256 THE entomologist's kecord. 



devastating chiefly lime and oak. Towards the end of September a 

 fair number of the larvae of Leiocampa dictaeoides Avas taken on birch, 

 and one larva of Cerura bicutipis fell to the umbrella of a friend whom 

 I introduced to the favoured locality. I fail to trace the species 

 further. Two days' searching at Horning have yielded a n amber of 

 the larvfe of Clostera recliisa, Earias chlorana, a few Notolophus gono- 

 stignia and Acronycta leporina, and half a dozen Spilosoma urticae. 



Electric arc lamps at Carrow works, Norwich, have attracted a 

 splendid fresh series of Leiocampa dictaea and one Cerura fnrciila, all, 

 doubtless, of a second brood. Flowerheads at Horning have produced 

 some dark, but rather worn, Apamea fibrosa, and Mr. H. J. Thouless, 

 of Norwich, records the finding of a specimen of Arentia Jiexula on a 

 fence in the city. Sugar has of late been moderately successful as a 

 bait for many of the commoner species, and, amongst other things, a 

 few Mania maura, a score of fine Catocala nupta, and one freshly 

 emerged specimen of Thyatira batis have turned up. This is 

 interesting, as one has not before regarded the species as double- 

 brooded. 



On Larval Habits. 



By E. M. DADD, F.E.S. 



During the course of the present spring, while engaged on breed- 

 ing experiments with several members of the genus Taeniocampa, I 

 was much struck with the fact that the young larvae of this genus, 

 during their younger stages, habitually adopt a secretive mode of life, 

 either by burrowing into young shoots {Taeniocampa opima on sallow), 

 or by turning over the edges of leaves (T. opima on oak, T. incerta, 

 T. pidverulenta, and T. popideti), or by forming a gregarious web {T. 

 miniosa). This habit in itself is not remarkable, as it is adopted by a 

 very considerable portion of the smaller larvfe, particularly the micro- 

 lepidoptera, but the fact that the Tfeniocampid larvffi, later on, adopt 

 an entirely different mode of life, feeding quite openly on their food- 

 plants, gives cause for reflection, and resulted in my seeking ar 

 explanation of this remarkable fact. 



The reason generally given in our standard works for the secretiv 

 mode of life, is a desire to escape the attention of predatory enemie! 

 and, at the first glance, this theory seems to accord with the fact 

 but it appears to me that this theory will not hold water on beir 

 thoroughly tested. 



On visiting a fairly extensive aspen plantation, this spring, tJ 

 writer was struck with the fact that, far from acting as a mode of co 

 cealment, the spun leaves of aspen immediately caught the e 

 (human. — Ed.), that an enemy seeking the larvffi would at once 1 

 put on its track, and that the spun leaves would greatly facilitate 1 

 search. The spun leaves of aspen contained larvae of T. popul, 

 Leucoma salicis, and two species of Tortricids, all of which w9 

 equally easy of detection. 



On considering this matter further it appeared to me some\\t 

 remarkable that, on making a list of those species which adopt s 

 mode of life in youth and abandon it later on, they mostly haveo 

 characteristics in common, viz., (1) They are chiefly arboreal ieeS. 

 (2) They are mostly species which emerge from the ova ine 



