19110 27 



desert the cones in November, and entering the steins of the shoots of 

 the year, feed up on the pith of these in the following spring. This, 

 however, is only conjecture, for I believe that nothing definite is 

 known either about the later history of the young larvae that feed in 

 the cones until November, or about the earlier history of the larvae 

 that are found, in spring, approaching maturity in the shoot-stems of the 

 previous year. Our combined experience has taught us that the imagines 

 resulting from the lai^voe with this latter habit appear at the same 

 time of year as those that have become full-fed in the previous 

 autuimi. The fact that the larva of ahietella often feeds in cones was 

 evidently tmknown to the Editor of " The Entomologist," when, in 

 the course of his review of Mr. A. T. Gillanders' " Forest Entomology," 

 he wrote, in vol. xli, 256 (1908) :".... There is presumably some 

 confusion here, as it is the larva of D. splendidella that feeds in cones; 

 that of D. decuriella (ahietella) attacks the shoots of Pinus sylvestris.^' 



The moths, in Britain, may be taken durmg a considerable portion 

 of the summer. Those that resulted from the larvae in shoots of 

 Pinus sylvestris, that I collected near Ringwood on April 28th, 1891, 

 emerged June 30th — August 18th, and all that I have taken in nature 

 have been captured during this period, with the exception of one that 

 was secured in Rothiemurchus Forest, Inverness-shire, on June 27tli, 

 1908 — a year in which Lejjidoptera appeared exceptionally early in 

 that county. 



Turning now to the closely-allied D. splendidella, H.-S., a some- 

 what similar problem appears to confront us. Duponchel, as quoted 

 by Ragonot (op. cit. pp. 196-197), states that the larva " feeds on the 

 woody part of Pinus sylvestris, living between the bark and the sap- 

 wood, in the same way as Cossus, and the wound that it makes causes 

 an outflow of resin, and this, coagulating in the air, forms a more or 

 less thick tumour which betrays its presence, and in which it forms a 

 cell wherein to pupate when full-grown. This cell has the appearance 

 of a pipe of which the sides are lined with silk, and its external 

 opening is only closed by a few threads, crossed in the form of a 

 trellis. It is not rare to find five or six of these larvae in the same 

 tumour, where they seem to live on for some time before pupating, as 

 one finds their cell surrounded by frass, which is evidently composed 

 of the resin, from which it is only distinguished by its granulated 

 form. It is full-grown towards the end of June, and the imago 

 emerges at the end of three weeks." Ragonot adds the following 

 note : " Mons. Lafaury writes me word that in the Landes the larva 



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