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NOTES ON SUFFOLK LEPIDOPTERA

emerged specimen of this rare moth. I can find no record for the county since Bloomfield noted the solitary capture at Elmsett before 1890. Baron de Worms in his delightful review of the rarer species noted in the British Isles has mentioned the increasing number of this rare moth. In 1953 and 1954 it was taken in the south and north and again last year he says : " It was quite numerous at light in the south and in the midlands."

Several birch trees are near the light-trap and alders about half a mile distant. It will be interesting to know if it has been observed elsewhere in the County, since it is possible that there may have been an immigration from another part of the country.

A . P . WALLER (CANON),

Waldringfield.

MORE NOTES ON SUFFOLK LEPIDOPTERA, 1957 b y D R . NEVILLE L .

BIRKETT

Until this year I had not attempted any collecting of lepidoptera in Suffolk though I was familiar with parts of the county as a result of serving therein on various R . A . F . Stations during the last war. T h i s year I determined to have a look for some of the more special insects for which the county is justly famous and so it came about that I spent a week at the Randolph Hotel at Reydon, just outside Southwold. I arrived in Southwold on 13th July, 1957 and stayed until the following Saturday, 20th July. T h e weather during my visit could hardly be described as ideal for lepidoptera and sunshine was conspicuous by its more or less absence. Night work was considerably hampered by clear, cool evenings with accompanying heavy dew—poor conditions for insect activity. However, in spite of these difficulties my overall bag was not to be despised and I did take a number of much desired moths, though perhaps not in the numbers I should have liked. L e t me hasten to say that I added nothing new to the knowledge of the fauna of the area, but merely followed in the footsteps of those who had gone before.

I received much help from M r . G . J . Baker of Reydon who is, as is well known, doing some Sterling work on the nocturnal moths of the area. H e put much of his great local knowledge at my disposal. T o M r . H. E. Chipperfield of Stowmarket I also

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must accord a word of thanks for the very material and practical help and advice meted out to me at no little inconvenience to himself.

On nights when I was not out collecting with the m / v lamp and generator, I was able to run a portable trap in the grounds of the Randolph Hotel and this was only one of the many kindly facilities provided for me by the proprietors of that establishment— Mr. and Mrs. Smeed. My night sorties were carried out with the object of covering as many habitats as possible in the limited time at my disposal. I did night work at the following localities : the sandhills just south of Southwold, marsh just north of the town, near Potter's Bridge, Walberswick Marsh, and in Reydon itself at the back of the hotel. I did little day collecting, though a visit to Aldeburgh provided one very worn male Hyloicus pinastri and an evening visit to Thorpeness two pupae of Nonagria sparganii which subsequently produced deformed imagines.

Sunday night, 14.vii.1957. Visited marsh about one mile north of Reydon on the Lowestoft road. Worked m / v lamp after a short spell dusking among the reeds, which produced one Leucania straminea and one Arenostola phragmitidis. At the light I took some 40 species, but mainly as singletons (the temperature at midnight had dropped to 49°F.). Perhaps worthy of mention are Nola albula, Celaena lencostigma, Lygephila pastinum, Dypterygia scabriuscula, etc. Very few Geometers put in an appearance.

Monday, 15.vii.1957. Visited sandhills south of Southwold and also ran the m /v trap in hotel grounds. The sandhills were visited and the heads of the lyme-grass examined by means of a paraffin vapour lamp and later a little collecting at the car headlamps was indulged in. On the sandhills I took a number of interesting species—Cncullia asteris, Arenostola elymi (which was common and held on very firmly to the grass heads swaying in a considerable breeze), Leucania straminea, Apamea oblonga and a number of other more common species. I was surprised that Leucania litoralis did not appear.

In the trap at the hotel there was quite a good haul which included Hadena compta, Heliophobus anceps, Laothoe populi and Deilephila porcellus, etc. The night was not climatically very good, so one had to be content with small fare.

Tuesday, 16.vii.1957. Ideal night conditions—muggy damp with the thermometer at 56°F. at midnight. Swarms of insects came to the trap at Reydon and more swarms were sitting about in the surrounding herbage. I noted over 80 species this night the more noteworthy of which were :—Gastropacha quercifolia, Sphinx ligustri, Eilema griseola, Agrotis vestigialis, Triphaena

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fimbria, Polia nitens, Hadena suasa, Heliophobus anceps, Dypterygia scabriuscula, Cucullia asteris, Pyrrhia umbra, Lygephila pastinum, Zeuzera pyrina.

This last seemed not to enter the trap, but to sit about on the surrounding Vegetation. I took two specimens only.

Wednesday, 17.vii.1957. Night conditions poor with much cold rain. I again operated the trap at the hotel, but results were much smaller than on the previous night. The only species of interest were Xanthorrhoe quadrifasciaria, Pheosia tremula and Laspeyria flexula.

