.

ANTHOCHARIS CARDAMINES L. IN CUMBRIA. — It might be of interest to append a footnote to Albert G. Long’s interesting Sha of the “Return of the Orange-tip” (Ent. Rec., 91:

During the 42 years during which I have lived in what is now Cumbria, the Orange-tip has been a reasonably common butterfly. From 1951 to 1962 it flew regularly in our garden at Hutton Roof Vicarage, near Kirkby Lonsdale in South West- morland, and was quite common in the surrounding country- side, particularly in the Morecombe Bay area — Arnside, Witherslack, etc. From 1962 to 1977 it likewise flew in our garden at Threlkeld Rectory, near Keswick, and was common, especially northwards towards the Solway, where, in the low- lying plain, it has to my knowledge been particularly in evidence ever since I came to these parts in 1938. Now I have retired to Melmerby, at the foot of the western escarpment of the Northern Pennines, it again flies in our garden and is frequent all around, but it does not penetrate at all high into the Fells either here, or in the Lake District. Our houses at Hutton Roof, Threlkeld and at Melmerby have all been around the 500 ft. contour, and I believe the butterfly soon disappears above that height. But I would say that on the lower ground in Cumbria, its numbers have not varied a great deal during the past 40 years. — The RevEREND J. H. Vine HALL, 3 The Green, Melmerby, Penrith, Cumbria.

24 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

OSERVATIONS ON APATURA IRIS L. — The encounters of J. E. Green (Ent. Rec. 91: 195 (1979)) with this species recall a similar experience in 1978. I had suggested to my son, David, that we should “‘go and look for Purple Emperors”. Since the journey involved was only some 20 miles we risked the weather becoming worse than it was at the time, and arrived in what could charitably have been called unpropitious conditions. _

Despite only a fitful glimpse of sun, walking up the main ride we saw iris descend in front of us, and a careful approach revealed it on a dry fox-dropping. It too, wandered around, probing the ground with its tongue, and totally unworried was photographed from 2 feet range. Thinking it might be thirsty, I licked my finger and placed it alongside His Majesty, who promptly climbed aboard and was photographed by David. Fingers and cameras were then exchanged for a repeat opera- tion. It was we, in this instance, who gave up first and went away. — A. J. SHowLER, 12 Wedgwood Drive, Hughenden Valley, High Wycombe, Bucks.

THERA JUNIPERATA L.: JUNIPER CARPET IN WARWICKSHIRE. — With reference to R. G. Warren’s note (1979, Ent. Rec., 91: 142) on Thera juniperata L. in this county, the following additional records may be of interest. On 20th October 1975, several of these moths were found on farm buildings at Mar- ton, between Leamington Spa and Rugby, by the farmer, Mr. Graham Robson, who invited me over to confirm his identi- fication. We traced the probable foodplant — two species of dwarf juniper on the farmhouse lawn which came from a Rugby nursery. In October 1978 we found the insect in pro- fusion and two of the prostrate form of juniper were found to be in poor condition as a result of the depredations of the larvae — the bushes have since died.

On the 14th October 1977, one was taken at a street lamp at Bilton, a district of Rugby within a half-mile of the above-mentioned nursery. In October 1978, Mr. Andrew Gard- ner recorded two in his light-trap at Charlecote, and a third at nearby Thelsford Juniperata occurs in a list of 232 species recorded from Hartshill Hayes, Atherstone (near Nuneaton) by Mr. R. J. Thomas between 1975 and 1979. Finally, a dead imagine was found in Mr. Eric Sharman’s house at Lillington, Leamington Spa, in mid-October 1979. The Marton, Charle- cote, and Leamington specimens were all of the larger Southern form. It seems very likely that the nurseryman must be a highly suspect, albeit unwitting, agent of juniperata’s wider distribution. — RoGer SmitH, Warwickshire Lepidoptera

Survey, c/o Warwickshire County Museum, Market Square, Warwick.

THE JUNIPER CARPET: THERA JUNIPERATA L. IN BEDFORD- SHIRE. — On the evening of 12th October 1979 a single speci- men of this moth was obtained by D. V. Manning from his outside porch light at Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire. The identity of this species being subsequently confirmed by Ian Woiwood of Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden. As the

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 25

Juniper (Juniperus communis) was last recorded in Bedford- shire in 1889 (Bedfordshire Plant Atlas — Dr. J. G. Dony) this moth must be feeding on either a species of Juniper grown in gardens, or on Cupressus. This latter remark would fit in with the article by R. G. Warren (1979, Ent. Rec., 91: 142). This is the first county record for this species from Bedfordshire. — V. W. ArnoLp, Moth Recorder for the Bedfordshire Natural History Society, 96 St. Augustine Avenue, Luton, Beds.

FOODPLANTS OF TYRIA JACOBAFAE L. (CINNABAR). — I was interested to read Mr. Jackson’s note concerning this subject (Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var. 91: 139). It reminded me that I was present at a field meeting at Bricket Wood, Herts. in 1940 when we found quite a large colony of this moth feeding on Coltsfoot. The matter was recorded by the leader of the expedition, the late R. B. Benson (Entomologist, 73: 236). I do not think any of the larvae were taken to establish their viability to maturity on the unusual foodplant. However, Ben- son records that coltsfoot is given as a substitute foodplant for larvae in captivity by A. G. Scorer in his familiar ‘Log Book’. — Dr. Nevitte L. Birkett, Kendal Wood, New Hutton, Cumbria.

THE CLOAKED PuG (EUPITHECIA ABIETARIA GOEZE): FUR- THER RECORDS. — Further to the Note on this moth (in Ent. Rec., 91: 220), I can cite four more records of its occurrence since the war. (1) Oatlands, Surrey, one in a light trap, July 8th 1952 (R. F. Bretherton, List of Macrolepidoptera and Pyralidae of North-west Surrey, Proc. S. Lond. ent. nat. Hist. Soc., 1955: 138). (2) Streatham, ? on a fence, June 15th 1957, P. A. Cordell (L. K. & K. G. W. Evans, A Survey of the Macro- lepidoptera of Croydon and North-east Surrey, Proc. Croydon Nat. Hist. Sci. Soc., X¥V: 322. (3) Mitcheldean, Glos., one taken by M. J. Leech, July 6th 1979 (M. J. Leech pers. comm.). (4) Birnam, Perthshire, ? in light trap, July 22nd 1979 (D. Coates pers. comm.). — J. M. CHALMERS-HUnT.

DEPRESSARIA EMERITELLA STAINTON (LEP. : OECOPHORIDAE). — Some time ago a Dutch collector showed me a specimen of this conspicuous Depressaria caught in Dutch Limburg. The discovery of this new addition to the fauna of the Netherlands necessitated a perusal of the literature. I shall only quote some details which may be of interest to British lepidopterists.

Stainton named the species in 1849 (Trans. ent. Soc. Lond., 5: 167). At that time no British captures of emeritella were known. In 1861 he amply discussed the species and gave coloured figures of moth and caterpillar (Nat. Hist. Tineina, 6: 230-239, pl. 7). He wrote that the caterpillar can be found at the end of June and the beginning of July on Tanacetum vulgare L. (Tansy), some leaves of which it draws together. He also stated that one specimen had been taken in England, but that the locality was not known. From this it is clear that Stainton could not have found the caterpillar himself. Although he did not exactly say so he must have had the knowledge of the biology from the senator C. H. G. von Heyden, the only

26 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

entomologist at that time who had found the caterpillars (near Frankfurt am Main, cf. also Zeller 1854, Linn. ent. 9: 322- 324), and who no doubt sent one or more caterpillars to Stain- ton to be figured in his book. Up till now Stainton’s description of the larva and its biology is the only one available and it is copied more or less literally by all subsequent writers. The only author who added something new is, as far as I can see, A. Grabe, who writes that the caterpillar pupates on the ground but when bred often in its spinning (1955, Kleinsch- metterlinge des Ruhrgebietes, Mitt. Ruhrlandmus. Stadt Essen nr, 177: . 90). :

Stainton’s assertion that one specimen of unknown locality had been taken in England is repated by Meyrick (1895, Handb. Br. Lep: 627, 1928, Revised Hanb. Br. Lep.: 681) and by Jacobs (1951, The British Oecophoridae II( Proc. Trans. S. Lond. ent. nat. Hist. Soc., 1949-1950: 197). However another Dutch lepidopterist directed my attention to F. O. Morris, A Natural History of British Moths (1872). This author writes (vol. 4: 62): ‘Localities for the species are near Warrington. .. . For information about ,and a beautiful drawing of this species, I have to thank C. S. Gregson, Esq.”’. A description of the species is not given and the figure is worthless.

Gregson’s name is of course well-known to those who are acquainted with the older English entomological literature. But as I wanted more information I asked Mr. Chalmers-Hunt. He answered that Gregson was a superb field worker and that he had no positive evidence that he was ever untrustworthy. “One would like to be able to trace the fate of many of his micros and to check if emeritella really was among them, but after such a lapse of time (he died in 1899), this could be very difficult. Gregson’s first collection was incorporated in that of Sydney Webb about 1888, and Webb’s collection was sold by auction, that part containing the micros on 9th April 1920. The Depressarias were included in lots 190, 191, 236 and 237, all of which were bought by F. Whittle except 190 which went to L. W. Newman. Newman’s stuff could have gone anywhere, but Whittle left his collection to the B.M. However, Mr. D. Carter told me there appear to be no emeritella there from Gregson and no British examples with locality labels’’.

So far our Editor. The whole matter depends on the question whether Gregson knew Stainton’s description and figure, for in that case a mistake with such an easily recog- nizable species by such an excellent collector would seem to be practically impossible. But I fear that this puzzle cannot be

solved. — B. J. LempxKe, Oude Yselstraat 12 ITI, 1078 CM Amsterdam.

STILPON NUBILUS COLL. (DIPT.: EMPIDIDAE) NEW TO Kent. — This tiny but distinctive fly is seldom recorded: Collin (1961, Brit. Flies, 6 (1): 58) knew of only five British specimens, from Dorset, Lancs., Bucks., and, in Ireland, Co. Meath. Chvala (1975, Faun. ent. Scand., 3: 294) referring to northern Europe states that it is widespread but everywhere uncommon, Occurring in grasses but mainly on sandy coasts, and that M. Ackland took specimens on a stone path in his

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 27

garden at Oxford. I.F.G. MacLean (1978, Ent. Rec., 90: 325) records it as found commonly in a greenhouse in Norwich, “running over gravel-covered benches and amongst pots con- taining grass”’.

On 15th July 1967, I took three examples of a Stilpon (2 od, | 2) in my former garden at Blackheath, only this year securely identified as nubilus. They were in debris accumulated under a tile placed as a beetle-trap against a wall of the house, where the soil was a little gravelly. Like others of the genus, the fly is usually of retiring habits and more likely to be encountered by coleopterists than by dipterists. This should be the first Kent record of S. nublilus.

Hitherto the name Stilpon has for some reason been treated as feminine; but Mr. MacLean is correct in makings it masculine, as shown by its derivation. It is a rare dialect word for a dwarf, which the late Greek author Athenaeus tells us was in use among the Sybarites, and is, of course, a masculine noun. There can be no question therefore that we should write S. nubilus, S. lunatus, etc. — A. A. ALLEN.

ALMOST ANYWHERE . . . RATHER THAN ESSEX. — My friends are pulling my leg and telling me that I should let Mr. Wykes’ onslaught on the entomological credentials of Essex pass without response; but as I agree with everything, or almost everything, he says both about butterflies and land usage, I can answer only by changing the subject. He is in- correct in claiming that we are completely without heathland and sand-dunes, though the little we have is nothing to boast about. He is more wrong about our woods which are much better and more plentiful than he supposes as a glance at Map 13 entitled “Forest and Woodland” in Jermyn’s Flora of Essex (1974) will show. Their quality improves as you go north-westwards and examples like Great and Little Bendysh Woods, Rowney Wood, Hales Wood and Little Hales Wood, woods well administered by the Forestry Commission, are entomologically very good indeed. However, butterflies are Mr. Wykes’ theme and he is dead right when he says that Essex is not the county for them: even the north-western woodlands boast relatively few species.

