192 A. E. GIBBS NOTES OS LEPIDOPTEEA. 



took the yellow-legged clearwing {Sesia asiliformis) near Sanclridge. 

 This is the first record of the occurrence of this moth in our 

 county. Mr. H. Warner, of Wormley, says that the broad-bordered 

 bee clearwing-moth [S. fuciformis) is to be taken in his neighbour- 

 hood. It seems to be very local, and is generally found in one 

 particular swampy spot at the road- side, but it also frequents the 

 woods where the bugle is plentiful. 



The Goat Moth ( Cossus ligniperda) — A. most extraordinary find 

 of goat-moth larvae is reported from Station Road, Hitchin, by Mr. 

 F. Latchmore. Over 200 were taken wandering about a small 

 walled garden in search of a place to "spin up." Two or three 

 young aspen trees in the garden were literally riddled with " goat- 

 holes." Mr. Latchmore was kind enough to send to me a large 

 batch of these larva3 which I have kept through the winter. They 

 have not changed to pupae, but have hybemated in sawdust, and 

 are just beginning to show signs of moving. The larvae of the 

 goat-moth are wood-feeders. The egg is laid by the parent moth 

 in the crevices of the bark of a number of our forest and orchard 

 trees, and the young grub, as soon as hatched, begins to eat its 

 way into the wood of the living tree, which is often, as Mr. Latch- 

 more says, "literally riddled with holes." It remains in the larva 

 state three years, during which time it can do an immense amount 

 of damage. It then turns to a chrysalis in one of its galleries, and 

 just before emergence forces itself to the entrance, whence the 

 moth escapes, leaving the empty pupa-shell projecting from the 

 tree. Several reports have been made to this Society at different 

 times with reference to the damage done by this insect, and I 

 believe that the fij'st entomological obsei'vation which was read 

 before us was a note by Mr. J. H. James in 1875, on the 

 "Destruction of an Oak-tree by the Larvae of the Goat Moth."* 

 Miss E. A. Ormerod, in her most useful ' Manual of Injurious 

 Insects,' a work which every farmer and gardener should study, 

 gives full directions for dealing with this insect should it become a 

 pest. 



The Wood-Leopaed Moth [Zeuzera pyrina). — The wood-leopard 

 moth is another insect whose larvae feed on the living wood of 

 many different trees. In 1891 Mr John Hopkinson sent to me a 

 female found in his garden at St. Albans, and it laid a quantity of 

 eggs, but I was not successful in rearing them. Mr. J. E. K. 

 Cutts tells me that he found that a larva had attacked one of his 

 fruit-trees, and he was fortunate in catching the moth just as it 

 emerged from the pupa-case, which it left projecting from the hole 

 in the tree. Mr. Latchmore says that at Hitchin this insect is 

 very common in the perfect state, and is taken at rest in the day- 

 time in various parts of the town. 



The Small Eggae {Er log aster lanestris). — In June Mr. Arthur 

 Lewis found on a slow-bush on Harpenden Common a web of the 

 caterpillars of the small eggar, from which he took a number 



* 'Trans. Watford Nat. Hist. Soc.,' Yol. I, p. 64. 



