1891.1 ' 319 



whitish silk, of the shape of the cocoon of Z. filipendula, either on the muslin 

 covering or the side of the pot, or occasionally on the surface of the earth or on 

 some part of the plant. It always seems to leave its habitation for a convenient 

 spot. The pupa, to which it turns in a few days, is distinctly visible through the 

 cocoon. It is about 3^"' in length, greenish-yellow in colour, with a dark brown 

 subdorsal spot on each segment, and with more or less trace of a corresponding 

 double marking underneath. The tip of the abdomen approaches to brown, and the 

 wing, leg, and antennse cases are brown, the eye-cases black. These markings are 

 sometimes obsolete, though generally distinct. The pupa appears to the naked eye 

 to be smooth, but with a microscope can be seen small blackish bristles, corresponding 

 to those on the larva, and a few very fine long hooks at the tail. The divisions 

 between the segments are not furnished with spines or hooks. Each of these caudal 

 hooks is like a straight piece of wire sharpened at the end, the extreme tip being 

 bent over to form the hook. 



The first larva spun its cocoon at the beginning of June, and the 

 first imago emerged on the 27th of that mouth, so that the pupa state 

 lasts about three weeks. I have found this moth very retiring in its 

 habits, and after a few weeks, during which it flies but little, and that 

 only at night, when it occasionally visits flowers, it appears to settle 

 down in its hibernating quarters until the spring. Before 1887, I 

 believe that not more than half a dozen specimens had been taken at 

 Portland, and none for many years, though the species is not really a 

 rarity there, but is hard to get in the imago state. 



The Portland form of this moth is very handsome : the inner 

 margin being white, or nearly so, and sharply contrasted with the rest 

 of the wing. It varies very little in this locality. 



From the above description it will be seen that this larva has 

 many points in common with that of Plutella cruciferarum, the 

 notorious " Diamond-back moth," which at present shares the honours 

 of the Colorado beetle and the Hessian fly. 



Montevideo, near Weymouth : 

 November, 1891. 



A NEW GENUS OF RISTERIBM. 

 BY GEOKGE LEWIS, F.L S. 



Epiechinus, n. g. 



This genus has many characteristics similar to Onthophilus, and its species have 

 hitherto been included in it. The characters which separate it are, however, very 

 important, and such as cannot be overlooked in the Family. They are as follows: — 



The antennal fossa is an excavation in the anterior angle of the thorax. The 

 prosterniim has a keel bordered on each side with a carina, the carinse in some 

 species, e.^., O. costipennis,'Sk\iv., meat anteriorly, and enclose au elongate triangular 

 space, in others the carinse are more parallel to each other, and do not unite 

 anteriorly as in O. hipartitun, Lew. 



