MOTH HUNTING IN ESSEX IN 1932.
33
(S. Limonium), looking very like a "Daddy Long Legs." The
Rosy Wave (A. emutaria) and Mathew's Wainscot (L. favicolor),
both frequenters of the "marshes," occurred at dusk. One
evening the experiment was tried of taking a 300 c.p.
incandescent lamp and sheet on to the marsh; the "bag" was
not a very large one, the best capture being a female Blotched
Emerald (P. bajularia) which must have strayed a long way
away from its natural oak wood habitat, but yielded a nice little'
lot of progeny. Our light caused a certain interest among the
natives, and towards midnight a head appeared over the sea-
wall and a voice announced that it was "nuff to frighen 'ee." We
also heard afterwards that there were strange rumours of
smugglers being at work. It was in truth a somewhat eerie
experience, the only sound the lapping of the tide on the mud
and the occasional call of a red-shank. Sugar was also tried
on the marsh in the hopes of taking the Crescent Striped
(M. abjecta), but attracted hardly anything ; a second trial in
mid-August produced a single White-Spotted Pinion (C.
diffinis), which was obviously another straggler, this time from
the elms, which grow freely in the hedgerows near Salcot village.
With this clue we sugared the aforesaid elm trees and obtained a
considerable number, though we were rather late and condition
was not too good. Several females laid freely on pieces of elm
bark, inserting the ova into crevices, for which purpose they
have an unusually long ovipositor.
The country near Danbury is of a very different nature ;
heathland with oak and birch scrub. It is here in a very restricted
locality that the Rosy Marbled Moth (E. venustula) has its home
and has been found abundantly every year, or, rather, the
males have ; the female is very rarely captured and seems to
remain concealed in the heather. This may be the reason why
the moth is so local in its occurrence, as the food-plant, the
Tormentil (P. Tormentilla) is of general distribution. The
Scalloped and Pebble Hook Tips (P. lacertula and P. falcula)
also occurred here in the larval state, while the Purple Hairstreak
Butterfly (T. quercus) could commonly be seen among the oats,
and the larvae beaten earlier in the season. Its near relative,
the White-letter Hairstreak (T. W-album) still maintains itself
in plenty where the wych-elm is found in the Colchester district.
One of the best captures of the season was the Pale-Lemon