Happily, the same does not apply to our moths; for them Essex, although neglected, is one of the best counties in the south of England. For the sake of the incredulous and the prejudiced I shall quote figures to prove it. Mr. Wykes lived at Leighton-Sea, which is situated in the 10 x 10 kilometre square TQ 88; 45% of this square is salt water and “the all- consuming tentacles of the Greater Southend Octopus” grasp most of the remainder. Yet 628 species of Microlepidoptera are recorded from the square, which is 60% of the Essex total. I do not know the figure for the Macrolepidoptera but the proportion should be higher because of the late Harry Huggins’ light-trap; but at the same 60% we get a grand total of nearly 1,050 species from, let me remind you, an incomplete and densely populated square. The late Denzil Ffennell reached 1,000 species at Martyr Worthy in Hampshire and this is

28 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/1/80

commonly regarded as a national record; yet Essex seems to do better. Here is a challenge: can you beat Southend?

My second defence witness, or witnesses, are the Nep- ticulidae, because I happen to know the number recorded from each vice-county in the British Isles. Here are the leaders of the first division: — 1. Dorset (VC 9), Mr. Wykes’ adoptive county — 75 species; 2. South Hampshire (VC 11) and North Essex (VC 19) — 74 species; 4. West Kent (VC 16) — 73 species; 5. Surrey (VC 17) — 72 species; 6. South Essex (VC 18) — 71 species.

I hope these facts will convince you that Essex produces good moths as well as good cricketers. My advice to the young student and lover of moths is to go to Essex, the entomolo- gically forgotten county, the county of prizes and surprises.

P.S. I have just received from the Rothamsted Research Centre a paper entitled Perspectives in urban entomology (ed. G. W. Frankie and C. S. Koehler, 1978). Map 8, although its printing is rather blurred in my copy, appears to show that the mean number of macrolepidoptera recorded in traps between 1968 and 1974 was higher in central Essex than elsewhere in south-eastern England. — A. M. Emmet, Labrey Cottage, Victoria Gardens, Saffron Walden, Essex. 17.xii.1979.

SYNGRAPHA CIRCUMFLEXA L.: YORKSHIRE Y. — On 29th July 1979 I found in my m.v. trap here a single specimen of a moth since identified for me by Mr. D. Carter of the British Museum (Natural History) as Syngrapha circumflexa L.

The species is a native of the Atlantic Islands, Africa and parts of S.E. Europe, its range extending to Asia Minor and Central and Southern Asia. The British Museum possesses examples from many localities over this range, but no British specimen. Its history in Britain can only be described as con- fused, appearing to rest on a single specimen said by Haworth (1802, Prodromus, 16; 1809, Lep. Brit., 257) to have been taken by a Mr. Drury in Essex at some time prior to 1802, and called by him “The Essex Y”. Haworth also mentions having seen the moth in two other collections, but gives no particulars, which he would certainly have done if data had been available since he was in dispute with Donovan about the species at the time. E. Donovan (1808, Brit. Insects, 12: 53, plt. 412) calls what must have been the same specimen “The Yorkshire Y”, stating that it had been captured by Mr. Drury in Yorkshire. This was at once disputed by Haworth, and it appears that Donovan confused the moth with another species. This has ben repeated by others, but the moth is not mentioned by Barrett or Meyrick, or in any edition of South.

It appears probable, therefore, that S. circumflexa has not been recorded in Britain since 1802. If so, it cannot be a great traveller, and it is perhaps permissable to suggest that the two certain specimens may have taken passage, the one to the Port of London and the other to the Solent. I am grateful to Mr. Carter for identifying the moth. — REAR ApMiRAL A. D. Tortesse, 1 Sway Lodge, Lymington, Hants.

EXCHANGES AND WANTS

Wanted — Records of Hamearis lucina (Duke of Burgundy) in Dorset, past or present. Also comments or observations on any aspect of its behaviour — for example, mate location, courtship, copulation and egglaying. — Mr. W. G. Shreeves, 5 Butts Mead, Shaftesbury, Dorset. The information is required for a study of this butterfly’s requirements on Naturalist’s Trust conservation areas.

For Sale — One W & D Standard Robinson trap with 80w bulb and choke, £25.00. Two “Skinner type’’ 20w actinic traps with tubes and chokes, £25.00 each. One ‘“‘Heath type” 6w actinic trap with tube and 12v inverter, £20.00. Two collapsible “‘Robinson type” traps with bulbs and chokes in transport cases, £50.00 pair. Two cable reels with approx. 100 yds. cable, and plugs, £6.00 each. Two electric time switches, £5.00 each. Honda E 300 generator V.G.C., £100.00. Forty larvae boxes, plastic, 6” x 4” x 2”. Sixty 23” dia. plastic ova boxes, £12.50. — Rex Lane Harvey, The Flat, Pembroke Garage Ltd., H.M.S. Pembroke, Chatham, Kent. Phone Medway 44310 anytime.

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CONTENTS

Six Further New Butterflies from Southern Africa. C. G. C. DICKSON noe ane an

An Unconfirmed Record of the Green REEMA Shark: Cucullia argentea (Hufn.) in Britain. Dr. I. D. WALLACE ... 4

Notes on the Donaciini (Col.: Chrysomelidae), with a List of Recent East Kentish Localities known to the Author. J. A. PARRY ... 9

Further Observations on the Species of Utetheisa Huebner (Lep.: Arctiidae) in the Western and Central Pacific with the Descrip- tions of a New Species from Niue Island. Dr.. G. S. ROBINSON and H. S. ROBINSON a oes ua ee a Aes 13

Practical Hints — March ... a = ace ee ae we 18 Notes and Observations: An Unlikely Find in a N.E. Surrey Garden. A. A. ALLEN ... Agrotis puta (Huebner) in Cumbria. Dr. N. L. BIRKETT Early Date for the December Moth: Poecilocampa populi (L.).

DS DBEY) i: 6 oe aoe ue a Py BE 12 An Apology. E. H. WILD ... ae Ned a £35 =e 12 Notes on, and the Apparent Extinction of, the Chalkhill Blue: Lysandra coridon L. in Lincolnshire. CANON HAWKER ... 22 Anthocharis cardamines L. in Cumbria. Rev. J. H. VINE- Observations on Apatura iris L. Dr. A. J. SHOWLER ... Hi 24 Thera juniperata L.: byes wei in Warwickshire. R.

SMITH... a ‘ 24 The Juniper Carpet: Thera juniperata L. in Bedfordshire. V.

W. ARNOLD ta a es: 3) ; 24 Foodplants of aiid staan 1 Ceanean: Drona.

BIRKETT Bi 25 The Cloaked Pug (Eupithecia abietaria Goeze): Further

Records. J. M. CHALMERS-HUNT ... es ae a 25 Depressaria emeritella Stainton ea aime Be

LEMPKE Tee : 26 Stilpon nubilis Coll. (Dipt.: haar 5 New to Kent. A. A.

ATEEN Ti ser 26 Almost Anywhere . . . rather than Essex. Lt. Col. A. M.

EMMET ay, eae ; aie 27 Syngrapha circumflexa L.: Yorkshire Y. Rear Admiral A.

Dy TOREESSE 4 s.- ‘ 3 : : 28 Current Literature ... ae — sks AS ba Ber: tee SG Obituary:

Norman Denbigh Riley, C.B.E... 19 The Butterflies and Moths of Kent, Volume 2M ‘CHALMERS- HUNT Ns4 wee a we soe fide oe Ba C211)

Printed by Charles Phipps Ltd., 225 Philip Lane, Tottenham, N15 4HL

| OL. 92, No. 2

February, 1980 ISSN 0013-8916

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RECORD

AND JOURNAL OF VARIATION

Edited by J. M. CHALMERS-HUNT, F.R.E.s. with the assistance of

A. A. ALLEN, B.SC., A.R.C.S. P. J. CHANDLER, B.SC., F.R.E.S. NEVILLE BIRKETT, M.A., M.B. C. A. COLLINGWOOD, B.SC., F.R.E.S. S. N. A. JACOBS, F.R.E.S. J. HEATH, F.R.E.S., F.L.S.

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29 Obituary The Baron C. G. M. de Worms By J. L. MESSENGER *

The sudden death of Charles de Worms on the 10th October last at the age of 76 will come as a sad blow to his very large circle of friends both within and outside entomo- logical circles.

He was the son of the Baron Anthony de Worms of Milton Park, Egham, Surrey where he spent much of his earlier life and where his lifelong interest in entomology had its beginnings. It was there that he began to build up his out- standing collections which, with his diaries, now pass under his Will to the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, whilst his Entomological Library is left to the British Entomological and Natural History Society.

The collection, which fills some 350 drawers, is very comprehensive as regards British macrolepidoptera and con- tains many good series of rare and possibly extinct species collected in the happier days of plenty with a number of good migrants and excellent aberrational forms. It is not possible within the space available to mention many of his interesting captures but perhaps the following should be recorded. On the 5th November 1955 he took a specimen of Plusia acuta Wal- ker, which was the second British record of this inhabitant of Central Africa and in September 1959 he took the first recorded British example of Eupithecia phoeniciata Rambur, which came to light on the South Cornish coast.

He was educated at Eton (1915-21) where he was a Kings Scholar and at Kings College, Cambridge, where he got a Second in Agricultural Chemistry. He obtained his Doctorate at London in 1934. During the years of 1925 to 1938 he carried out research work at the School of Agriculture, Cambridge, at Kings College, London, at the Government Laboratory, Lon- don, at the Royal Cancer Hospital and in the Laboratory of F. W. Edwards, F.R.I.C., the Public Analist for Westminster, Kensington and Hammersmith.

During most of the war years he filled the post of an Experimental Officer at Porton, Wiltshire, under the Ministry of Supply doing special work on war materials. Between 1934 and 1939 he published a number of papers in the Journal of the Chemical Society.

The wartime posting fortuitously enabled him to spend a little spare time studying the lepidoptera of the Wiltshire Downs near Salisbury, an area on which he became very knowledgeable and where some interesting material in the collection came from.

He joined the Royal Entomological Society in 1926 and the South London Entomological and Natural History Society in 1927, of which he became president in 1933. He was for

half a century a regular attender of the meetings of both these societies.

* Stonehaven, Wormley Hill, Godalming, Surrey.

30 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

He was also a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a member of the British Ornithological Club at whose dinners and lectures he gave great pleasure by entertaining his ornitho- logically minded friends.

He was, in fact, a keen ornithologist who attended many Congresses in distant parts of the world. He was also a mem- ber of a number of local Natural History Societies.

After the war he was able to return to his first love — entomology — which he pursued wholeheartedly. He ran a M/V trap at his home near Woking, Surrey, but made fre- quent expeditions to other parts of the Country, accounts of which he regularly wrote up in the Entomological press. His interests, however, often took him to other parts of the world and in particular to Europe, from the Arctic to the Mediter- ranean and even as far as North Africa in addition to visits to Malaya, The Seychelles Islands, Canada and the West Indies. From all these places the collections were enriched. Whilst a good many of his captures made abroad were given to National Collections he retained his very considerable European col- lection which was strong in particular in the species of the difficult genus Erebia.

His publications in the Entomological press and elsewhere were very numerous and of considerable importance. In par- ticular the following should be recorded: —

(1) The Macrolepidoptera of Wiltshire (1962). This well illustrated work is a valuable addition to the County records, containing notes of every species found in the county with much information on locality and distribution.

