1S76.] 15 



The third and largest pot of A. Jlexuosa, though greatly ravaged, still had a 

 little of the grass alive, and here, amongst a great niunber of the silken galleries, I 

 was glad to find foui' tenanted ; one gallery was covered with dry frass, the other 

 three partially protected externally with small particles of moss, some of which was 

 growing in patches at the base of the gi-ass ; each was spun amongst the grass in a 

 vertical position, the lower end rather over half an inch from the earth ; the length 

 of these galleries varied from three-quarters of an inch to one inch and a quarter; 

 their shape a little inclining to fusiform, but yet rather irregular in figure, made of 

 strong grey silk, and very smooth within. Wlien removed to a fresh pot oi Jlexuosa 

 these larva; fed well for a time, but early in June they deserted these dwellings and 

 constructed little silken lined tunnels in the light soil amongst the upper parts of 

 the grass roots, and therein, diu-ing July, they pupated. The moths appeared from 

 August 1st to 11th. 



The egg of tristellus — which, as far as the experience of these two batches enables 

 me to speak, appears to be deposited free, and not attached by the moth to anything — is 

 in size rather large for that of the moth, of a long elliptical shape, and ribbed longi- 

 tudinally ; when first laid, of a wliitish straw colour, turning in about five days to 

 buff, on the tenth day to light brown, from thence growing gradually to dark brown 

 or dark red, and, within two days of hatching, to a dingy purplish tint. In this 

 instance, the hatching continued at intervals from the sixteenth to the nineteenth day. 



When first hatched, the larva is less than the sixteenth of an inch long, of a dingy 

 pink colour, with large black head and plate on the second segment. Not having 

 examined them till the following spring, I can give no account of the intermediate 

 moults, but, towards the end of April in the following year, I found the smallest 

 larva to be three-eighths of an inch, two others about half an inch, and the largest 

 three-quarters of an inch, in length ; the ground colour of the smallest pale piukish- 

 grey, the next sizes more strongly tinged with pink, and the largest a darker reddish- 

 grey, the ground colour of each being paler on the hinder segments, and, by degrees, 

 darker towards the head ; the belly a little paler than the back. The conspicuous 

 chai'acter of this genus — the dark shining spots — were, in the smallest example, lightish 

 brown, and blackish-brown in the others ; the anterior plate dingy bi'own in the 

 smallest, and quite black in the largest, dorsally divided by a fine thread of greyish ; 

 the head of each was quite black, and the hinder plate of the ground colour. At 

 the beginning of June, the larvte, then full-grown, were all of about the same size, 

 measuring three-quarters of an inch in length, and their skins changed to a light 

 fawn colour and to light brown, and, as before, smooth without gloss, the head, plates, 

 and spots only being glossy ; the spots on the thoracic segments transversely oval 

 and fusiform, on the back of the other segments the first pair transversely squarish- 

 ovate, the second pair transversely linear ; those along the sides longitudinally 

 squarish-ovate ; those situated behind and below the spiracles of the ground colour, 

 but shining ; the spiracles small, round, and black. 



The pupa nearly half an inch in length, rather slender, withlongish wing-covers, 

 smooth and shining, of a light brown colour. — William Buckler, Emsworth : 

 April 3rd, 187G. 



[The species of Crambus are generally looked upon as comparatively harmless 

 insects, but, from the foregoing account, it is evident that C. tristellus, where it 

 abounds, can be a destructive pest in grass lands. — Eds.] 



