isrs. . 141 



NOTES ON BRITISH TORTRICES. 



BY CHAS. G. BAEBETT. 



(Contimied from Vol. xiv, ^. 241). 



Li former notes (vol. xiii, p. 159), I stated that Eiqjoecilia Ityhrid- 

 ella had been reared by Mr. Thos. Wilkinson, of Scarborough, 

 from seed-heads of sow-thistle (the printer made it coiv-thhile) — 

 Sonclius oleraceus. Upon this, my friend, Mr. "W. E-. Jeffrey, pointed 

 out to me that the occurrence of the larvse of this species (under the 

 name of carduana) " upon one of the Hieracea " had been recorded 

 by him in the Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer, vol. viii, p. 124, 

 and he expressed a decided opinion that the food-plant of this species 

 was not a SoncJius. By good fortune I found a few seed-heads of the 

 plant which had been sent me with larvae by Mr. Wilkinson, and these, 

 on examination, proved to belong to Picris Meracioides. Following 

 the clue so fortunately obtained, I searched the seed-heads of Picris 

 Ideracioides in the quarries late in September, 1877, and succeeded in 

 finding in them a very few full-fed larvae, from one of which I reared 

 a most lovely imago on July l7th of this year. In the quarries, how- 

 ever, the moth was out a week or two earlier, and on July 27th I found 

 plenty of young larvse in the Picris heads. By the middle of August 

 most of them were full-fed, but a few might still be found till late in 

 September. 



The young larvse are of a buff colour, but when full grown pale 

 pink, whitish beneath, sufiiciently transparent to render the internal 

 dorsal vessel visible. Head light brown, jaws black, dorsal plate yel- 

 lowish with a chain of four black dots across it, anal plate light brown. 

 In form it is short and stumpy, thickest in the middle, but moderately 

 active and immoderately restless and impatient of confinement. 



It feeds on the seeds of the Picris, lying concealed in the seed- 

 head, and passes freely to a fresh head when necessary, but without 

 uniting them together or spinning any web. When full-fed, it leaves 

 the seed-head and spins a tough cocoon, probably among rubbish or 

 rotten wood, but it is difficult to manage in confinement, biting its way 

 I'emorselessly through almost any covering. 



I have not yet seen the pupa. That state is probably assumed 

 about June. 



Eu2)oecilia atricapitaiia, Steph. — I am aware that this species has 

 already been reared by Mr. Howard Vaughan and others from ragwort, 

 but I have seen no account of its habits. I found larvse in the rag- 

 wort plants, on one of the slopes of the coast sand-hills, rather 