(2) Tne Moths of London and its Surroundings, published in “The London Naturalist” from 1953 with a number of supplements which appeared over many years and included details from the Buckingham Palace Gardens records of 1963 onwards.

(3) A series of papers dealing with additions to the list of British macrolepidoptera commencing with an article in 1951 recording all known migrants which have appeared in the British Isles during the present century and their later status here.

In addition to the above Charles de Worms will be long remembered for his annual reviews and his regular notes and articles dealing with his many entomological expeditions which, were things otherwise, would no doubt have been followed by an account of his records obtained during his last short visit to the Channel Islands a few days before he died.

He was indeed a true friend who kept in touch with fellow entomologists throughout the world; he was ever ready to help other collectors and share his wealth of knowledge and experience with them, and above all he was a most delightful companion.

All readers of The Record will want to extended their

sincere sympathy to his sister, his two nieces and the other members of his family.

Sil

Sterrha vulpinaria Herrich-Schafer (rusticata sensu auct.) [Lep.: Geometridae] and a second natural larval foodplant

By BY-K. “West, BEd *

Sterrha vulpinaria is still a common moth in extreme N.W. Kent, and is the species most commonly seen at rest on foliage and fences by day, sometimes as single specimens, but also often as considerable congregations within a very limited area, and these may give some clue regarding the probable food plant of the larva. This was confirmed in the case of the colony of moths seen annually in the vicinity of several isolated plants of Alyssum saxatile L. at Bexleyheath, reported in Ent. Rec., vol. 86, 1974. Showler and Huggins in Ent. Rec., vol. 66, 1954, relate their observations regarding congregations of this moth in the vicinity of elm scrub and ivy. Most of the congregations I have encountered have been associated with elms scrub, and usually some ivy has also been present, but there have been three exceptions — the colony at Bexleyheath associated with A. saxatile which flourished for over a decade, and two colonies at Dartford, one in 1977 associated with ivy (Hedera helix L.) and the other in 1978 associated with Clematis vitalba L.

In July 1977 over a period of several days I noticed large numbers of S. vulpinaria settled upon ivy leaves and the south facing aspect of the fence which the ivy draped; also attached to this side of the fence was wire netting which had entrapped a considerable quantity of dead ivy leaves. No moths were observed on the north side of the fence. On June 7th 1978, I carefully examined dead ivy leaves at the base of the fence and those enmeshed by wire netting, and from the en- trapped leaves I obtained seven nearly full-fed larvae which I thought were S. vulpinaria, but from the dead leaves on the ground only two. These larvae were placed in an opaque plastic container supplied with dead ivy leaves upon which they completed their growth, and on June 30th the first of five S. vulpinaria emerged, while on July 3rd one S. trigemi- nata Haw. appeared. When the larvae were found they were not observed feeding on ‘the dead ivy leaves, but the absence of any other vegetation in close proximity I think warrants the conclusion that the foodplant of the feral larvae was ivy in the form of dead leaves, and the larvae in captivity consumed only dead leaves.

Along the half mile of fence were several similar sections draped with ivy, and some of these had elm scrub close by, but no other congregations of S. vulpinaria were seen in 1977, nor incidentally in 1978 or 1979, although singletons were noted. However, in July 1978 I came across a colony of the moths settled upon an east facing section of the fence and Clematis vitalba L. with which it was draped; this aspect of the fence also displayed wire netting with enmeshed clematis

* 36 Briar Road, Bexley, Kent.

32 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

leaves, although at the base of the fence there was a minimum of débris due to the tarmac footpath. More than a score of moths were seen on several days, the maximum being forty- three on July 25th. The west facing aspect of the fence was not easily accessible and was not examined. Unfortunately, I delayed examining dead clematis leaves this Spring until it was too late, and the site was devoid of moths at emergence time. Undoubtedly this colony was dependent on Clematis, and I hope that in the future another opportunity will arise to enable me to confirm Clematis vitalba as a natural foodplant of S. vulpinaria larvae.

Showler (Ent. Rec., 66, 1954) notes a prefernce for shady fences for resting moths, and Huggins (Ent. Rec., 66, 1954) mentions a preference for tall banks with ivy and elm, half shaded by large elm trees, and I too have frequently found the moths in such situations. However, the colony dependent on A. saxatile at Bexleyheath breeds at the foot of a south facing wall within a quadrangle, and the moths which emerge in the morning often remain exposed to the sun, and only on the hottest days tend to move up the wall to seek shade beneath window ledges, or move further into shaded passages or doorways. Similarly, the colony of moths associated with ivy at Dartford in 1977 was fully exposed to the sun for much of the day, although some moths would receive intermittant shade from foliage. The situation of these local congregations of moths is directly dependent upon the larval site, and they are composed of freshly emerged moths.

S. vulpinaria, although remaining common in the Dart- ford area is perhaps less numerous than formerly due to destruction of habitats. However, it does appear to be increas- ing its geographical range — Chalmers-Hunt (Ent. Rec., 81, 1969, sup) records this tendency in a southwards direction, and thus inland, from extreme N.W. Kent; Evans and Evans (A Survey of the Macro-Lepidoptera of Croydon and N.E. Surrey) record that the moth was first seen in the area in 1961, and that it has become not uncommon in the N.E. of the area having spread westwards from Kent: the Essex Naturalists’ Trust in its volume ‘A Guide to the Butterflies and Larger Moths of Essex’ records extension of range north- ward along the coast and also inland.

EXTREME ABUNDANCE OF ECTOEDEMIA SUBBIMACULELLA (HAw.) IN BERKSHIRE (V.C. 22). — Whilst collecting at Silwood Park, near Sunningdale, on 31.x.1979, I found Ectoedemia subbimaculella extremely abundant. Many oak trees had mines in almost every leaf at low level (the tree tops were not investigated), and a large proportion of the leaves contained 20-30 mines: one leaf which I have pressed has 62. Typically 10-20 larvae have been able to feed up fully, so, unless there is a very high level of parasitism or pupal mortality, the density of this species at Silwood should be very high next year. —

P. J. Jounson, 7 Haverhill Road, Horseheath, Cambridge, CB1 6QR. 15. xii.1979.

33

Epichoristodes acerbella Walker (Lep.: Tortricidae): first capture of the imago at large in Britain By A. A. ALLEN *

On the night of 17th June 1979, [took an unfamiliar Tortricid moth in good but not absolutely fresh condition at rest on a fence close to a wall-lamp in a tree-lined by-way some ten minutes’ walk from my house in the Blackheath direction. I failed to identify it from any available illustration, but an opportunity occurred recently of showing it to Dr. J. D. Bradley (part- author of the new work on British Tortricoid Moths), who at once recognised it as the above — an insect hitherto little known to our lepidopterists. He tells me that there is no other much like it, and that it had not previously been found in the wild in this country; but only as a casual importation in the larval stage, on various plants (carnations, etc.) from Africa. There is a short notice of the species in Bradley, Tremewan, & Smith (1973: 126), where it is placed between Clepsis and Epiphyas in the Tortricinae. As it may be that no description or figure exists in readily accessible British works I give a brief description, taken from my specimen, for purposes of recognition: —

Of about the size and shape of a small Epinotia solandriana L., but costa less arched; forewings noticeably narrow for a Tortricine, pale ochreous-buff, costally shaded with brown near base, more or less irregu- larly strewn with fuscous dots and specks; a fuscous-mixed fulvous blotch, in size about half width of wing, well defined above and inwardly, occupying the tornal area, extending outward in a point to base of termen, and inward as a narrow streak for some distance along hind margin. Hindwings pale shining whitish-brown. Palpi light fuscous, fore femora blackish above, legs otherwise pale. Patagia fulvescent in front, rest of body pale.

Along the base of the fence on which the moth was found, common garden plants such as iris and hollyhock were growing mixed with various ‘weeds’ (and probably likewise on the far side which was out of sight), but they throw no light on the presence of E. acerbella at the spot. It can hardly be expected that this native of the tropics could withstand the rigours and vagaries of our climate long enough to breed and establish itself permanently, except perhaps in hothouses and the like; yet, as larvae probably often get imported, the moth could well turn up again in the open from time to time. Further, since its range in Africa is evidently wide, it may prove a somewhat hardy and adaptable species.

I thank Dr. Bradley for identifying the specimen, and Lt.-Col. A. M. Emmet for his good offices in that connection.

Reference Bradley, J. D., Tremewan, W. G., & Smith, A., 1973. British Tortricoid geo — Cochylidae and Tortricidae: Tortricinae. Ray Society, ondon.

* 49 Montcalm Road, Charlton, London SE7 8QG.

34 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

Further Reminiscences of a Butterfly Hunter By the Rev. J. N. MARCON *

At an early age most boys collect something, whether it is stamps, birds’ eggs, cigarette cards, coins or even match- boxes. At nine or ten the craze overtook me: stamps and cards were the first enthusiasm. A cousin gave me an 8 in. store- box with a set Arctia caja in it. How proud I was of the bright colours of this moth; it was frequently fished out of the play- box to show other boys at school.

Not much was added for a couple of years, but on a holiday at South Brent in Devonshire, walking up a lane several butterflies were spotted, including a Silver-washed Fritillary. The excitement was renewed; my Father hastily made me a sort of frame from strong wire, whilst my Mother sewed me up a homely net; and I sallied forth up the same lane with delight and expectation.

Moths and butterflies were alike in their attraction in those days and any unoffending specimen imprisoned by the windowpane was added to the collection. I even put a moth into my spectacle case when out on a training day in the O.T.C. at Puttenham, discovered among the heather whilst preparing to charge! Light and sugar were activities after a first visit to the New Forest in 1922. I can still remember the thrill of catching the first valesina. But time for day and night pursuit of the hobby became inevitably restricted by the need for studying for a degree: so the craze had to be limited; butterflies were chosen, and it was not long ’ere an aberration became a very special acquisition.

What an excitment it is for an entomologist to see a variety! They are always rare and requiring numbers of insects, much persistence and good fortune. It is a thrill which exceeds almost everything in life. It may be only a good minor, but the heart beats faster; and if a major it arouses the blood pressure to fever pitch! It may be minutes or hours or even days before the prize is safely in the pill-box, but what a sensation it is!

In days gone by one used to reckon on the capture of one good variety each year and be satisfied with that: often fortune favoured an expansion of this, and some years quite a considerable enlargement. It was rare for all species to be scanty — as is our misfortune today; there were almost always one or two that were prolific, if one could discover which they were in time and have the leisure for a massive assault on their habitat; and then the fun and the dogged pursuit began!

1933 was an exceptionally early spring and very warm — almost June weather for three weeks. A visit to Pamber Forest on May 22nd proved this; Argynnis euphrosyne males were worn and over, though a few females were about in reasonable condition. It was a week later, my car having a punctured radiator, that a friend took me from Chingford to Fisherlane, Dunsfold. Three or four other collectors had * Raydale, Fittleworth, Pulborough, Sussex.

FURTHER REMINISCENCES OF A BUTTERFLY HUNTER 35

already arrived; Argynnis selene being the main quarry as it was well out. I was fortunate in seeing a v. confluens the other side of a ditch; the sight made me so nervous it seemed many minutes before I could catch it. Walking a few yards further a female euphrosyne was fluttering along, divided between nectar from a late flowering Bugle and finding a suitable violet on which to lay an egg. Better have a look at it came the thought and the net was brought into play. It looked normal on the upperside, but in captivity the underside quickly showed the pearly spots on the hindwings to be black. F. W. Frohawk figures it in his Varieties of British Butterflies, plate 13 — ab. ater-marginalis. The only regret was it should have been caught a week earlier.

