1882.1 77 



NATUKAL HISTORY OF ENNYCHIA ANGUINALI8. 

 BY WILLIAM BUCKLER. 



In tlie belief that no description has been heretofore published of 

 the larva of E. anrjuinalis, I am induced to think the following account 

 of it from the egg may be acceptable, and here ] must thankfully 

 acknowledge that it is entirely due to the kind and friendly co-opera- 

 tion of Mr. "W. R. Jeffrey in sending me the largest share of a small 

 batch of eggs he was lucky to obtain from the parent moth he had 

 captured, that I am enabled to give this history. 



I received the eggs on the 9th of August, 18S1 ; eleven of them 

 were laid on leaves and on a bract of the blossom of Origanum vulgare, 

 and four on a leaf of Mentha arvensis, singly, and one ovei"lapping 

 another ; though they were very flat when first laid, as Mr. Jeffrey 

 informed me, yet I found they had begun to swell and by the next day 

 tad filled out considerably, and on the 17th four of them hatched, and 

 another on the 20th, but no more. 



The larvae moulted three times, the first moult occurring when 

 they were eleven days old, the second moult when twenty-five days 

 old, and the third moult at the age of thirty-eight days ; from this 

 last moult the period of maturing varied from thirteen to seventeen 

 days ; the latest hatched individual was full-fed on 17th of October, 

 just six days behind the others. 



At Mr. Jeffrey's suggestion I tried Thymus serpyllum at first with 

 two larvae, and they took to this food very well as long as the supply 

 lasted, tlie others equally well to Origamivi, feeding on the cuticle of 

 the leaves during the first three days and thus caused small trans- 

 parent blotches, and on the fourth day began to eat small holes quite 

 through the substance of either leaf. 



About the end of the month I found only four alive, as one of 

 those two that had previously fed on thyme^a food I was unable to 

 provide any longer — had died, having refused the marjoram, although 

 its companion soon took to it, and the others had thriven well on it 

 from the very beginning of their career to tbe end ; eating more and 

 larger pieces from the leaves as they grew bigger, and latterly whole 

 leaves would be consumed, but only those of a medium size, for they 

 seemed not to caro for the lai'ger leaves nor the smallest, nor tlie 

 blossoms. 



They very cleverly kepc themselves concealed by spinning their 

 light hammocks in such an artful manner as to draw a leaf or 

 two partly round the stem of their location so as to appear like a 

 natural disposition of'Ulvuit growth ; and so fine and thin was the silk 



