24
BROWN-TAIL
MOTHS.
Ampton (Nurse) ; Barnby Broad ; and beside the River Gipping at Sproughton, Claydon and Blakenham. I have taken it, also, commonly in both the Norfolk Broads and Cambs. Fens. Thus we see that, of the fourteen different British kinds not yet recorded from Suffolk, both species of Swnatochlora and JEschna ccerulea are sure not to occur because they are confined to Scotland ; Oxygastra Curtisi and Agrion mercuriale, because they are confined to southern England ; very improbable are Leucorrhinia dubia on account of its ränge being northern, Cordulegaster annulatus western, and Ischnürapumilio southern. But closer working than has yet been accorded our Dragonflies might well reveal the widely distributed /Eschna juncea ; Sympetrum Scoticum and Gomphus vulgatissimus, known to occur in Essex; Anax imperator and Lestes Dryas, recorded from both Essex and Cambs., in which latter county Pyrrhosoma tenellum is common and must, surely, extend across the border into Lakenheath or Mildenhall. The last is the largest parish in all our County and its possibilities in the way of the Fen Fauna's retention have never been adequately tested. C. M. B B O W N - T A I L MOTHS.—Although my house at Gorleston is not upon the outskirts of the town, I sometimes, when possessed of an optimistic spirit, turn on the light in the bathroom and open the window in the hope of attracting moths. On 20th J u l y I had just returned from a month's collecting in the New Forest, where four other entomologists yet lingered. Visions •of them there mopping up all sorts of rare species was too much for me ; so I feil back upon m y light. (De facto, a violent thunder-storm and heavy rain pinned them within doors !) And to the light came two male Brown-tails (Porthesia chrysorrhcea, Linn.), greatly to my surprise. I told a young collector of this capture the following day, with the result that he netted as m a n y as he wanted, Aying round a lamp in the main Shopping thoroughfare; also, I took a further seven specimens at light, sitting on walls, and on fences, which were all within the town. Neither of us saw a female. The sole example I have ever found before was a male, caught in a cobweb, on a wall at Aldeburgh about thirty years ago ; nevertheless, it made a fair cabinet specimen.—C. G. D O U G H T Y . [We similarly took the species at light in Ipswich during July, 1893 and 1897, but have not since met with i t ; though Mr. Platten secured fourteen at light there in 1899, since which time it has been sparingly taken at Felixstow (Entom. Ree. 1899, p. 367) and Bungay. No influx of Brown-tails this year appears in Insect periodicals.—Ed.]