Next year, living at Worthing, a young Balliol man came and asked to borrow some setting boards. At the inevitable discussion amongst collectors he said he had been up Salving- ton Hill to a wood at the top of the Downs where he’d seen four or five Polygonia c-album; and one was a ‘black devil’ similar to v. suffusa by F. W. Frohawk. Needless to say we set off at once to the wood through which a track ran. Hunt- ing for 14 hours produced no result save the sight of one hen c-album, quite typical. We gave up the search disconsolate — and for my part incredulous. In the afternoon my wife sug- gested a picnic somewhere with the children. The locality for a bughunter provided no difficulty — the wood on top of Salvington Hill! Back and forth I traipsed, in and out of glades but no sign of the ‘black devil’. At last returning to the car a c-album was spotted sunning himself high up on a hazel leaf. With a jump the net was within reach — quite normal. Sight- ing two others higher up, a long pole from the car had to be fetched. Alas, these were types too! At the end of the track where the car was parked, there low down on a bush was the coveted trophy. It has not fallen to my lot to capture as many of this form as Major General Lipscomb has of a similar form of Aglais urticae — his must be a record with the net — but the luck of the game has provided opportunity of securing three c-album y. suffusa (or, no doubt wrong-headly, as I should prefer to call them v. nigrocaria! ).

Next day the New Forest was visited and a stay with Mr. and Mrs. Clarke. They were always most hospitable: a note says she always gave us two eggs and four rashers for break- fast ‘to stimulate the hunt’ — what price that nowadays? And one slept in a feather bed: once down one slept in the billows around and could hardly move — not that one wanted to after 6-8 hours on the slog! Clarke said he had missed a good Argynnis cydippe in Roe Wood and a black Limenitis camilla in Frame Wood. We decided to start with Roe, indeed stayed all day as cydippe were fairly numerous. Mr. Bright and his chauffeur had been there the day previously. Clarke stayed in one corner of a clearing with bushes and brambles, I in another. He was determined to catch what he called the ‘Covered Wagon’ — I think that was the name of a song.

36 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

Whenever we met he started to sing the ‘Covered Wagon’, have you seen it yet? No. After half an hour an odd beast was spotted: could it be the black hindwing one? It settled in an awkward place which took ten minutes to approach circu- spectly, and then only from underneath with three others on some thistles. All four were swept into the net and one was a slightly suffused hindwing female cydippe. The ticker added a few beats, but this was not IT. Five minutes later there was a shout from Clarke; he’d just missed the ‘Covered Wagon’ We chased madly round and eventually he to his corner. Presently there was a wild yell: he had boxed the “Covered Wagon’. It was the finest cydippe variety I had as yet seen — black hindwings with marginal fulvous spots and the forewings heavily fasciated. Needless to say we arrived home exhausted but exuberant: and did we down some cider?

Later that year a picnic with the family was the cause of another delight. We had gone to the top of Chantry Hill, Storrington. The advantage of taking the car to the top, as one can still do today was a desideratum; the view on both sides is magnificent. Within a few moments I was on the North face of the Down, and a second or two later amongst the dozen or so Polyommatus icarus flying was a pink one. “There’s a variety here’, I stupidly shouted to the others, engaged in removing the tea basket from the boot. ‘Stupid’ because one should never speak when something good is sighted: it may fly away or, more likely, one would miss the prize. However it kindly obliged in flying around and was plainly visible amongst the others — presumably a kind of albino. F. W. Frohawk figures it in his Varieties of British Butterflies, var. opalizans, plate 28 (though it is more striking than in the copy I have).

It is never the expected that happens. In mid-July 1939 I went to the Chiddingfold Woods, with the intention of work- ing what fritillaries were available, starting in the Hambledon area Vann Copse, where the Craske brothers had collected with success: then moving to High Street Green, where a meadow by a stream invited inspection. Somewhat surprisingly Aphantopus hyperanthus were abundant and a certain number netted in the hopes of a var lanceolata. Working leisurely before long an odd one was seen; the rings round the underside spots were smoky yellow, not clean yellow. This induced a more exacting search. Before long an even odder one was in the net, an underside with a large deep black patch on one hindwing and the yellow veins showing through distinctly. It was figured in the South London Entomological Society Pro- ceedings 1939/40. Melanic? Yes. Homeotic? No-one seems to know as yet. The day ended with another smoky one rather better than the first. It looks as if all three are linked together with the same gene. It then rained in torrents, the car was bogged and only when three men came along were we able, with the aid of sacks, to get it on the highway again!

Beeding proved prolific that same year for Lysandra coridon. Several collectors were at work both there and at

FURTHER REMINISCENCES OF A BUTTERFLY HUNTER 37

Erringham Down. One used to start at the latter in the morn- ing, the former in the evening. The tally included some not met with before, a bluey-black one v. plumbescens, three pulla, four viridescens and a well marked gynandromorph: but the best of the bunch came from Beeding, when the sun was so warm that the blues were flipping off their perch at 6 p.m. Waiting until a cloud obscured it one hastened to the chalk pit, examining the undersides up the path; and there in the pit itself, visible several yards away was a heavily marked male ultra-radiata. Two days later working along the Down from the pit a curious male was flying, which seemed in the sunshine to have only two wings. It proved to be a fresh halved gynandromorph. One couldn’t believe it!

Mr. Castle Russell tells of how he and his wife were examining coridon at Danbury, one of his favourite grounds. As they sat down to lunch his wife asked, ‘What luck?’. ‘Nothing as usual’, he replied. ‘Then why didn’t you catch that semi-syngrapha close by?’. The question was repeated. ‘All right then’, and he got up to catch it—it was a halved gynandro- morph! On another occasion he was alone, away for a week. Having hunted fruitlessly for three days he was about to abandon it and go home. On the point of entering the car he noticed alongside it one of the best ultra-radiata females ever taken. He decided to stay the week as planned!

UNUSUAL FOODPLANT FOR SATURNIA PAVONIA L. LARVAE IN Cumpria. — On 17th June 1979, Mr. and Mrs. J. Whiteside and myself, were vainly searching for Euphydryas aurinia (Rott.) on a small heath near Ennerdale, when we discovered several batches of pavonia larvae, in their first instar, all feeding on Tormentil, Potentilla erecta, which was in pro- fusion. This is not mentioned as a foodplant for this species in Larval Foodplants by P. B. M. Allan or by anyone else that I have heard of. There was no shortage of Heather and young Birch in the vicinity, but no sign of pavonia larvae on these. — J. Briccs, 5 Deepdale Close, Slackhead, Beetham, near Miln- thorpe, Cumbria.

STIGMELLA MINUSCULELLA (HERRICH-SCHAFFER). — This leaf-miner of pear used to be taken sparingly at various scat- tered localities in southern England and Lancashire, principally in towns. During the present century it became scarce and the most recent records known to us are from Oxford in the 1920s, where Professor E. R. G. Waters found it in his garden; and from Bournemouth, where Mr. S. C. S. Brown used to find mines “many years ago”. We have recorded it in two well-separated localities in 1979, first at New Malden, Surrey in an urban garden on the 24th July (vacated mines), and secondly in two generations near Manningtree in north-east Essex, on the 15th of August (vacated mines) and on the 10th of September (tenanted mines). — P. J. JoHNSON, 7 Haverhill Road, Horseheath, Cambs. and A. M. Emmet, Labrey Cot- tage, Victoria Gardens, Saffron Walden, Essex. 23.xii.1979.

38 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

Six Further New Butterflies from Southern Africa By C. G. C. Dickson, M.Sc.*

(Concluded from page 6)

Stugeta bowkeri tearei subsp. nov.

This is a very widespread member of the Stugeta bowkeri group, occurring as it does in much of the Transvaal, Rhodesia and Botswana; and, what is apparently the same insect, in at least part of the northern portion of South West Africa. It is characterised by the more prominent, general, white marking of the upperside and, from the material that has been used for comparison, its rather greater average size than in nominate bowkeri — with the increase in size very noticeable, in fact, in a number of specimens that have been seen, including Rhodesian ones. In both sexes the tails of the hindwing, at the ends of the veins 1b and 2, are longer than in the nominate race; and the shorter tail is less short in relation to the longer one in the present race.

Male (Upperside)

In the forewing the greater prominence of the white marking in comparison with nominate St. bowkeri is especially apparent in the more basal part of areas 4 and 5 — and it is usually more noticeable, also, postmedially in areas 1b and 2 (particularly, as a rule, in 2). In the hindwing, the postmedial white marking generally extends further down the wing than in the nominate race, while it is also nearly always more clearly developed than in the latter race, on each side of the black or blackish marking close to and parallel with the margin, from area 5 downwards.

Underside

As in nominate race, if allowance is made for a small degree of individual variation in both races. The failure of the dark, irregular discal band of the forewing to extend out- wardly in area 4 so as to coalesce at this point with the pro- minent line parallel with the distal margin, in some speci- mens, is a variable feature of no significance, since it occurs in both races, although perhaps less frequently in the present one.

Length of forewing: 15.25-18.25 mm (16.25 mm in holo- type).

Female (Upperside)

The greater proportion of the white marking in relation to the nominate female, is possibly even more marked than in the respective males. In some female specimens there mav be a greater proportion of white than blue colouring. (The nominate female does, however, itself bear more white than its own male).

Underside

As in nominate race, allowing for individual variation in specimens.

Length of forewing: 16.25-22.0 mm (18.5 mm in allo- type).

*“Blencathra”, Cambridge Avenue, St. Michael’s Estate, Cape Town.

SIX FURTHER NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM SOUTHER AFRICA 39

As regards the male genitalia, from specimens that have been examined there is a general tendency in the present taxon for the two spines at the distal end of the valve to lie closer to one another than in bowkeri bowkeri; also for the distal edge of the valve, beyond the point of origin of the spines, to incline more inwardly than in the latter taxon, There is not complete consistency in these features, but what appears to be an average difference in these respects may be considered to be of some significance in the case of subspecies of this group.

An appreciable number of subspecies of St. bowkeri have been described from north of the Southern African zone, largely from portions of East Africa. As far as it has been possible to ascertain, none of these agree with the presently described one, fearei, if all features which are characteristic are taken into account — including the valves of the male genitalia (vide Stempffer, op. cit.).

& Holotype, TRANSVAAL: Zoutpan [= Saltpan, Zout- pansberg], 17.11.1969 (G. A. Henning); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18686.

2 Allotype, TRANSVAAL: | Saltpan, Zoutpansberg, 5.iv.1965 (S. F. Henning); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18687.

Paratypes in Coll. W. H. Henning: data as for holotype, one o& (G. A. Henning); 8.iv.1966, one female (G. A: Henning); 6.iv.1965, one o', three 29, 15.11.1969, one ¢ GS. F. Henning and, lastly, W. H. Henning); 17.11.1969, one o, one 2, 6.1x.1971, one o (S. F. Henning); 13.11.1974, one ¢& (I. Bampton). Horns Nek, Pretoria, 20.ix.1977, one 9? (1.B.). Naboomspruit, 6.x.1977, one o (I.B.); 8.x.1977, one o& (S/F); Rashoop. | 4:1:1975; “ofie > giz 6 19.1x.1977; sone Co QWiUH.E): aax 75, sione' 9° (G:A.ED2 10.19 75¢one? ”, 16.x.1975, one o, 28.xi.1976, one 2 (1.B.). Sheba Mine, Barberton, 4.xi.1973, one ° (E. L. Pringle). Silkaats Nek, near Pretoria, 8.ix.1973, one @ (G.A.H.). (All these localities in the Transvaal, and a number of specimens bred examples.)

Paratypes in Coll. C. W. Wykeham: as _ holotype, 8.xii.1970, two 29, 11.xii.1970, one 9 (C.W.W.). Munnik, Tvl., 14.x11.1970, one & (C.W.W.).

