160 [December, 



to hear that this fliio insect has also occurred in the Co. Watcrford. I captured 

 three specimens this year : — first, on the 4th September, over a bed of petunias ; 

 second, on the 10th, over verbenas ; third, on the 11th, over petunias. On the 9th 

 I saw one hovering over a bed of geraniums. All three were, unfortunately, not very 

 good specimens, but this, I think, was greatly if not altogether due to the way thatij 

 they buzzed and jumped about in the net. I have been much interested in reading |^ 

 Mr. Barrett's article {ante, p. 103). His observations on the habits of S. convolvuli 

 quite agree with mine. — William W. Flemtng, Clonegam Eectory, Portlaw, Co. 

 Waterfoi'd : November 2nd, 1887. 



Nepticula tormentiUella in Yorlcuhire and Westmoreland. — It seems now to j 

 be generally accepted as a fact that the Nepticula referred to by the late Mr. 

 John Sang, in the Ent. Mo. Mag., xxii, p. 138, is identical with the continental 

 N. tormentiUella ; and I am informed by Mr. P. B. Mason, who has in his 

 possession the few specimens bred by Mr. Sang, that such is undoubtedly the case. 

 It was, therefore, with very great pleasure that, at the beginning of the present 

 month, I met with the larva of this species on moors both in the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire, and in Westmoreland. Unfortunately, I was ratlier too late to find more 

 than a very few of the mines still tenanted, as nearly all the food-plant, Potentilla 

 tormentilla, was brown and dead. I should imagine that this species, if properly 

 searched for, would be found to be widely and pretty generally distributed on the 

 high moors in the north of England, as I at once came across it on the only two bits 

 of moorland which I searched, and, to judge from the number of empty mines seen, 

 the larvae must have been feeding in fair numbers a little earlier in the autumn. 



The larva is a deep clear yellow, with the posterior portion of the dorsal vessel 

 showing through as a darker line, and the head shining brown. It apparently 

 begins to feed at the base of a leaflet, and gradually works on right round it until 

 the whole leaflet is completely hollowed out and transparent, and the wanderings of 

 the larva can only be traced by the lines of dark frass which mark its course. — 

 Eustace R. Bankes, The Rectory, Corfe Castle : October 20th, 1887. 



\_Nepticula tormentiUella, H.-S., of which a detailed description by v. Heine- 

 mann will be found in the Berlin ent. Zeitschrift., 1871, p- 213, has very narrow 

 anterior-wings, bronzy-green at the base, with the silvery fascia considerably beyond 

 the middle (v. Heinemann says between § and f), preceded by a purple band, and 

 the entire apical portion of the wing also purple ; the head deep black. My own 

 Dunkeld Nepticula, bred from P. tormentilla 27 years ago, has no purple before the 

 silvery fascia, and the head is not black, but rather of a dull dark ferruginous tint. 

 It will be of interest to learn when the perfect insects appear, whether the York- 

 shire larvge collected by Mr. Bankes produce the true tormentiUella, or are identical 

 with my SDlitary and nameless Dunkeld insect. — H. T. Stainton : November 

 \Uh, 1887.] 



A larval character peculiar (?) to the Gelechidw. — In the course of some in- 

 teresting notes in the November number, Mr. Fletcher alludes to his disappointment 

 in mistaking the larva of a Tortrix for a Depressaria, and adds, " to my eyes many 

 of the larvae of these genera are much alike." The occasion, therefore, seems co;i- 

 veuient for drawing attention to a very simple character, viz., an additional spot 



