1886.] 7 



tinguish from some specimens I have had sent me from Scotland under the name of 

 conjlua, either aa regards size or colour. 'N. haja. — I bred some splendid varieties 

 of this insect last season. 



TcBniocampa rubricosa. — This varies from a very pale to a very dark form. T. 

 populeti. — I met with a dark form of this insect. It is not an uncommon species in 

 this district, its larva feeding between leaves of poplar. 



Xanthia cerago. — I have bred this insect freely, and have a series in which the 

 dark markings gradually disappear until they reach the variety flavescem. 



Miselia oxyacanthcB. — The dark variety is of frequent occurrence. 



From the foregoing list I have omitted some that vary, but not to 

 the extent of those noticed. 



Whittaker Lane, Little Eaton, near Derby : 

 April Idth, 1886. 



DESCEIPTION OF THE LAEVA OF CRAM BUS FERLELLUS. 

 BY O. T. POEEITT,.P.L.S. 



In July, 1884, Mr. Nelson M. Eichardson sent me a supply of 

 eggs of Omnibus perlell us, obtained from a moth or moths he had taken 

 in the neighbourhood of Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, They hatched 

 in the third week of the same mouth, the newly emerged larvae being 

 yellowish-green, with a red longitudinal vessel or stripe showing 

 through the skin, which gave them a salmon-coloured appearance ; 

 head and frontal plate dark brown, indeed almost black. 



They were placed in a pot in which were growing one or more of 

 the common garden lawn grasses, and on which they at once made 

 themselves perfectly content. 



On examining them on September 8th, I found they were living in silken gal- 

 leries spun at the bottom of the grass stems, and were about one-third of an inch 

 long. Four days later, on the 12th, I saw them again, when they were still only 

 about the same length. The ground-colour varied from dingy olive-brown to dirty 

 purplisli-brown, the skin in all cases being so transparent that the internal alimentary 

 vessel could be distinctly traced through it : the head varied from pale brown with 

 darker marks to very dark sienna-brown ; the frontal plate to some extent followed 

 the colour of the head, but without the darker markings, and in the olive tinted 

 specimens was paler and greener. 



From this time they evidently hibernated, and I do not know at what date they 

 recommenced feeding in the spring. Ey April 25th they were about three-eighths of 

 an inch long, and of the usual CramJms form. Ground colour light mahogany- 

 brown, the tubercles darker brown with a black dot in each ; frontal plate almost 

 unicolorous with the ground colour ; head very dark sienna-brown throughout. 

 They were living in galleries formed of particles of grass woven together with silk, 



