102 [October, 



My own view of the cases in question was expressed in my letter 

 to Monsieur Eagonot of December 8th, 1880. "I think the Eussiau 

 Coleophora cases come nearest to those of C. injlatce, so this certainly 

 confirms your idea that they belong to the group which feed on the 

 Garyophyllacece.'^ 



It was not till the beginning of last June that I had an opportu- 

 nity of studying in the pages (39 — 12) of the " Bulletin de la Societe 

 Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou ; annee 1881," Professor Linde- 

 man's article on " Coleophora tritici, ein neues schiklliches Insekt 

 Eusslands." 



Professor Lindeman says, " Two years ago I received from the 

 government of Poltawa some cases of a Coleophora larva, which, living 

 on the ears of summer- wheat, eats out the grains. Whilst the wheat 

 is growing these larvfe are not perceptible, since they make no striking 

 change in the ears, and eating only the grains beneath the chaff lead 

 a well-concealed life. But in the autumn when the corn is thrashed, 

 the firm and hard cases are thrashed out with the grain. Universal 

 astonishment was caused by the quantities of these small cases, which, 

 from their lightness, are readily sorted out from the grains of corn, 

 forming entire heaps." 



"A year later, in the autumn of 1880, I again received, but this 

 time from the government of Eiazan, the same Coleophora cases, with 

 the notice that on thrashing the oats these had been thrashed out 

 from them, and that too in such enormous quantities, that they at 

 once attracted the attention of the labourers. At the same time the 

 results of the harvest turned out very badly, which may certainly 

 be, at least to some extent, attributed to these Coleophora larvfe." 



" The cases I received contained only dead, but quite full-grown 

 larvae. Those sent the first time were all dried up ; those sent the 

 second time were in spirits, so that I had no possibility of rearing the 

 perfect insect. This I the more regretted as no author seems to have 

 described any species of Coleophora feeding on corn, and no where in 

 Europe has the attention of Entomologists been drawn to such an 

 injurious insect." 



Professor Lindeman then says, " On meadow-grasses {Holciis and 

 others) some Coleophorce have been mentioned by Kaltenbach and 

 Wocke, the larvse of which feed on the seeds of grasses (Col. lixella, 

 murinipennella, ccespititielld) , but my cases are quite distinct from 

 these." 



This last sentence contains an important mis-statement ; as none 

 of the Coleophorce to which he is there alluding feed on the seeds of 

 grasses. Murinipennella and cesspit itiell a feed on the seeds of Juncacece, 



