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