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SOME INSECTS THAT SEEM TO BE INCREASING IN THE COUNTY. I take four that have especially come under my notice :— Hadena ochroleuca Esp. Morley wrote in his " M e m o i r " published in 1937 : " This superb noctua is certainly becoming quite scarce." A few sitting on Breck flowers in 1928 at Freckenham, was the only record since 1890, when Bloomfield considered it " somewhat scarce." In the last decade, records have been fairly frequent, and in the Stowmarket district it has been noted as quite common. Morley saw his first specimen at Monks Soham in 1950 after forty years, and I have seen my first specimen here after fifty years—though our member Mr. Pease was the first to note it, in this district. This year it has come freely to my grandson's moth trap and a specimen flew into my own room. A chalk district insect, one wonders whether the ploughing up the heathlands and the heavy liming of the same has created conditions in some way favourable for it. Dactylis is the ordinary pabulum common everywhere ; perhaps it finds it more palatable, when growing in a chalky soil! Aletia albipuncta Fabr. In the " Memoir," only one specimen is recorded, taken by me in 1902. There have been many records in the last few years, from Felixstowe to Kessingland. August and September are the usual months for the occurrence of this insect, but to my surprise, my grandson, Alfred Waller, brought me two beautiful specimens taken in his light trap on May 27th. A very early date.* Last year it was plentiful. This year it has really been in xemarkable abundance. Aporophyla lutulenta Borkh. Taken in Suffolk first by Col. Hawley on sugar in Staverton Thicks, 1932. More recently recorded from Aldeburgh and Needham and occurred here last year. This year, as I am writing, my grandson has just been in with three fine specimens. The insect appears to be establishing itself in the county. Caradrina pyralina View. In the " Memoir " we read " continues to be local and uncommon." No recent records tili 1935, when Mr. P. J. Burton found it at Henham. Bloomfield considered it rare. Now we have many records from widely distant localities. I had never noted it in this district before last year, when jny grandson took a few specimens in his light trap. This year it has been commoner than C. affini which is ahvays with us. Sept., 1953.
A.
P.
WALLER,
Waldringfield. *(The first brood—ED.).
SOME INSECTS INCREASING I N THE COUNTY
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OBSERVATIONS.—Many more Large Tortoiseshells (Nymphalis polychloros L.) have been seen in, and around Ipswich this spring than for several years past. A few fully grown larvae were found crawling on the elms at the entrance to Belstead Woods in June ; the remnants of the larval web were discovered a few feet away. A decaying carcase of a hedgehog, besides attracting a male Purple Emperor (the purpose for which the carcase had been hung up), was visited and fed from at regulär intervals throughout the whole of one day by a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta L.), and also, occasionally, by a Comma (Polygonia c-album L.). The other butterflies in the neighbourhood, some of the Whites and Browns and also many Silverwashed Fritillaries, took no notice of the smell and flew straight past. It would be interesting to experiment to determine which species are attracted to Carrion. When I visited the Bury St. Edmund's district on 27th June, with Mr. H. E. Chipperfield, a few larvae were beaten from Barberry. One of these pupated and produced a Barberry Carpet (Coenotephria berberata Schiff.) on 3rd August. On 27th June, too, a Viper's Bugloss (Anepia irregularis Huf.) was found at rest near Icklingham, at a spot where grows the Spanish Catchfly, the foodplant of the larva. At Claydon chalk pit, on 29th June, a pair of damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum Charp.) were watched during oviposition. The pair were Aying " in tandem," the male holding the back of the head of the female with his tail appendages. They came to rest on a stem a few inches above the water, and crawled backwards and downwards until the female reached the surface of the water. The male then released her and she continued to descend into the water to a depth of at least four inches below the surface. The muddy State of the water prevented further visibility, but the total depth of water was about ten inches. The female stayed below for not less than ten minutes, the male meanwhile keeping close at hand and driving off any other male that came near. When the female came to the surface she was immediately seized once more by the male, and the pair then flew away.—S. BEAUFOY. SUFFOLK N O T E S FOR 1953.—On April 8th, 22nd and 25th, Panolis piniperda Panz = (flammea Schiff) emerged from larvae found at Icklingham in 1952. This does not appear to be a very common moth in Suffolk.
On April 26th, several webs of Euproctis chrysorrhaea Hbn., larvae were seen on hawthorn at Orford. I am very pleased to be able to report that the typical insects of the Breck District, Anepia irregularis Huf., Emmelia trabealis
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SOME INSECTS INCREASING IN THE COUNTY
Scop. andLithostege griseata Schiff, are maintaining their numbers in their respective haunts. It is to be hoped that the Society will be able to prevent the destruction of one area where the foodplant of A. irregularis H u f n . grows. In view of the doubts expressed in the last Transactions as to the continued existence of Coenotephria berberata Schiff., in the Bury St. Edmunds area, I can confirm that both this species and Calocalpe cerzinalis Scop. (=certata Hbn.) still continue to survive there, though the foodplant Berberis vulgaris does not appear to be as plentiful as formerly. On June 5th, a Hyloicus pinastri L. emerged from a pupa formed by a larva found at Great Finborough in 1952. This indicates a further spread westwards from its main headquarters. A male Stauropus fagi L. was found in Stowmarket Place on July 7th and a Cosmia pyralina View, there on July 19th. On September 5th I saw a single Colias croceus Fourc. at Bradley, the only specimen I have seen this y e a r — H . E. CHIPPERFIELD, Stowmarket. NOTES
ON E N T O M O L O G Y . — T o w a r d s
the
end
of
May,
1953,
a specimen of the Death's Head Hawk Moth (Acherontia atropos Linn.) was brought to me. It was found in a house in Rotterdam Road, Lowestoft, and was in very good condition in spite of having been pushed into a cigarette packet—P. J . BURTON. I was anxious to see if the serious sea floods early this year, 1953, had had a very adverse effect on the insects of the coastal marshes, but various circumstances have prevented me from doing much field work this year. I did, however, visit some reed beds near Southwold one day in early June and saw welcome evidence of larval activity. On July lOth, Mr. G. Baker and I tried our lamps in the Walberswick marshes. Insects were not numerous, but among other species we saw a few Leucania pallens Linn., and L. straminea Treits., Arenostala phragmitidis Hbn., Chilodes maritima Tausch., one of which proved to be f. wismariensis, also Zando-gnathos cribrumalis Hbn., and Scopular emutaria H b n . T h e most welcome capture was a single example of Nonagria neurica Hbn., which Mr. Baker found at rest on a grass stalk. This is the earliest date when I have seen this species. It seems that although the marshes were submerged by the sea, the insect population at any rate survived the ordeal. Probably the submergence was of too short a duration to be lethal, even to the hibernating larvae.—P. J. BURTON.
