Gd [August, 



greatly indebted for information concerning them, and their locality, and also for 

 a plentiful supply of roots of their food-plant, Rhyncos^pora alba (the beaked rush), 

 which kept alive through the winter, though the young larvae did not survive ; but, 

 thanks to Mr. Hudson, he again sought for the larvae on the moors in the early 

 spring and replaced my loss, having found several larvae feeding, and one of which 

 he once observed to eat a little of EriopJiorum (cotton grass) ; but the beaked rush 

 is evidently its proper food, from the fact of both larvae and imago being always in 

 the low lying boggy parts where the beaked rush most abounds ; whereas, in the 

 higher commons, which are covered with cotton grass, neither the larvae nor 

 butterfly have been seen. 



The habits of the larvae difler much from those of the allied genera in being par- 

 ticularly active and lively, travelling much over their food-plant : an all-wise 

 provision, enabUng them to escape the inundations to which they are liable. The 

 larva does not differ much after the second moult ; and, when full-grown, attains to 

 an inch in length, the head being globulai-, and body tapering towards the anal 

 forked extremity. It is of a bright green, with dark bluish-green dorsal line 

 edged with pale lemon yellow ; sub-dorsal and spiracular lines of the same pale 

 yellow, but the sub-dorsal edged above with dark bluish-green ; and between those 

 two lines is an interrupted streak of darker, posteriorly, slightly tinged with 

 reddish or pink, and the caudal fork tipped with pink. 



On June 2nd, it was attached to a rush near the top, and changed to a bright 

 green pupa, which, in a few days, showed brown streaks on the edges and centre 

 of the wing covers, and at the tip of the tail ; so remaining until the morning of 

 June 20th, when it was wholly dark brown, and at noon the imago came forth, a 

 fine dai'k specimen. — Wm. Buckler, June 21st, 1865, 



Note on the larva, ^c, of Acidalia ruhricata. — On 28th July, 186i, Mr. F. Bond 

 took nine specimens of this moth, and obtained some eggs, which he kindly sent to 

 me. The larvae were hatched on August 6th, and chose for their food Polygonum 

 aviculare, Lotus corniculatus, Medicago Iwpulma, and TrifoUum minus. 



M. Carl Plotz, whose drawings of Geometrce and their larvte are referred to by 

 Mr. Crewe in this year's Annual, had figured ruhricata as feeding on Thymus ser- 

 pylhwi, but I could not discover that my larvae showed any liking for that plant. 

 They continued feeding till some time in October, and had attained a length of 

 rather more than ^ inch before hybernation. About this time I discovered amongst 

 them a very tiny larva of Boarmia rhomboidaria, which I believe must have been 

 produced from an egg laid upon one of the food-plants before it had been potted 

 for the use of ruhricata. I fancy it must have been on the Lotus comiculatus ; but 

 whether this intruder in any way injured his fellow prisoners, I cannot tell (if he 

 did, he met with a comical punishment afterwards ; a larva of Zygcena trifolii took 

 possession of him as he was stretched out stiflF between two stems of the trefoil, 

 and actually spun its cocoon upon his back ! ) : however, during the latter part of 

 October, and the month of November, from some cause or other, I lost six out of 

 nine larvae, which I had hoped to rear. The remaining three I nursed very care- 

 fully, on fine days exposing them in their glass cylinder to the sun and air, and on 

 stormy days and every night putting them under shelter. They began to feed 



