FURTHER NOTES ON TROCHILIUM ANDRENAEFORME, LASP. 203 



Aspilates gilvaria was very abundant, and occasionally one saw a 

 few other Geonietrids. Down near the river, the old road, now 

 disused, is overgrown with the food of Papilio alexanor, and it was 

 a grand treat to see the female fly up and down in long, undulating 

 curves as she selected the spots suitable for egg-laying. Here, too, 

 were clumps of the coarse, prickly Ononis, from which I disturbed 

 what I assume to be Marasmarcha var. tuttodactyla, but the species 

 swarmed on a small dwarf smooth-leaved species of Ononis that was 

 growing on the other side of the road a little nearer Colmars, and a 

 little Gelechiid, black with a white transverse stripe, that I have not 

 yet named, was also abundant. There were really lots of things to 

 keep one busy at Alios. Only once before, viz., in 1897, when I 

 visited Susa, did I bring home so large a bag or so varied an assortment 

 of insects, as in 1906. But, after all, as I said at first, I was too late for 

 satisfactory work, and I still hope that Mr. Powell, who knows this 

 district in a way that few lepidopterists perhaps know any other 

 district of Europe, will find time to give us his notes thereon. It is 

 a lovely country, separate and isolated, free from tourists, and prac- 

 tically unknown, where much work can evidently be done, but where 

 one's visit should be paid in late June and early July. 



Further notes on Trochilium andrenaeforme, Lasp. 



By Hon. N. CHARLES ROTHSCHILD, M.A., F.L.S. 



Mr. Percy C. Reid states (antea, p. 102) that, in his opinion, the con- 

 struction of the " cap " which closes the mine of a full-grown larva of 

 Trochilium andrenaeforme can readily be explained. I should like to 

 know the views of other entomologists on this point. 



Since the publication of my original notes on this species (Trans. 

 Ent. Soc. London, 1906, pp. 471-482), [ have been able to examine a 

 number of mines containing living larvae. My conclusion is that the 

 mine is only closed in two ways, that of the immature larva, and that 

 of the larva which is destined to become a moth in the summer 

 succeeding the formation of the "cap." At some periods of its exist- 

 ence the larva appears to live between the bark and the wood, but I 

 have found quite young larva? in the centre of twigs of the foodplant. 

 Young larvae, and larvas that are halfgrown, never make a " cap." 

 Their presence in a twig or branch can generally be detected by the 

 blister-like swelling of the bark, usually with a small fissure in it. 

 The raised portion of the blister is not separated off from the rest of 

 the bark. The larva in its final stage apparently makes the " cap " 

 referred to above. This "cap" is a genuine operculum. That is, it is a 

 more or less circular piece of bark which can be readily removed, and 

 which apparently operates as a covering to the opening of the mine. 

 When this "cap" is removed, the mine has the very characteristic 

 appearance which all old mines (from which the insect has emerged) 

 of Trochilium andrenaeforme show. In those cases where the insect 

 emerges from a mine which lacks the "cap," its absence can be 

 explained by the operculum having been accidentally removed. 



