Page:VCH Hertfordshire 1.djvu/155

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INSECTS ARCTIAD.S: (continued) Barnet (Gillum) ; Bricket Wood (Cottam) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) Mr. Arthur Cottam has taken this pretty insect rather plentifully at ' sugar ' at Bricket Wood, and Mr. Stockley says that it comes rather freely to ' light ' at Haileybury. At Cheshunt it is scarce Miltochrista senex, Hb. Sandridge (Griffith); Haileybury (Bowyer), ' once,' School List Nudaria mundana, L. Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hertford (Stephens) ; Duckmore Lane, Tring (Le Quesne, Elliman) ; Ches- hunt (Boyd) ' An immense swarm ' was re- ported to the Hertfordshire Natural History Society (Transactions I. xvii.) as having occurred at ' light ' at Har- penden on December I3th, 1879, but this was an obvious error, one of the winter moths being of course referred to. Mr. Elliman reports that a few specimens were taken in Duckmore Lane, Tring, by Mr. Le Quesne and himself, and he remarks that when beaten out of a hedge this species frequently feigns death. Mr. Boyd finds this to be a local insect Nola cucullatella, L. St. Albans (A. E. G.) ; Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Durrant) ; East Barnet (Gillum) ; Watford (Spencer) ; Hemel Hemp- stead (B. PifFard) ; Haileybury (School List) ; Tring (Elliman) ; Bushey Heath (Barraud) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) This insect is taken occasionally at ' light, ' though Mr. Elliman re- ports it to be ' more common in the larval than imago stage ' Sarropthripus undulana, Hb. (revayana, Tr.). Bushey Heath (Barraud) ; Bricket Wood (Cottam) ; Feldon, near Boxmoor (A. PifFard) Mr, Cottam captured this insect at Bricket Wood in 1899 > Mr. Bar- raud took one specimen at ' light ' on November 1st, 1900 ; and Mr. Albert Piffard secured another in the same year. It is probably over- looked by collectors, who mistake it for a Tortrix Earius chlorana, L. Cheshunt (Boyd) Hylophila bicolorana, Fuesl. (quercana, Schiff.). Bricket Wood (Stoyel, A. E. G.) ; Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hit- chin (Durrant) ; Tring (Goodson) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) Halias prasinana, L. Bricket Wood (Cot- ARCTIAD^: (continued) tarn, A. E. G.) ; Sandridge (Griffith) ; Hitchin (Durrant) ; Tring, larvae (Hon. L. Walter Rothschild) ; Stevenage (Matthews) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) This and the two preceding species are not often met with Tyria jacobasae, L. St. Albans (A. Lewis, A. E. G.) ; Watford (Cutts, Spencer, A. E. G.) ; Welwyn (G. Buller, A. E.G.); Hemel Hempstead(B.Piffsird); Sandridge (Griffith); Hitchin (Dur- rant) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; Hert- ford (Stephens) ; East Barnet (Gil- lum) ; Tring (Elliman, Le Quesne) ; Stevenage (Matthews) ; Bishop Start- ford (Taylor) ; Broxbourne (Boyd) ; Railway bank, Oxhey, and Oxhey Wood (H. Rowland-Brown) This species appears to be gener- ally distributed throughout the county, although in some localities it is much more abundant than in others. I have found the larvae in very great numbers feeding upon ragwort in the Tunnel Woods at Watford. Mr. Matthews on the other hand reports that it is not at all common at Stevenage, and that he has only seen two or three specimens. Several observers have taken it prin- cipally in the imago stage at ' light.' Writing from Haileybury, Mr. G. C. H. Stockley says it is ' becoming scarcer, but the increased growth of its food plant (ragwort) will no doubt bring up its numbers again ' Utetheisa pulchella, L. East Barnet (Rtlhl) In 1892 Mr. Rtlhl, the school- master at the Boys' Farm Home, East Barnet, captured a specimen of this moth on the embankment of the Great Northern Railway near Oak- leigh Park Station, just within the county boundary. The insect is now in my possession Phragmatobia fuliginosa, L. Bricket Wood (A. E. G.) ; Haileybury (Bowyer) ; Hertford (Stephens) ; East Barnet (Gillum) ; Watford (Spencer) ; Tring (Goodson) ; Stevenage (Matthews) ; Cheshunt (Boyd) ; Roys ton (A. H. Kingston) Mr. Matthews reports this insect as being fairly common in his district, but with Mr. Boyd it is scarce, he having seen only one or two speci- mens at Cheshunt. In the Haileybury School List one bred specimen is re- ported