Paratypes in Coll. Dr. J. Kaplan: as holotype, 6.iv.1966, one) o>, 17:11.1969, ,one-g (G..A. Henning); 1.1971. one, 9, 1.111.1969, one 9, 6.ix.1971, one o, one ? (Dr. J. Kaplan); Naboomspruit, 9.x.1967, one &@ (W. H. Henning). Vila Luiza, Mogcambique, 15.ix.1971, one 9.

Paratypes in Coll. W. Teare: as holotpye, iii.1959, one o, one 2 (W.T.).

Paratypes in Coll. National Museum, Bulawayo, Rhodesia: Strijdom Tunnel, N. of Louis Trichardt, N. Tvl., 8.11.1969, one ? (Dr. N. Paterson). | ,

Paratypes in Coll. Transvaal Museum: as _ holotype, 24.iv.1954, one 2 (R. Badham); iii.1959, one 2 (W. Teare).

40 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

The above insect is named after Mr. W. Teare, of Benoni, Transvaal, with whom the author corresponded many years ago in connection with the regional variation which was apparent in populations of the present Lycaenid complex.

While the three taxa of the Stugeta bowkeri group which have been dealt with in this paper are the ones that have come to mind initially as particularly requiring attention, it is fully realised that there are others in Southern Africa which may call for further attention in due course — including, possibly, one that is prevalent in Natal. Specimens from the Eastern Karroo which have been examined have differed to some extent from the nominate insect (and have shown some approach to henningi), as have others, in their own way, from the Western Cape in localities such as Beaufort West and ones in the Robertson Karroo, between Robertson and Worcester (Trimen having found the butterfly at Robertson, as long ago as 1876). The same insect occurs at Montagu, but there are not as yet very many records from the Cape South-Western Districts. No firm conclusions with respect to the relative status of all the members of the group can be drawn without close examination of thoroughly representative material from all the relevant localities. A point which does strike one is the manner in which the group as a whole (as it occurs in Southern Africa) has been so largely neglected in the past from this point of view. Shortly before submission of this paper, Mr. W. H. Henning stated in a letter to the writer: “Stugeta bowkeri henningi, ex Potchefstroom, lives only on Viscum (Loranthaceae), and St. bowkeri tearei on Ximenia caffra (Sond.) (Oleaceae). They are not interchangeable”’.

The writer wishes to express his special thanks to Mr. W. H. Henning and his sons Stephen and Graham for their views covering the three taxa of this group and for the loan (and in some cases presentation) of invaluable material for study, dissection and description. A high proportion of the specimens concerned were either captured or reared by Mr. Ivan Bamp- ton, to whom the writer is equally grateful for having made these available in the first place. Mr. G. E. Tite, of Tring, gave some useful views on the group, some time ago. The essential help rendered by Mr. R. I. Vane-Wright of the Dept. of Entomology, British Museum (Nat. Hist.) has already been referred to in the earlier part of this paper.

Poecilmitis wykehami spec. nov.

Although at a first glance this insect might be taken for Poecilmitis turneri Riley, at least from its upperside, careful comparison reveals a number of features which, in the writer’s view, are sufficiently distinctive to entitle it to be regarded as a separate species. The most striking dis- similarity is noticeable on the underside of the hindwings and, from analogous cases in other species of the P. thysbe (L.) group which show close relationship to one another, this particular, decidedly well marked difference, is believed to be highly significant. This butterfly was found at an altitude of about 5,000 ft. above sea-level on the Hantam’s Berg (in the

SIX FURTHER NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM SOUTHER AFRICA 41

North Western Cape Province) — a fine mountain range which has received considerable attention, from the butterfly aspect, by the writer and, especially, Mr. C. W. Wykeham in more recent years. In the description which follows hereunder comparisons are made with P. turneri Riley (Trans. R. ent. Soc. London. 87 (10): 241-242, Pls. 1 and 2 (1938), from, and W. of, Matjesfontein in the Great Karroo. The specimen given as the allotype female, from Basutoland, in the foregoing paper is not being taken into account in the present context, the actual specimens of turneri utilised for direct comparison in this study being virtually topotypical ones from W. of Matjesfontein and occurring in true Karroo country.

In the male the distal margin of the forewings is noticeably more rounded and, in both sexes, the anal-angular projection of the hindwings is a little shorter than in P. turneri. Judging by the material on hand, the present species also has the orange-red ground-colour of the upperside of a rather brighter and more red tone than in turneri.

Male (Upperside)

Dark basal colouring of all wings practically black, as against the greyish tone in turneri. Discocellular streak of hindwing absent, or nearly so (usually present as a dark or fairly dark streak in turneri).

Underside

Blackish streak parallel with the distal margin of the forewing is continuous and not broken into separate markings as in turneri, while the dark spotting tends to be more distinct in the lower portion of the wing than in this species.

Hindwing with the spaces of light brownish ground-colour between the marking of the wing, more clearly and uniformly represented than in turneri. Marking in more basal portion of wing dark brown or even blackish-brown in parts, as against the essentially more rufous tone in turneri; and much more conspicuous than in this species. Light postdiscal marking and other light marking near base (of the characteristic P. thysbe type), clearly defined, and either whitish with little metallic sheen (as in the holotype) or silvery and markedly metallic; that of the postdiscal series consisting of short mark- ings in nearly all cases, without the general tendency, in turneri, of a rather acute outward prolongation of several of these markings. The postdiscal series with adjoining dark marking of the same tone as that towards the base and also clearly developed; and the individual markings basad of and touching the light liturae at least partly lunulate and dis- similar from any corresponding markings (should these be present, at all) in turneri.

Length of forewing: 12.5 mm (in both holotype and one paratype).

Female (Upperside)

Distal margin of forewing pronouncedly convex. Basal marking in all wings decidedly more restricted than in male and also less deep in tone; but this marking (and its extension

42 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

in hindwing within and along inner-marginal concavity) of a deeper or more blackish grey than in the female of turneri.

Underside

As in the male, generally, in all wings. Hindwing, in the allotype, particularly well marked, and also with a clouding of salmon tone distad of the postdiscal series and including quite a bright patch extending to the anal-angle.

Length of forewing: 13.0 mm (in allotype).

Body and ancillary parts, in both sexes, very much as in P. turneri.

3 Holotype, WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE: Hantam’s Berg, Calvinia, 4.iii.1978 (C. W. Wykeham); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18688.

2 Allotype, W. CAPE PROVINCE: data as for holotype, 24.x.1977 (C.W.W); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18689.

Paratype in Coll. C. W. Wykeham: data as holotype, one o (C.W.W.).

Most of the specimens of the P. turneri group that have been seen from the Roggeveld Escarpment (Sutherland area) have shown affinity to P. wykehami as regards the form of marking of their hindwing undersides and even if this mark- ing has not been quite as striking in its clarity as in the present insect. On this account, it is felt that such specimens are con- specific with wykehami, but with two races probably being represented in such a case. Some small differences in other respects are apparent in these populations. A few specimens have, however, been taken on the Escarpment with the hind- wing underside quite as in turneri, and close to it, too, in various other features. This seems to suggest the occurrence of two species of the group in this area. The acquisition of still more material would be necessary before drawing any final conclusions.

Specimens of the group from the Nieuweveld Mountains, N. of Beaufort West, differ decidedly from true P. turneri, with the hindwing underside marking of the basic form of that of wykehami and the more common Roggeveld taxon. if not identical to that of either of these insects. Its relative status would not be easy to ascertain without further investiga- tion based on fresher material than is at present available. The writer hopes to follow up the matter some time in the future.

The extreme Eastern Cape representative of the P. turneri group, P. turneri amatola Dickson & McMaster, was described in Ent. Record J. Variation 79 (9): 209-211, Pl. XI (1967). After considerably more experience of this group, it is believed, now, that on account of the constant and very clear- cut characters it exhibits in relation to topotypical turneri and other members of the group, it is probably a separate species in itself. The Nieuweveld Mountains taxon is alluded to in the above publication, with respect to the underside, but in spite of this being of a quite well marked form it is not truly comparable with that of amartola, and there are also other obvious differences between these butterflies. There are, in

SIX FURTHER NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM SOUTHER AFRICA 43

fact, further representatives of this group, in the Western Cape, which are requiring investigation.

The present insect is named, with pleasure, after Mr. C. W. Wykeham.

Trimenia macmasteri mijiburghi subsp. nov.

Although not altogether unknown previously, this strik- ing insect seems to have been found, more recently, in large numbers through the initiative of Mr. Rudi Mijurgh, of Pre- toria, in deliberately investigating an unusual looking portion of small, white, stone covered veld between Steinkopf and Vioolsdrift, in Little Namaqualand, on 19th October 1977. Mr. Ivan Bampton had encountered it a few years previously in the same general area, and Mr. Charles Barrett found speci- mens at or near Goodhouse in October, 1962. Early examples which are in the South African Museum were collected by R. M. Lightfoot in Great Bushmanland early in the century. This butterfly is so distinctive in certain features that there seems little doubt about its being specifically distinct from any of the earlier described species of its genus. It is, however, most closely related to, and could possibly prove to be a sub- species of Trimenia macmasteri, which was described by the present writer in Entomologist’s Rec. J. Var. 80 (4): Pl. V 89-92 (1968); and it is compared with this butterfly in the descrip- tion which follows hereunder. A conservative approach as regards its status is adopted in the present paper, provisionally.

The forewings are more pointedly elongated (at least in the male) and their distal margin is usually more evenly curved (very evenly so in the female), while the lower portion of the hindwings tends, in the male, to form a rather more acute angle than in 7. m. macmasteri.

Male Upperside

Forewing. Tawny-orange more extensive in costal region owing to absence of dark scaling in at least a very large portion and sometimes most of area adjoining costa; and the orange portion of the wing more red in tone that in m. macmasteri. Dark scaling below vein | either extending relatively densely to the expansion of black border at anal-angle (as in the holotype), or with a pronounced intervening break of the orange ground-colour. Apical portion of distal border may be widened basad and terminate more or less acutely near yellow spot below costa (but with some orange marking retained within this apical area, and even if very fragmentary), as in the holo- type: or the border may only have some widening near the apex, and with a well-defined inner edge running downwards from the costa itself.

Hindwing

Much as in m. macmasteri, but the ground-colour of the same richer tone as that of forewing of present insect, and with less tendency to darkening of the veins which run through this area, than in the other taxon.

Underside

Allowing for individual variation in specimens, all wings differing little in basic detail from m. macmasteri. The exten-

44 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

sive orange colouring in the forewing deeper and the hindwing with the less dark portions of the background of brighter colouring, generally (sometimes even of a salmon tone — though more fawn coloured in the holotype), and usually con- trasting more noticeably with the remaining dark portions, in comparison with m. macmasteri. The larger light markings tend, in most specimens, to show greater expansion than in the latter taxon.

Length of forewing: 13.25-17.0 mm (15.25 mm in holo- type).

Female (Upperside)

More lightly marked, as a rule, than m. macmasteri.

Forewing. Almost clear ochreous-orange up to dark distal border, which, unlike that of m. macmasteri (or which is generally so, in its own case), is inwardly evenly curved with- out any extension basad near apex, and (in the allotype) with only slight diffuse scaling inwardly near anal-angle — or, in more darkly marked specimens, with a definite, small dark patch here, and, in which specimens, there is also some dark scaling beyond middle of wing, below costa.

Hindwing. No solid dark area extending basad of distal border but only diffuse scaling in upper portion of wing adjoining upper angle and costa, in the allotype — although a solid dark patch here, in more darkly marked specimens.

Underside

Basic marking much as in m. macmasteri, but most of background either lighter or of a brighter, more or less salmon tone. There is some general reduction in the size of the light marking, in the females of both taxa, though not always very noticeable and probably less so in the present insect.

Length of forewing: 18.5-19.5 mm (the former measure- ment, that of allotype).

3s Holotype, WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE: Blesber- gmyn, between Steinkopf and Vioolsdrift, 20.x.1977 (R. J. Mijburgh); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18690 .

