1879.] 239 



bred from dry wood early in June. Heinemann says "the larviB in rotten alder wood," 

 I have no doubt, however, that those I had the good fortune to obtain (5 in number) 

 were bred from stumps of elm trees which had been placed, twelve or fifteen years 

 ago, in the garden in which the insects were taken, and are now very rotten and de- 

 cayed. I am not aware of the existence of any alder near the locality. The first 

 specimen was taken, at rest, in an outhouse in the garden on 24th June, 1877, the 

 other four the following evening, on the wing shortly before sunset. The facts of my 

 ignorance of the species I had takeji, and of my seldom collecting or being in the 

 garden where they occurred, will doubtless account for the small number of specimens 

 seen. — Haeold Euston, Ealing, Middlesex : February 6th, 1879. 



Economy of LHliocolleUs scojjariella. — On the 27th June, 1878, Mr. Sang was 

 searching amongst some broom, at Darlington, for specimens of i. scopariella. 

 Whilst so engaged, his attention was attracted by a Lithocolletis struggling to escape 

 from its pupa-case, where it was held fast by one of its legs. 



The pujDa-case partially protruding from the inflated mine along the broom twig, 

 revealed where had been the feeding place of the larva ! 



In April, 1856, I had made the acquaintance of the larva of Lithocolletis quin- 

 quenotella, which had been sent to me by Hei'r Anton Schmid, of Frankfort-on-the- 

 Maine, and when i noticed how it made bladdery inflations along the stems of 

 Genista sagittalis, it did occur to me that L. scopariella might have a similar habit 

 on broom. Since then I had bred, what appears to me identical with L. scopariella, 

 from larvae mining the small leaves of Calycotome spinosa in the south of France^ 

 and thenceforth my attention had been directed more to the leaves than to the stems 

 of the broom. 



I am, therefore, particularly pleased that Mr. Sang's fortunate discovery has 

 again put us on the right scent. — H. T. Stainton, Mountsfield, Lewisham : Qtk 

 February, 1879. 



A Nepticula new to Britain.- — I sent, a short time ago, some NepticulcB, which 

 appeared strange, to Mr. Stainton for identification, and he has just returned them 

 as lapponica, Wocke. They are closely allied to N. sorbi, but " have the fascia less 

 oblique, more yellow, and generally broader." The larvse feed in broad serpentine 

 mines in birch, are light in colour when full fed, and are to be found at the same 

 time as N. betulicola, viz., October 1st to 20th. — J. H. Theeifall, Preston : \Sth 

 February, 1879. 



Selicopsyche bred in England. — Thirty-six years ago, R. J. Shuttleworth, of 

 Berne, discovered the true nature of certain little heliciform cases that have several 

 times been described as shells of fresh water MoUusca. He rightly asserted that 

 they were the cases of caddis-worms ; in this he was confirmed, some thirteen years 

 ago, by a North American species having been bred. But, until now, all attempts 

 to breed the insects from the European forms had been without success. At last the 

 mystery is solved, for Prof, de Kougemont, of Neuchatel, has reared the insect from 

 cases found at Amalfi, near Naples, and a preliminary account of it is given by him 

 in Carus's " Zoologischcr Anzeiger " for Dec. 30th, 1878, p. 393. In my " Revision 

 and Synopsis of the Trichoptera of the European Fauna," part v, p. 269, I described 

 a little insect as Helicopsyche (?) sperata, from Naples, that I thought might re- 

 present the long-desiderated imago of Helicopsyche. My description and figures were 

 necessarily incomplete, for I had only seen a single specimen, and that was nearly 

 destroyed by an accident. From information with which Prof, de Eougemont has 

 favoured me, it appears certain that it really was Helicopsyche, and probably of the 

 same species as that now bred by him ; but he has not yet quite completed his ob- 

 servations, and I have at present not seen his insect, although he has had the 

 kindness to send me drawings of the neuration, &c. 



