150 fJune, 



wliitisli prinirose-yellow ; tlie abdoiiien, both ilorsally and venfcrallj, begins to 

 darken more quickly tlian the otiier parts, soon showing traces of the tawnj- 

 oehraceoiis colour, which the whole pupa assumes before finally deepening to the 

 " rich red brown " hue mentioned by Dr. Chapman in Ent. Rec, ii, 61. — Id. : April 

 18th, 1903. 



Tinea iinel/a in Dumbartonahire. — I first noticed this species in mid-Juno, 

 1901, fairly common in a sand-pit at Dillichip. My only previous captures 

 amounted to five specimens — one at Nobleston, three at Lady ton, and one on the 

 hillside among heather ! I was rather surprised, therefore, when I came across the 

 species in another part of the district altogether, and in numbers. I took a good 

 many specimens (sixty I think) the first week I discovered it. I was more par- 

 ticularly interested in the moor species. I had but little time to study more than 

 the imago stage of the insect. They were particularly attached to one spot or 

 patch of grass about half-a-yard square. It was an easy matter sweeping five or 

 six into tlie net by a quick jerk tlirough the grass. Most of the specimens laken 

 were apparently newly emerged, and in one or two cases the wings were not fully 

 extended. Short, jerky flights from one blade of grass to another, sufficed in tlie 

 matter of flying for most of the insects, but I have met with odd specimens flying 

 steadily along about three feet from the ground, and a good way off the " general 

 body." If I tried to box specimens from the blades of grass, which I did upon 

 several occasions, it generally resulted in the insects seeking safety, not in flight, 

 but by dropping down among the roots, and doing all they possibly could to burrow 

 under the ground. Some of the females I obtained deposited ova. These were at 

 first of a pure white colour, but after a time they turned greyish. They arc some- 

 what irregularly honeycombed longitudinally ; the ridges starting from a central 

 cell on either end. In shape the eggs are elongated, and regularlj' rounded at the 

 ends, and about twice as long as broad. I did not obtain any fertile ova, and as 1 

 have a few of these eggs, I shall send on one or two to any one who is interested in 

 this branch of entomology, and cares to write to me hero. 



At Mr. Barrett's request I made an examination of the spot that 1 felt sure 

 was the source from which the specimens emanated during the last two years. I 

 was at least successful in establishing beyond doubt that the larva; had led up there, 

 and also in finding what they fed on. I was not rewarded b}' finding larv*, but 1 

 may still have an opportunity of doing so, unless, as is not seldom the case, the 

 species has disappeared from the locality. The surface of the ground was strewn 

 with empty pupa-skins, in most cases the last segments of which were still in the 

 apertures of the cocoons or tubes in which the larva had pupated. These cocoons 

 extended to almost an inch below the surface, and were composed of an extremely 

 tough white silk, in most cases intermixed with pieces of the food on the outside, 

 and with the earth adhering firmly thereto. I found no cocoons with pupa, but in 

 all I opened I found the cast-off skins of the larva that had pupated therein, and as 

 previously stated, the cast-off skin of the pupa almost invariably was to be found 

 protruding from the upper end of the tube. These cocoons were in bunches closely 

 woven together, but all independent of each other, and with no internal connec- 

 tion. The food, for which I had a good deal of searching, owing to the small 

 portions that were left, seems to have been a knitted woollen stocking, and must 



