12 - . [jmic, 



the least doubt that, although the $ of this species has but small antennse, it is i 

 by scent that theyi'eturn to the selected spot, because they always return against the 

 wind, and if, as sometimes happens, they get a little on one side and pass the spot, they 

 will fly back in a circuit which will cross the line of scent, and directly they come to 

 it, will follow it up to the spot. I have never made search, but I have always 

 imagined that the hovering Romeo had found Juliet escaping from the tomb, and 

 was waiting while her bridal attire was being prepared. — A. Balding, Wisbech : 

 3Iarch IGth, 1887. 



Description and Habits of the Larv<B of Hedya lariciana and Pcsdisca 

 occultana. — From about the middle of May to the beginning of June the larvae of: 

 these two insects may be found feeding upon the larch in a somewhat similar 

 manner, yet with so much difference in the method of eating that the species may 

 be knovrn before the larva is seen ; indeed, so soon as the eye rests upon a larch- 1 

 tassel tenanted by a larva, or upon which a larva has been feeding. Both species 

 draw together the "needles" of the larch, thus forming a little cylinder in which 

 the larva rests and is partially concealed whilst feeding. These little cylinders of 

 needles vary in circumference according to the size of the larva, and are easily 

 detected so soon as the larva has grown sufficiently to require four or five needles to 

 form the staves of its little barrel residence. The central needles of a tassel are 

 always selected, probably because they are more tender, and are more nearly parallel 

 than the outer ones. When drawn together, and before the larva has begun to eat 

 it, the tube may be detected by its being rather smaller at the top, owing to the 

 needles being less, and, therefore, not forming so large a cylinder. Thus far both 

 species proceed alike, but in feeding each proceeds differently. Lariciana selects 

 one of the needles, and beginning at the top eats it as far down as it can contract 

 within the tube. A second and a third needle are eaten down in a similar manner, 

 the length of tube uneaten at the base indicating the size of the larva. When the 

 top of the tube is thus partially eaten away so as not to afford concealment, the 

 larva selects a fresh tassel and forms a fresh tube. The eaten and vacated tubes 

 have a ragged appearance, especially when the larva is nearly full fed and requires 

 seven or eight needles, of which more than half ai'e eaten, generally alternate ones. 

 When full fed, the larva pupates head upwards in the lower entire portion of its 

 last tube, a slight web being made to protect tlie pupa, and through which the moth 

 emerges. The larva of occultana begins eating at the top of its tube, and eats round 

 and round, keeping the ends of all the needles level. In this manner it reduces its 

 tube until there is nothing left but a small cup. It then forms another home, 

 generally taking the next tassel. In this way each larva will leave four or five little 

 cups, each a little longer than the last, and mostly in a row on the branch, so that if 

 one of the empty cups is seen it is easy to trace the others along the branch until the 

 larva is discovered in the last tenanted one, unless a fatality has happened to it, or 

 it has done feeding. Pupation probably takes place in the ground, as when reared 

 in a glass a loose coccoon is formed under the debris. Both species are very easily 

 reared. The tassels with larvsB can be broken off and put in a glass jar, with a piece 

 of rag tied over the top, and kept in a cool place out of the sun. Each three or four 

 days a few fresh tassels of larch must be sprinkled in the jar until the larvse are full • 

 fed. In about three weeks the moths emerge, that is, about the end of June or 

 beginning of July. 



