1891.] 5 



CAN DEILEPniLA GALII BE FOUND IN THE LARYAL STATE 

 EVERY YEAR IN ENGLAND? 



BY W. H. TUGWELL. 



Mr. C. G-. Barrett, in Ent. Mo. Mag., 1890, p. 300, says, " that lie is assured 

 that gain larvae are to be found every year in the sweeps of sandy coast from 

 Llandudno, North Wales, to Grange, in the north of Lancashire." 



I assume that by Mr. Barrett's particularly mentioning the names of Messrs. 

 Capper, Gregson, Pierce, and Harker, that his information is to be taken as coming 

 from them ; if this is the case, I am in the position to prove that that idea is certainly 

 not held by nearly all these gentlemen, as they know well, what I shall later on 

 prove by facts, that there is no evidence that galli has been taken or seen on the 

 Wallasey sand-hills since 1870 until 1S88, a period of 18 years. 



Lancashire and Cheshire have long been noted as the home of some of our best, 

 keenest, and hardworking entomologists. Such men as the late Mr. Nicholas 

 Cooke, Mr. N. Greening, Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, with Messrs. Gregson, Capper, 

 J. B. Hodgkinson, and a small army of minor workers; most, if not all, of these 

 gentlemen have been in the habit of freely recording the results of their labours in 

 the entomological serials, such as the " Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer," the 

 " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," and the " Entomologist." Through the pages 

 of these journals I have made a most careful search for any record on the capture 

 of gain, and with the following pretty conclusive results : — 



In the "Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer" for 1856, we read that a single 

 larva was taken at Brighton, as it stands as having been bred in 1857 ; and there 

 are five more reported as captured imagines, one each at Brighton, Rugely, and 

 Lewishara, and two at Stowmarket. In 1858, three are chronicled, one each at 

 Brighton, Worthing, and Southport. In 1859, there are twelve reported captures 

 of imagines, spread over a considerable area, viz., Gainsborough, Darlington, Hack- 

 ney, Suffolk, Cambridge, Oundle, Somerset, Kent, Beccles, and Macclesfield ; and 

 larva of galii were found at Hackney, Dover, and Wallasey. 



In the pages of the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," from 1864 until 1870, 

 there is no record of D. galii being found at all, but in 1870 they occurred in some 

 numbers all over England, extending to Perthshire. In 1871, eighteen larvse are 

 reported from Brighton ; but from 1871 until 1888, a period of 17 years, not asingle 

 capture of galii is on record, either as imagines or larvae. 



In vol. xxiii of Ent. Mo. Mag., 1886-7, there is a most important item bearing 

 on this very question : Dr. J. W. Ellis, in an article or paper on " Entomological 

 localities near Liverpool," writing of Wallasey sand-hills, page 60, says, " by examining 

 the tufts of yellow Oalium {Galium ventm), the larvse of Deilepkila galii maybe 

 looked for; it once occurred in abundance here (in 1870), btit it has not heen met 

 with since." Now, few people knew this locality perhaps better than did Dr. Ellis ; 

 he had, in company with many other entomological friends, closely worked this spot, 

 yet he says most distinctly, that galii had not been found at Wallasey since 1870. 

 Writing this in 1887, this gives a period of 17 years in which there is absolutely no 

 record of galii having been seen. How does tlie assured occurrence of it every year 

 agree with this statement ? Wlio has found it every year ? 



A strict search through the whole series of the pages of the " Entomologist " 