2 Allotype, W. CAPE PROVINCE: data as for holotype (R.J.M.); British Museum Reg. No. Rh. 18691.

Paratype in Coll. British Museum (Nat. Hist.): as holo- type, 19.x.1977, one 6’ (R.J.M_.).

Paratypes in author’s collection: as holotype, 19.x.1977, two oo (R.J.M.). Goodhouse, x.1962, one o (Charles Barrett).

Paratypes in Coll. R. J. Mijburgh: as holotype, 20.x.1977, twelve oo’, one 2 (R.J.M.).

Paratypes in Coll. W. H. Henning: Steinkopf, W. Cape, 22.x.74, one o (I. Bampton); 22.x.74, one ot, one 2 (M. Smith); 4.xii.1974, one ¢@ (I.B.).

Paratypes in Coll. Transvaal Museum: data as holotype, three od, one 9 (R.J.M_.).

The opportunity has been taken to name this interesting and attractive member of its group after the writer’s friend, Mr. R. J. Mijburgh, whose unbounded enthusiasm in the butterfly field has led to most interesting captures.

45 Neocnemodon brevidens (Egger, 1865) Diptera: Syrphidae) New to Britain By ALAN STUBBS *

Examination has recently been made of the Parmenter Collection at the British Museum (Natural History), prior to it being incorporated within the main British Collection. Among a short series standing under Cnemodon vitripennis (Meigen) there was a specimen of Neocnemodon brevidens, a species which has not previously been recognised in our fauna.

The specimen, a male, has been identified using the key to north-west European species by Speight and Smith (1975), this work being based upon a revision by Deluchi and Pschorn- Walcher (1955). They established that our fauna comprised four species. The key (to males only) also includes two further European species which could be found in Britain, a very useful act of foresight.

The fly readily keys to brevidens (Egger, 1865). It lacks keels or protuberances on the sternites, the front basitarsi bear a flap and the face is white haired. Unfortunately the genitalia are missing, but there seems no room for doubt over the placing of the specimen. The flap on the front basitarsus is easily seen as a dark projection mid way along the posterior surface, the whole of the ventral surface being shallowly excavated (in fact almost flat). The mid basitarsus is deeply excavated and bears a dark flap near the tip on the posterior surface (Smith and Speight simply refer to a notch behind, but material was not available to them). The mid tibia is inflated to form an elongate tubercule on the anterio-ventral face, this tubercule bearing dense minute black bristles. Speight and Smith discuss the nature of micans, which may be a separate closely related species with violet colouration and black tibial hairs; however, the British specimen does not fit this descrip- tion and is thus considered to be brevidens.

Parmenter’s specimen bears the number 29518 which relates to an entry in his notebooks ‘Mitcham — Willow Lane, Surrey, 24 April 49, visiting Marsh Marigold’. The notebook indentification was given as Cnemodon vitripennis. Willow Lane runs from Mitcham Common down to the River Wandle, traversing a built up area in between. Parmenter visited Mit- cham Common on a number of occasions with very good results but it would be pure speculation to say where Marigold, Caltha palustris L., might have been growing in 1949. How- ever, the fact that Willow Lane is mentioned, rather than the Common, does suggest that the banks of the River Wandle may have been the source of the eight species of flies with a similar entry in his notebook.

Neocnemodon are very elusive in the field, though easily overlooked as small ‘difficult’ black hoverflies. The very slender build of the male is a good initial clue to identification, con-

epauire Conservancy Council, 19-20 Belgrave Square, London SW1X

46 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

firmation being relatively easy since the downward projecting spurs on the hind trochanters are easily seen with a hand lens. The males are most easily found on flowers. The females are currently not identifiable with certainty since pairs in cop are required as a basis for a revisionary study. The short rounded antennae with a patch of orange beneath the third antennal segment distinguishes this genus from other Pipizini. The females are sometimes found flying low among grasses, being difficult to see and recognise as hoverflies. The peak period for Neocnemodon is the second half of May. It is, therefore, interesting to note the very early date of Parmenter’s brevidens since few dipterists are actively looking for hoverflies in late April, let alone looking for Neocnemodon. It is thus possible that more specimens will be recorded once hoverfly specialists fully wake up to the fact that the whole of April is an essential period for collecting a number of very early species.

Deluchi and Pschorn cite records for brevidens from Holland, Belgium and Italy. Speight and Smith give the distri- bution as central and southern Europe.

References

Deluchi, V. and Pschorn-Walcher, H. Z., 1955. Les espéces genre Cnemodon Egg. (Dipt. Syrphidae) prédatrices de Dreyfusia (Adelges) piceae Ratzeburg (Hemiptera, Adelgidae), 1, Révision systématique et répartition geographique des espéces du genre Cnemodon Egg., Zeit. angew. Ent., 37: 492-506.

Speight, M. C. D. and Smith, K. G. V., 1975. A key to males of the British species of Neocnemodon Goffe (Dipt. Syrphidae). Entomo- logist’s Rec. & J. Var., 87: 150-153.

METRIOPTERA ROESELIT (HAGENBACH) f. DILUTA (CHARPEN- TIER) (ORTHOPTERA: TETTIGONIIDAE), A RECORD FOR KENT. — On 12th August 1979, I took a female specimen of this rare, macropterous form of M. roeselii, at Seasalter near Whit- stable. I found it on tall grass in a disused field on flat, alluvial land. It is easily distinguishable from the normal form, having forewings which extend beyond the hind knees, whereas in the normal form the forewings are short and leave part of the abdomen exposed when viewed from above.

This is apparently the first discovery of f. diluta in Kent, no Kentish specimen existing at Maidstone Museum or (pre- viously) at the BMNH (my thanks to Mr. Eric Philp and Dr. D. R. Ragge for this information). My specimen is now at BMNH. — R. H. Cummina, 9 Essex Street, Whitstable, Kent.

LATE DATE FOR EUMICHTIS LICHENEA (HUEBNER). — On the morning of 30th November 1979, hopefully searching the egg cartons inside the M.V. trap, 24 hours after the deposit of brown dust, said to be have been brought in from the Sahara by the prevailing Southerly air stream, I was surprised to find a male Eumichtis lichenea in good condition. The species is fairly common at M.V. in the district, every year in September; this specimen no doubt being a delayed emergence, prompted by the recent mild spell. — J. Briccs, 5 Deepdale Close, Slackhead, Beetham, near Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

1a Sl = 2

PLATE V

g. 1. Pachynematus sulcatus Benson, @. (EIA IP, 2B willeaiis, Q

47 The Female of Pachynematus sulcatus Benson (Hym.: Tenthredinidae)

By ANDREw D. LISTON *

Pachynematus sulcatus was described by Benson (1948) from a single male specimen caught near Killin, Perthshire. The male has since been found in Sutherland, at Inchna- damph; Inverness, at Loch Garten, and in England, from Westmorland, at Moor House (Benson, 1967). P. sulcatus has not yet been recorded outside of Britain. Hellén (1974) notes that the Finnish specimens recorded by Lindqvist (1949) are actually referable to clitellatus (Lepeletier).

Benson (1967) altered his 1958 key to include three pre- viously unknown females which he had associated with their males. The three species which he discussed were P. laevigatus Zaddach (= chambersi Benson), P. smithae Ross (= smithiae, auctt. err.) and P. sulcatus. His paper would appear to resolve the identities of chambersi and smithae very well, but for reasons which I shall now discuss, he seems to have been mistaken with regard to sulcatus.

A single male sulcatus (Plate V, fig. 1) was caught by the author at the head of Loch Torridon, Wester Ross, on the 17th of May 1978. Its superior size (7.5 mm) and unmistakably formed projection to the 8th abdominal tergite made it instantly recognisable. Its identity was subsequently confirmed by Mr. J. Quinlan, of the British Museum (Natural History) and it is now in the collection of Helsingfors University, Fin- land.

I do not entirely agree with the position given to sulcatus in Benson’s (1958) key. In my specimen the head is only very slightly expanded behind the eyes (this is known to vary in certain other species). The body is almost entirely black except for the labrum, clypeus, tegulae, edge of pronotum, tibiae, apices of femora and the apex of the abdomen. The meso- pleura are smooth and shining. The hind tibia is about one and a quarter times as long as the hind femur (without its second trochanter). The inner hind tibial spur is little longer than the apical width of the hind tibia. Or, in short, sulcatus would appear to have some affinities with the clibrichellus- apicalis groups of Pachynematus (their colouration, and the comparitive lengths of tibia and femur are similar).

When, on the following day at Torridon, I found two female Pachynematus specimens (Plate V), fig. 2) near the same spot where the male had been caught, I paid particular attention to them because I was not aware of the existence of Benson’s (1967) paper at that time. These specimens are superficially very similar to apicalis (Hartig) but differ from that species in having an antenna only as long as the length of the costa of the forewing, in having the inner tibial spur on the hind leg little longer than the apical width of the tibia, but, most importantly, the mesopleura are smooth.

*99 Clermiston Road, Edinburgh, EH12 6UU.

48 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

Benson (1967) based his interpretation of the female sul- catus on two insects ‘‘associated’’ with the male which he caught at Inchnadamph. These insects are distinguished from females of clitellatus in Benson’s revised key by the length of the saw, which is longer than the hind femur with the second trochanter in the specimens which Benson took for sulcatus, and shorter than this in clitellatus. From an examination of my own small series of clitellatus females, and judging from the comments of other authors, I do not think that the length of the saw can be used as a reliable character for the separa- tion of species related to clitellatus. Weiffenbach (1962) found that the number of teeth on the saws of clitellatus females varies between 10-18, and such variation affects the length of the saw significantly.

A further objection to the association of these female saw- flies with sulcatus is in their markedly different colour pattern. P. clitellatus and the females that Benson attributed to sulcatus are extensively marked with yellowish brown on head, thorax and the underside of the abdomen, whilst the male of sulcatus is almost entirely black (as already described). I feel certain that Benson underestimated the degree of variation to be found in Pachynematus clitellatus and therefore attached too much importance to the differences he found in the specimens caught with the sulcatus male.

The female Pachynematus specimens which I found at Torridon seem to me to be far more acceptable as the females of sulcatus. Plate V clearly shows their similarity. Except for the normal sex-controlled characters such as antennal length, it is, in fact, very hard to find differences between them. Even the pale areas of venation correspond exactly. The femur is very pale in the female specimen figured, but in the second specimen caught with it the femur is as dark as in the male. This, like the form of the head, varies intraspecifically in several Pachynematus species. The female specimens are 6.75 and 7 mm long.

The female insects from Torridon which I believe to be sulcatus may be distinguished from most species, except for extensicornis Norton and kirbyi Dahlbom, by the shape of the mesoscutellum, without its post tergite, which is more than one and one third times as broad as long (see fig. 1 in Benson, 1967). They differ from apicalis and moerens (Forster) in having an antenna as long as the costa of the forewing, the hind tarsus two thirds as long as the hind tibia, the inner hind tibial spur little longer than the apical breadth of the hind tibia, and smooth mesopleura. They differ from clitellatus and xantho- carpus (Hartig) in having a sawsheath that is triangular and acute at the apex (as in apicalis) when viewed dorsally, a tuberculate head, darker colour, and a narrower head behind the eves.

The association of the Pachynematus specimens proposed here is only tentative and must await corroboration (it is conceivable, though not likely, that the female specimens

THE FEMALE OF PACHYNEMATUS SULCATUS BENSON 49 represent an undescribed species). I do believe, however, that it offers a much better solution to the problem than Benson’s (1967) paper.