Thursday, 18.vii.1957. This night I met Mr. Chipperfield and we first visited the marshes near Thorpeness to search for pupae of Nonagria sparganii with results already noted. Apart from anything eise it may be noted that Ceratopogonids were extremely active in this area at dusk ! After a short stay at Thorpeness we made our way to the marshes at Walberswick and on the edge of these worked a mercury vapour lamp and wandered up and down the main pathways through the fen.

We were lucky each to take a single Nonagria neurica. We were a little early in the season for this species to be well out. Conditions were not good and there was a heavy dew and considerable moon. Besides the neurica we took Leucania straminea, Arenostola phragmitidis, Simyra albovenosa, Zanclognatha cribrumalis (sitting about singly and in pairs on the reeds), Hadena compta and a small number of commoner species. On returning to Southwold after the Walberswick visit I went to the sandhills south of the town. Here at 2 a.m., I found Arenostola elymi swarming on the grass heads and hundreds came down on to the road in front of my car attracted by the headlights. I was also pleased to take another Apamea oblonga which I found on a marram head.

LIST

OF

THE

MACRO-HETEROCERA DISTRICT,

TAKEN

IN

THE

SOUTHWOLD

1957

Sphinx ligustri L., Laothoe populi L., Deilephila elpenor L., Hyloicus pinastri L., Pheosia tremula Cl., Deilephila porcellus L., Phalera bucephala L., Habrosyne pyritoides Hufn., Thyatira batis L., Euproctis similis Fues., Malacosoma neustria L., Philudoria potatoria L., Gastropacha quercifolia L., Nola cucullatella L., Nola albula Schf., Comacla senex Hb., Eilema griseola Hb., Spilosoma lubricipeda L., Spilosoma lutea Hufn., Phragmatobia fuliginosa L., Arctia caia L., Callimorpha jacobaeae L.,—larvae a b u n d a n t ; Euxoa tritici L., Agrotis segetum Schf., Agrotis vestigialis Hufn., Agrotis exclamationis L., Lycophotia varia Vill., Graphiphora augur Fab., Ochropleura plecta L., Amathes ditrapezium Schf.,

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Axylia putris L., Triphaena pronuba L., LamprafimbriataSchreb., Mamestra brassicae L., Melanchra persicariae L., Polia nit Haw., Diataraxia oleracea L., Ceramica pisi L., Hadena trifolii Hufn., Hadena suasa Schf., Hadena Serena Schf., Hadena com Fab., Hadena bicruris Hufn., Heliophobus anceps Hb., Cerapter graminis L., Leucania pallens L., Leucania favicolor Barr., Leuc impura Hb., Leucania straminea Tr., Leucania comma L., Leuc lithargyria Esp., Leucania conigera Schf., Cucullia asteris Schf., Apatele psi L., Apatele trioens Schf., Simyra albovenosa Goze Amphipyra eragopoginis Cl., Rusina umbratica Goze., Dyptery scabriuscula L., Apamea lithoxylea Schf., Apamea monoglyp Hufn., Apamea oblonga Haw., Apamea secalis L., Procus fasciun Haw., Procus furuncula Schf., Phlogophora meticulosa L., Carad morpheus Hufn., Caradrina blanda Schf., Caradrina clavipalpi Scop., Celaena leucostigma Hb., Pyrrhia umbra Hufn., Arenosto elymi Tr., Arenostola phragmitidis Hb., Nonagria sparganii Esp Nonagria typhae Thun., Nonagria neurica Hb., Plusia chrysitis Plusia iota L., Plusia gamma L., Abrostola tripartita Hufn., Lygephila pastinum Tr., Hypena proboscidalis L., Zanclogna tarsipennalis Tr., LaspeyriaflexulaSchf., Geometra papilionaria L., Sterrha emarginata L., Sterrha aversata L., Sterrha bisela Hufn., Sterrha dimidiata Hufn., Scopula imitaria Hb., Cosymbia punctaria L., Ortholitha chenopodiata L., Xanthorhoe ferruga CL, Xanthorhoe quadrifasciaria Cl., Euphyia unangulata Haw Pelurga comitata L., Hydriomena furcata Thun., Eupitliecia linari Schf., Eupithecia centaureata Schf., Eupithecia succenturiata L Chloroclystis rectangulata L., Gonodontis elinguaria L., Ourap sambucaria L., Opisthograptis luteolata L., Itarne wauaria Biston betularia L., Deuteronomos alniaria L., Zeuzera pyrina Hepialus lumuli L. This makes a total of 109 species.

Of the so-called micro-lepidoptera I took a few species only and most of these were quite common. Perhaps the most noteworthy was Pyrausta nubilalis Hb., of which I took two males at light in Southwold.

I trust these few notes of my Suffolk experiences may be of interest to other collectors and it is certainly a district that can be strongly recommended for the entomologist seeking a quiet place for a holiday where he will also find many good insects.