25G 



[April, 



insects arc the true diluttis, Fieb., then I consider dilutus and alni as identical, and 

 if they are not, I should much like to hear from Mr. Scott how they differ. — Edwaed 

 Saundees, 2, Spencer Park, Wandsworth : 10th March, 1875. 



Occurrence of Botys nuhilalis (lupulinalis) in London. — Going home late one 

 night last July, down one of the broad thoroughfares south of London Bridge, I 

 caught sight of a moth — evidently a Pyralis — sitting on a window, attracted by a 

 brilliant gas-jet inside. Of course my instant thought was '^forjicalis" but it did 

 not look like that species, so was quickly consigned to a piU box. At home, what 

 was my surprise to find that my capture was a total stranger, altogether unlike any 

 species previously known to me ; and it turned out equally puzzling to the best 

 authorities. So I sent it to Professor Zeller, who pronounced it to be Botys mtbilalis, 

 Hiibner, S 5 but also B. lupulinalis, Q-n., D. L. The usual form of B. lupulinalis, 

 however, as described by Mr. Stainton in the Manual, and exhibited in a ? specimen 

 from Germany, and two males from the Isle of Wight, in Mr. Doubleday's collection, 

 is very different from my specimen, which is of a -paXo fuscous (the colour of Botys 

 fuscalis in fact), with a yellow spot between the stigmata ; and also the first and 

 second transverse lines, and a conspicuous streak along the fold, uniting them, pale 

 yellow. It appears tliat this form of the S is "ot unusual on the Continent, and, 

 indeed, Hiibncr's figure is much darker than my specimen. The ordinary form (not 

 ordinary perhaps in this country, as it is excessively rare) is pale straw-coloured, 

 with fuscous lines and stigmata. 



The larva of this species is said, by Treitschke, to feed within the stems of hop, 

 and Prof. Zeller tells me that he has taken it among that plant, while Guende's name 

 has obviously the same derivation ; but Freyer gives an extract of a paper by Herr 

 Schmidt, of Laibach, stating that the larva feeds within the stems of a grass (Fanicum 

 miliaceumj, destroying the plants so that they break off, and wintering in the stems 

 (stubbles) . Zeller adds that he has found the larva in this plant in millet fields, 

 and that it is easily discovered by the withered appearance of the panicle, and a 

 blackened hole in the stem. It has also been said to feed in the stems of Marruhium 

 vulgare, and appears, therefore, to have a wide range of food-plants, but which of 

 them is accountable for the appearance of this specimen in the heart of South London 

 it is difiicult to conjecture. Hop warehouses are not scarce in the neighbourhood, 

 but to any one wlio knows how tightly hops are packed, it woidd seem very im- 

 probable that they shovdd be made the means of conveying an insect which feeds in 

 the stems of the plant. — CuAS. G. Baeeett, Pembroke : March, 1875. 



Description of the larva, S,c., of HeUotliis dipsacea. — Greatly indebted for tho 

 help received from several good Entomologists, I here return my thanks to them for 

 all the opportunities they have so kindly afforded me for studying the larvae of this 

 species, and, indeed, without repeated help, I should have chronicled nothing but 

 failure ; what with cannibalism amongst tho larva) themselves, ichneumons, and 

 drying up of pupa;, out of eleven examples received at various times, I have reared 

 but one moth, although I believe I have still some pupaj of 1873 alive. 



My first acquaintance with the larv8B was in August, 1867, when one was found 

 in Gloucestcrshii-e, feeding on a blossom of purple clover, and sent me by the Kev. 