The large number of recent additions and alterations made by Benson to the British list of Pachynematus are scat- tered in several separate papers. The necessity of consulting these renders Benson’s (1958) key very difficult to use. Hellen’s (1974) key contains fuller descriptions of many British species and it is very useful for clarifying some of the more difficult parts of Benson’s key. Worthy of note is Hellen’s synonymy of Pachnematus glabriceps Lindqvist, 1949 (introduced to the British list by Benson, 1964) under P. parvilabris (Thomson, 1871).

Acknowledgements

I thank Mr. J. Quinlan for confirming my identification of the male sulcatus. Mr. T. E. Gray very kindly allowed me to use his photographic equipment.

References

Benson, R. B., 1948. British Sawflies of the genus Pachynematus Konow (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae). Entomologist’s mon. Mag., 84: 58- 65

Benson, R. B., 1958. Hymenoptera Symphyta, section c. Handbk. Ident. Br. Insects., 6 (2): 139-252.

Benson, R. B., 1964. Pachynematus glabriceps Lindqvist, a new British sawfly and a note on Empria liturata Gmelin (Hym., Tenthredi- nidae). Entomologists’s mon. Mag., 100: 263-264.

Benson, R. B., 1967. Pachynematus laevigatus Zaddach as a British sawfly and the females of P. chambersi Benson, P. smithiae Ross and P. sulcatus Benson (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae). Entomo- logist’s mon. Mag., 103: 141-143.

Hellen, W., 1974. Die Nematinen Finnlands III (Hymenoptera, Ten- thredinidae), Gattung Pachynematus Konow. Notul. Ent., 54: 65-80.

Lindqvist, E., 1949. Neue nordische Blattwespen. Notul. Ent., 28:

-86. Weiffenbach, H., 1962. Tenthredinidenstudien, If (Hymn.). Mitt. Muin- chner Entomol. Ges., 52: 123-145. Legend for plate. Fig. 1. Pachynematus sulcatus Benson, @. Fig. 2. P. ? sulcatus, Q.

SURGICAL SPIRIT AS A RELAXING AGENT. — Having had problems with mould in relaxing tins, I tried using water mixed with a small amount of surgical spirit in my relaxing tin. This proved to be most effective; as well as preventing mould, this mixture has the advantage of relaxing very quickly, 24 hours being sufficient for all but the largest insects. I have even used this relaxant on dried and crumpled leaves prior to press- ing them, again with great success. — P. J. JOHNSON, 7 Haver- hill Road, Horseheath, Cambridge, CB] 6QR. 23.xii.1979.

ORTHOSIA STABILIS D. & S. IN DECEMBER. — As the weather had been quite mild, I decided to put the light trap out in the garden on 25th December 1979, just to see what was around. By the following morning five Erannis defoliaria Clerck and, much to my surprise, a single male Orthosia stabilis had turned up. This, I believe, is not the first time an Orthosia species has occured at this time of year though I have never seen a documented case of this before. — M. PARSONS, The Forge, Russells Green, Ninfield, Battle, East Sussex.

50 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

Notes and Observations

PARAMESIA GNOMANA (CLERCK) (LEP.. TORTRICIDAE) IN SussEX IN 1979. — In 1977 I found five specimens of this species at Broadoak, near Heathfield, in Sussex (cf. Ent. Rec., 89: 274). This seems to be its only known British locality. I was unable to search for the moth in 1978 and not until the 15th August 1979. At 10 p.m. on the 18th August a single worn specimen came to an M.V. bulb and sheet in the same place as the 1977 specimens. This confirms the species to be of regular occurrence in this part of East Sussex. — H. C. J. Goprray, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire.

LASIOPOGON CINCTUS (FAB.) (DipT.: ASILIDAE) IN SOUTH Cumsria. — On 30th June 1976 I was collecting diptera on Yewbarrow, near Witherslack (Cumbria, V.C. 69) and had the luck to take a female Lasiopogon cinctus (Fab.). This species appears not to have been reported so far north before. P. Skidmore in his paper “‘Asilidae (Dipt.) of Northern England” (Ent. Rec. J. Var., 78: 259) does not record the species as occurring further north than the sand dunes of South Lan- cashire on the west side of the Pennines. My specimen was taken at circa 400 feet (124 metres) on a carboniferous lime- stone hill. The late Harold Oldroyd (1969, Handbk. Ident. Br. Insects, IX pt. 4: 85) states that Lasiopogon inhabits sandy heaths and open woodland. — Dr. NeviILL_eE L. BIRKETT, Kendal Wood, New Hutton, Cumbra, LA8 0AQ.

A FEw FURTHER REMARKS ON EMUS HIRTUS L. (COL.: STAPHYLINIDAE). — Mr. J. A. Parry’s very interesting record of this insect at Canterbury (anrea: 102) is particularly notable in being the first, as far as I know, from carrion in Britain; on the Continent it occurs at carrion (and even, occasionally, rotting fungi) as well as dung, but far more seldom. The species, always rare, appears to have become more so than ever during the past decade or two in its north Kent head- quarters, for Mr. Eric Philp has kindly consulted his files kept at Maidstone Museum and informs me that he has no record since those I published in my 1964 note (see below). I do not, however, think we need conclude that it has gone for good, seeing that it has been known from one or another part of the area over such a long period, even though not continuously: so that, as long as a large extent of suitable terrain exists there, its total extinction seems unlikely.

_ In view of the extreme paucity of Essex records of E. hirtus, it is worth mentioning an old one for Southend (Haward, 1859) omitted by Fowler; a modern capture in the same district (D. Down, 1947) was reported by Huggins (1962, Ent. Rec., 74. 279). I can also enlarge a little on the Sitting- bourne (Kent) record of 1896 by Carr, given by Fowler & Donisthorpe (p. 232): Walker (Rochester List) tells us that the actual place was Gore Court Park — later a locality for another rare dung-beetle, Copris lunaris L.

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 51

For some account of Emus in Britain see Brown, S. C. S., 1963, Ent. Rec., 75: 87-88 (early history); Allen, A. A. 1962, ibid., 74: 219-221 and 1964, 76: 145-146 (later history, etc.). — A. A. ALLEN.

NotaABLE MOTH SPECIES AT ASHURST, HAMPSHIRE IN 1979. — A 125-watt Robinson M.V. light trap was operated almost nightly in my garden at Ashurst, Hampshire (map ref.: SU 344115) from 12th July 1976 until my departure to Scotland on 18th September 1979 to take up new employment. The following species of Macrolepidoptera were recorded in 1979 but not in the previous years. Numbers of individuals are given in brackets:— Cyclophora pendularia (Clerck) (1), Pelurga comitata (L.) (1), Plemyria rubiginata (D. & S.) (4), Horisme tersata (D. & S.) (1), Philereme transversata (Hufn.) (1), Chloroclystis debiliata (Hubn.) (1), Plagodis pulveraria (L.) (1), Nola confusalis (H.-S.) (1), Agrotis vestigialis (Hufn.) (1), Orthosia populeti (Fab) (2), Moma alpium (Osb.) (1), Apamea sublustris (Esp.) (2), A. characterea (Hubn.) (2), A. anceps (D. & S.) (1), Nonagria typhae (Thunb.) (1), Archanara spar- ganii (Esp.) (1), Elaphria venustula (Hubn.) (1), Hypena cras- salis (Fab.) (1).

The following were among the less common _ species recorded in 1979, having also been recorded in one or more of the previous years: — Trichiura crataegi (L.) (3), Tethea ocularis (L.) (10), Jdaea sylvestraria (Hubn.) (1), J. emarginata (L.) (1), I. straminata (Borkh.) (8), Horisme vitalbata (D. & S.) (1), Euphyia unangulata (Haw.) (2), Eupithecia tenuiata (Hubn.) (10), &. intricata (Zett.) (17), E. succenturiata (L.) (1), E. simpliciata (Haw.) (1), E. indigata (Hubn.) (1), E. dodoneata (Guen.) (22), Lobophora halterata (Hufn.) (1), Acasis viretata (Hubn.) (3), Apocheima hispidaria (D. & S.) (31), Cleora cinctaria (D. & S.) (5), Boarmia roboraria (D. & S.) (3), Lomographa bimaculata (Fab.) (6), Odontosia car- melita (Esp.) (1), Dasychira fascelina (L.) (4), Leucoma salicis (L.) (1), Eilema sororcula (Hufn.) (2), Diacrisia sannio (L.) (1), Graphiphora augur (Fab.) (2), Mythimna pudorina (D. & S.) (3), Aporophyla lutulenta (D. & S.) (1), Lithophane semi- brunnea (Haw.) (3), L. socia (Hufn.) (1), L. ornitopus (Hufn.) (10), Conistra rubiginea (D. & S.) (3), Mormo maura (L.) (2), Dipterygia scabriuscula (L.) (33), Ipimorpha subtusa (D. & S.) (2), Enargia ypsillon (D. & S.) (12), Cosmia pyralina (D. & S.) (14), Apamea unanimis (Hubn.) (1), A. scolopacina (Esp.) (2), Eremobia ochroleuca (D. & S.) (2), Nycteola revayana (Scop.) (1), Catocala promissa (D. & S.) (4), Lygephila pastinum (Treits.) (1), Parascotia fuliginaria (L.) (4).

I am very grateful to Col. D. H. Sterling and his sons, Mark and Philip, for identifying some of the Pugs and for confirming the identities of all the other species mentoned. For my previous records from this site, see Ent. Rec., 89 (1977) 188, 90 (1978) 140 and 210, and 91 (1979) 135. — Dr. J.C. A. Craik, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box No. 3, Oban, Argyll.

52 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

PyRRHIDIUM SANGUINEUM L. AND CRIOCEPHALUS RUSTICUS L. (CoxL.: LONGICORNIA) IN MONMOUTHSHIRE. — During 1979 these two rare Longicorn Beetles were noted in Monmouth- shire and, as far as I am able to ascertain, neither species had previously been recorded from the county.

On June 26th whilst searching for beetles in a wood in the east of the county I found a single specimen of Pyrrhidium sanguineum L. sitting on the herbage at the side of a ride. Joy (1932, Pract. Hanb. Brit. Beetles, I: 381) describes its occur- rence as “very rare” and gives the distribution as “‘Britain”’. On the other hand Fowler (1890, Col. Brit. Isl., 4: 224), under its name of Callidium sanguineum L. cites early records from London, North Wales, Exeter, and Plaistow and also gives its occurrence as “‘very rare’. Apparently this species is currently found very locally in the neighbouring county of Hereford- shire.

It is interesting to note that this wood produced several other species of Longicorns including Rhagium mordax De G., Stenochorus meridianus Pz., Pachytodes cerambyciformis Schr., Leptura maculata Poda, L. quadrifasciata L., L. mela- nura L., and Clytus arietis L. Also among many other interest- ing beetles found in this same wood were Platystomus albinus L., Elater cinnabarinus Esch., Pyrochroa coccinea L., P. serraticornis Scop., Melandrya caraboides L., and Trichius fasciatus L.

On the night of 27th July a specimen of Criocephalus rusticus L. entered my m.v. moth trap in my garden at Usk. This rare Longicorn is apparently associated with pines and is of mainly Scottish distribution. However, according to Fowler and Donisthorpe (1913, Col. Brit. Isl., 6: 152) it is sometimes imported in timber and they refer to a Welsh record of one being found in a coal-mine, it being assumed that it was introduced in pit-props. It should be noted that there are no coal-mines in this area and although there is a saw-mills in the vicinity it deals only with locally-grown timber. — Dr. G. A. Neit Horton, Plas Newydd, Usk, Gwent.

THE EaRLy THORN: SELENIA BILUNARIA ESP. AND PAr- THENOGENESIS. — On 12th May 1979 I took a worn female Early Thorn at m.v. light which obligingly produced a large batch of eggs. Not being a particularly difficult species to rear, a great proportion of larvae pupated on 4th June. Approxi- mately half the number were housed in my puparium, the remaining fifty per cent being placed in separate cages, isolated from contact with any amorous lepidopteron that may have cared to quiver its antennae in their general direction. All imagines emerged successfully between the 23rd and 27th July, the specimens in the puparium pairing readily.

