1RV5.) 11.'} 



The feeding up being ended, llierc remains one point not less important, that is 

 to watch for the appcaraiice of the perfect insects, in default of which the specimens 

 •will be spoiled, for the ardent males often scarcely wait to be fully developed before 

 they struggle and hunt after the females, which have sometimes not even seen the 

 light. The moths appear between eight and ten o'clock in the morning ; there are 

 some species, however, which do not appear so soon, others which come out in the 

 morning or at night, and one {Epichnopterix helix) only at the dusk of the evening. 

 — Georges Rouast. (Translated from the " Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes," 

 September, 1875). 



Larentia ccesiata and rnficinctata (Gn.). — Previous enquiries for information 

 on points which I could not myself work out satisfactorily, having generally proved 

 eo unfruitful, I now wish to express my thanks to those entomologists who have kindly 

 answered my appeal at page 7 of this volume, and ask for a little space to supplement 

 and correct my notes on L. rnficinctata and ccesiata. 



Wlieu I called rnficinctata ' double-brooded,' I had not obtained a second brood 

 myself, but was under the impression that this had been effected in Scotland as far 

 north as the localities where the moth is taken ; further enquiry has, however, 

 elicited that the information on which I relied was not well founded ; and although 

 Mrs. Hutchinson, at Leominster, has with ease obtained, from moths bred in the 

 month of jMay, eggs that resulted in a second (light of moths in August, I think it 

 has been made quite plain that the species cannot be properly called double-brooded 

 in its natural condition. 



Dr. Chapman tells me that wlieu he lived in Scotland he sometimes bred and 

 captured stray specimens forced out by exceptional circumstances in autunm, but 

 these were small in size, and with subdiaphanous wiugs, — weakly creatures who could 

 not continue the race, and therefore not in fairness to be taken into account : and he 

 agrees with Dr. Buchanan White that the food of this species is Saxifraga aizoides. 



CcBsiata also has been shown to have but one flight in the year, appearing earlier 

 in England than in Scotland. As to its food, the insect must be called polypliagous 

 having been found in some numbers feeding on S. aizoides, while the larva; I have 

 received from the north of England have always seemed to prefer whortleberry. 

 Speaking from the experience of others as well as myself, I think it would be found very 

 difficult to rear the larva on ling alone, and that some juicy food would be needed 

 in addition. 



Thanks to the kindness of Mr. C. Fcnn in forwarding mc eggs,! can now supply 

 an omission in my paper. The egg is somewhat more brick-shaped tliaii fliat of 

 rnficinctata, being oblong, with the edges and one end rounded ; the shell glossy, 

 with the reticulation so slightly raised, and the enclosed spaces so little sunk, that it 

 might be called embossed rather than reticulated : the colour, five or six days before 

 the hatching of the larva, wann ochreous, afterwards pale dusky. The young larva 

 is pale drab, without lines, the dorsal region having a darker tinge that the rest of 

 the body, with a still darker edging : the head olive brown, rather glossy ; the usual 

 dots hardly seen, the bristles simple and extremely short. — John Hellins, Exeter: 

 September 8th, 1875. 



Habit nf larva of Cidaria sagiltala, — I find a doul)t i.s expressed in (he pag(<s of 



