NOTES ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 171
breeding somewhere near. It was about one mile distant from the spot where I
saw short-eared owls in August, 1884, and two miles from where they bred in 1889
(see Zool. 1889, p. 453)."
Captures of Lepidoptera in Essex.—Atthe meeting of the City of London
Entomological Society on May 21st, Mr. Battley exhibited various Lepidoptera
from Southend, including Lydina argiolus, Biston hirtaria, Aleucis pictaria and
Psyche pullella ; and at a meeting of the same Society on June 18th, Mr. Huckett
showed a box of insects taken near Epping on May 23rd and June 6th, including
Platypteryx hamula, P. lacertula, Nola cristualis, Corycia temerata, Tephrosia
consonaria, &c. On July 22nd, Mr. Hill exhibited a fine aberration of Argynnis
euphrosyne, taken by a lad in Epping Forest some years ago. The upper surfaces
of the wings were much suffused with black, and the silver spots on the under
sides were reduced to mere streaks. On July 16th, Mr. Clark exhibited a series
of Heliodes arbuti from Epping Forest; Mr. Gates, Psyche reticella from Southend,
and Dr. Buckell a series of Ephyra trilinearia from Epping Forest, which varied
considerably in (1) the basal line, which was well marked in some, but scarcely
to be traced in others ; (2) central line, usually narrower in the females, but in
one specimen (female) it was exaggerated into a band ; (3) discoidal spot on (a)
upper wings, not to be traced in one specimen, well marked in others, and out-
lined with black in one ; (b) hind wings to be traced in all, and often well marked.
The position of this spot varied from being imbedded in the median line, to half-
way between median and basal lines. Mr. Bayne exhibited Demas coryli, Tephro-
sia consonaria, Emmelesia affinitata and Ephyra porata from Epping. Mr. Battley
reported that he had met with Hesperia lineola commonly on July 14th between
Benfleet and Leigh. He thought that it was more sluggish than H. tinea, and it
was very easy to detect the difference between these two species when at rest.
[We have taken these records from the reports in Mr. Tutt's useful "Entomo-
logists' Record."—Ed.].
"Assembling" of Geometer Moths.—The mysterious phenomenon of the
attractive influence of a virgin female moth is well known to occur amongst various
groups of the Bombicidae, but the records of the "'sembling" power are much
fewer in other families. It may therefore be worth while to print the following
observations :—In mid-June last, having a number of pupa: of Amphidasis
betularia, the cage containing them was placed at the window of an upper room
overlooking my garden at Buckhurst Hill, a great extent of forest and thickly-
wooded park land lying beyond. As the female "pepper moths" emerged in the
cage an astonishing sight presented itself. For several successive nights numbers
of male moths congregated to the spot and flew around the cage and into the
room. Scores might have been easily taken, and most of them were in fine con-
dition. When the cage was taken into the garden, a few moths were attracted,
but nothing like the swarm around the upper window. My brother and I had
previously noticed this "'sembling" in two other species of Geometrae. In New
Forest, many years ago, we observed numbers of the pretty "emerald moth,"
Hemithea strigata, all males, flying around a small bush, and a careful search
revealed a female ensconced therein. On another occasion, in May, 1875, a
similar phenomenon was observed in Epping Forest, near Woodford, the species
being the common "brimstone moth," Rumia luteolata. It is worthy of note that
in the "Entomologist" for May, our member, the Rev. G. H. Raynor, records a
remarkable instance of "'sembling" in the case of Brephos parthenias, a moth
M 2