I was, therefore, not in the least surprised when, several days later, eggs began to appear on the netting and glass sides. Curiously, ova also carpeted the cage of a lone virgin female moth. I had no reason to dispute her chastity and immediately discarded the absurd notion that her mate could have been so cunning and deceitful as to have left no trace of his visit, carefully replacing the lid on his departure as he had found it.

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 53 I studied the ova for depressions and irregularities synonymous with infertility. Far from there being signs of weakness in the chorion it was not long before small, dark, twig-like larvae began to strut about the cage, some of the more restful indivi- duals hanging impassively from the roof on strands of silken thread.

Unfortunately they survived for only four days despite constant attention. Not only did I question my ability as a lepidopterist, my sanity or at best my sobriety was under suspicion. There could be no mistake. From cot to deathbed this phenomenal female had been starved of contact with a member of the opposite sex.

One face-saving answer graciously presented itself to me and I gratefully accepted. This word, parthenogenesis, which I find exceedingly difficult to pronounce let alone comprehend, I simply choose to define as the development of an ovum without fertilization into a new individual. Whilst this may be perfectly acceptable in the eyes of an uncivilized aphid in a world where males may be absent, the higher and further developed elite of the insecta do rather tend to look down with compound eye upon this method of reproduction and as such is in my experience uncommonly encountered within the lepidoptera. I understand (please do not hesitate to correct me if I am wrong) that ova which develop in this way are usually diploid, in which case all offspring will be genetically identical with the parent. In this present age of mass produced stereo- types whatever happened to meiosis? — M. J. SyMEs, 2 Montrouge Crescent, Epsom, Surrey, KT17 3NY.

LuMINOUS CENTIPEDES. — On the evening of Sth Novem- ber 1979 I had a garden bonfire, more for the purpose of rubbish disposal than for celebration of the date. While fork- ing up large prunings from a Lawson’s cypress hedge I noticed a number of strongly luminous streaks beneath the wet prun- ings, and closer inspection showed them to be moving. Having obtained an electric torch it was found that the luminosity was coming from centipedes each of which was glowing along its entire length. — T. D. FEARNEHOUGH, 80 Wainsford Road, Everton, Lymington, Hampshire.

PARASCOTIA FULIGINARIA L.: WAVED BLACK IN SHROP- SHIRE. — On the night of 8/9th August 1979, I operated my M.V. light at Whixall Moss. Among the 30-40 species which came to the light was a blackish geometrid-looking type of moth which I did not recognise. Further examination in daylight revealed it to be Parascotia fuliginaria, and my friend Mr. J. Briggs, of Beetham, confirmed this. This moth was exhibited at the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society Exhibition on 3rd November. Is this the furthest north in this country that this species has been recorded? — J. G. WHuITESIDE, Dover Farm, Hoghton, near Preston, PRS OSJ.

LITHOPHANE ORNITOPUS HUFNAGEL: GREY SHOULDER-KNOT IN Nortu Bucks. — The record of this moth being taken at Woking by C. G. M. de Worms prompts me to report the capture of one at Willen on 1.iv.1978. I have collected in this

54 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

area for many years and have run a M.V. lamp at Willen on most suitable nights since 1967 but this is the first specimen of this species to be taken. The late Sir Eric Ansorge in his The Macrolepidoptera of Buckinghamshire states that “‘the insect is evidently very scarce in the County”. — G. E. HicGs, The Cottage, Willen, Milton Keynes.

A Dwarr ACcRONICTA RUMICUS L.: KNOoTGRASS. — An unusually small A. rumicis was among a number of examples of this moth of normal size which came to light near Beacons- field on 13th August 1979. The mounted specimen measures 25 mm (approximately | in.) wing-tip to wing-tip with a body length of 12 mm (approximately 1 in.). Although slightly worn, all the typical markings are present in miniature, includ- ing the distinctive white spots near the hind margin of the forewings. Hydracecia micacea Esp. springs to mind as perhaps the most frequent of several species in which I have met extreme variations in size, but this is the first time I have encountered such deviation in the genus Acronicta. — P. Q. WINTER, West End Farm, Mustin, Filey, North Yorkshire.

Practical Hints — April

Searching hedgerows by day, preferably in warm sunshine, will yield young larvae of several different species freshly out of hibernation. The garden tiger Arctia caja larvae rest on small nettle or deadnettle plants — full grown larvae of the cream spot tiger Arctia villica L. may be found at the same time. Drinker Philudoria potatoria L. larvae may be found on grass whilst larvae of the oak eggar Lasiocampa quercus L. lie sunning themselves on low stems of bramble or blackthorn. The camouflaged larvae of the lappet Gastropacha quercifolia L. may also be found on this latter plant, usually on stems as thick as a finger. All these larvae are more easy to find in mid-April than at other times because at this time the hedges are still largely devoid of leaves (WATKINSON).

In most years, the sallows are over before Orthosia popu- leti F. (Lead-coloured Drab) and especially O. gracilis D. & S. (Powdered Quaker) are on the wing. In a late year, like 1979, however, sallows flowering in early April near aspens may produce an abundance of the former insect, and I once took numbers of the red form of O. gracilis at late-flowering sallows on one of the New Forest bogs (GoaTER).

Collecting catkins can produce larvae of several species of sallow moth. Freshly fallen catkins of black poplar collected in mid-April may contain small larvae of a local moth, the pale lemon sallow Xanthia ocellaris Bork. Sallow catkins picked at or just after the time of peak flowering will almost always be found to contain larvae of the pink-barred sallow X. togata Esp. and especially the sallow X. icteritia Hufn., often in extremely large numbers. I once separated 155 larvae from a bag full of about 250 catkins collected along a roadside in Scotland. The technique I found the most productive was to allow catkins 2-3 days to partially dry in a large paper bag,

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 35 shaken every day. After this time, ‘the catkins are riddled daily in a 4 inch-mesh garden sieve, the young larvae readily falling through. Several species of geometers and micros as well as other noctuids may also be collected at the same time (WATKINSON).

Imagines of Cleora cinctaria D. & S. may be found on the Scottish moors sitting on posts, trunks and especially on rocks. Larvae of Xestia alpicola alpina H. & W. may be found in late April at Aviemore and elsewhere, lying under lichens among bearberry and crowberry above 2,000 feet; and in odd years larvae of Psodos coracina Esp. may be found with them (RICHARDSON).

I have found many more specimens of the Sloe Carpet (Aleucis distinctata H.-S.) on blackthorns growing a foot or so high amongst heather than on the larger bushes in the thickets on the New Forest heaths. Use the appearance of the flowers as a guide to when the moth will be out (GOATER).

Being anxious to get my brood of Catocala fraxini through before the end of July owing to a proposed trip to Shetland, I started the larvae successfully on balsam poplar, which came earliest into leaf (RICHARDSON).

Patrol ash trees which are in flower at early dusk with a paraffin lantern and you will find larvae of the Centre-barred Sallow (Atethmia centrago Haw.) racing up the trunks. You, too, must trot your round, or you will miss them! (GOATER).

In early April, thick clumps of dead grass in hedgerows may if parted reveal cocoons of the ruby tiger Phragmatobia fulginosa L., usually several inches above soil (WATKINSON).

Lichens growing on rocks along the South and West coast should be searched for small pieces raised above the level of the rest. These may be the daytime resting places for larvae of the marbled green Cryphia muralis Forster. Other larvae, particularly Scoparia spp., can be found at the same time under smaller pieces of lichen. All are easily reared if provided with lichen which is lightly damped from time to time (WATKINSON).

Inspect the stems of Eupatorium cannabinum (hemp agri- mony). If you find small holes and sometimes slight swellings with holes you have probably found the dwelling of the plume moth Adaina microdactyla Hbn. Cut the stems near the ground, tie loosely together and stand in the garden, preferably with a little shelter against the worst of the weather. In early May put them in a muslin cage and keep an eye open for the moths that emerge. I have had 100% success using this method (BRADFORD).

The fiddle-shaped cases containing the larvae of the exquisitely coloured longhorn Nemophora fasciella F. occur at Stanford-le-Hope, as well as on the opposite side of the Thames estuary in Kent. The larva feeds on the small dead leaves attached to the lower part of the stems of Ballota nigra (Black Horehound), but drop off at the slightest disturbance. Thus, it pays to examine carefully the soil around the base of the plant after first brushing aside the nettles and other vegeta- tion usually surrounding the foodplant (CHALMERS-HunT).

56 ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD 1/11/80

Current Literature

The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark by C. A. Collingwood. 174 pp., 267 figures. Boards. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica, vol. 8. Scandinavian Science Press Ltd., Klampenborg, Denmark, 1979. The species included in this primarily taxonomic work

are those recorded from the British Isles, Norway, Sweden,

Finland and Denmark. The Channel Isles are also included

although their fauna is rather out of place and some intro-

duced species are dealt with.

Ant taxonomy seems to change in cycles and at present we are in a splitting phase with a return to the species limits proposed by Nylander and Bondroit, among others, whose judgements were made with even less adequate material. Many of the Lasius species synonymised by Wilson, for example, are revived and this should at least result in realistic investigation of their possible biological differences when they are not obscured by recording under too few names.

Collingwood brings us up to date both with new taxono- mic revision and with recent discoveries from this region such as Sifolinia and Myrmica hirsuta. The illustrations and keys are a great improvement on previous works, but some genera, of course, remain difficult to the non-specialist. Unfortunately the drawings of heads of Myrmica schencki and M. lobicornis are transposed which could be very confusing and there are several other points of difference between keys and illustra- tions which are less serious because correct interpretation is obvious.

Notes on the biology of each species are included, but are very brief, and there is a reference list containing some representative biological papers as well as the most relevant taxonomic works. The keys would have been more helpful to beginners if relevant biological information had been included instead of only those features observable in dead museum specimens. For example the smells of many ants are more distinctive than their macroscopic appearance, but there is no attempt to describe them. Reference to the valuable review by Way (Annual Review of Entomology, 1963) would have been an adequate substitute for not dealing wth the associa- tion between ants and aphids mor thoroughly.

__ These few adverse comments are minor in comparison with the general high quality of the book. We may well see a few more revisions of species where the status of described forms is stili in doubt — especially in Formica, Lasius and Leptothorax — but there can be no doubt that this is the standard work for indentification of ants of this region for many years to come and if it is superceded it will be because it has provided a clear basis for further work. — JoHN PONTIN.

EXCHANGES AND WANTS

Wanted — Records of Hamearis lucina (Duke of Burgundy) in Dorset, past or present. Also comments or observations on any aspect of its behaviour — for example, mate location, courtship, copulation and egglaying. — Mr. W. G. Shreeves, 5 Butts Mead, Shaftesbury, Dorset. The information is required for a study of this butterfly’s requirements on Naturalist’s Trust conservation areas.

(dag Puan le he teliencetopets: saws nasi} eaeangett : bit dd Viedhin het ian ate woe <1 eal Pei ee va’ GR Aa J cal ailiee Via “neiletigg thi Querying Aiea 3 pe r my wir eel Rel ed eld habs ot i Oi nei , any) «Av Awe ' tl ieee a5 une wiht ek, ‘

TD ince nN Pa iZ2 a eT of oth ‘Lets ee 5 uh thet gu 4 aw ipiion. al apes wn peuss Mw dlaghy ;

THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD

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The following gentlemen act as Honorary Consultants to the magazine. Orthoptera: D. K. Mc E. Kevan, Ph.D., B.Sc., F.R.E.S.; Coleoptera: A. A. ALLEN, B.Sc.; Diptera: E. C. M. d’AssiIs-FONSECA, F.R.E:S.

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