MAY AT THK ITALIAN LAKES. 217 



quite as abundant as usual, over all the low ground, and by the roads, 

 and in the vineyards on the slopes up to Orselina and Brione. Pacluj- 

 ihclia rilkmila was much rarer and more local, a good many cases were 

 found that produced $ s, but only one male was bred. StaiidfuHsia tenella 

 var. ziT))iattc'iisif;\vii.s abundant as usual on all micaceous walls and rocks; 

 hundreds of this and of A. atra might easily be collected ; it was 

 already largely over, but a few males were bred, and even iarvas only 

 half- grown occurred ; it clearly spreads itself by stragglers over a long 

 period, prolonged, no doubt, by its wide distribution in elevation, larvae 

 occurring up to 3000ft. or possibly higher. Ptilocephala plnnnfera {atra 

 Heyl. nee Linn.) was frequent on the wing at 3000ft. to 4000ft., but 

 no cases were found. Apterona crenidella occurs everywhere, but very 

 sparsely, nowhere in the swarms that occur on the Mediterranean 

 coast, as at the mouth of the Var (near Nice), and in the Albenga 

 Valley, near Alassio, where millions is perhaps nearer than thousands 

 to the number of cases that may be seen. It had always been my luck, 

 so far, to see plenty of cases of this species, but, in July, or at some 

 time when they were all empty. I was fortunate enough, however, to 

 hit upon a strong colony at Locarno that had just crawled up the vines 

 and their supports, and bred a large number of specimens. I fancy 

 that males were very largely in excess in the cases I collected. Its 

 faculty for flying within a minute or two of emergence, and immedi- 

 ately denuding itself of all the, at best very meagre, clothing of hair 

 scales it has, is quite extraordinary. I was also struck with its vagaries 

 as to time of emergence. On one occasion they kept coming out all 

 night, most abundantly at midnight ; on another the emergence took 

 place during the whole day. The normal arrangement is, however, 

 I have little doubt, that to which they settled down, viz., to emerge at 

 dusk and for an hour or so after ; the aberrant procedures must have 

 been due to my treatment of them, either by way of moisture or heat, or 

 more probably exposure to light. Most of the Psychids of which I know 

 the habits emerge in the morning, and fly in the early hours of the 

 day, or even all day. A. crenidella emerging in the evening is, there- 

 fore, exceptional ; I cannot help associating with this habit a curious 

 feature of tbe pupa, viz., the great blackness of the face-parts, practi- 

 cally the covers of the imaginal eyes. What the connection is, is not 

 very evident, but, exposed on a tree trunk, often to the full rays of the 

 sun, inside a tolerably translucent case, these black eye-covers must 

 have some function in protecting the eyes from light, or in absorbing 

 heat. The Fumeas present two species at least, Fnmea casta and a larger 

 species, which is not typical F. crassiorella. These do not interbreed. 

 A specimen was also bred that suggests F. edwardseUa, but these have 

 not yet been fully examined. Taleporia tuhulosa^pseudobotnhycella) cases, 

 with larvffi, pupse, or empty, were in great abundance. Bankesia alpistrella 

 is frequent when the 2000ft. level is passed, the earliest specimens were 

 emerging June 10th. The large parthenogenetic Solenobia was in 

 evidence everywhere, but the eggs had all hatched by May 16th. 

 Luffia lapidella, nearly full-fed, was common in many places (in April 

 in previous years it had been difficult to detect). It occurred also at 

 Bignasco, but the wall there providing L. viar/f)iella afforded a com- 

 paratively small number of these, not yet half-grown, contrasting with 

 full-grown L. lapidella on wails quite close by. 



Perhaps the following are worth noting : — May 29th, Val Cento- 



