1882.) 103 



and C. lixella (and he might have added ornatipennelld) feed after their 

 earliest youth on the leaves of grasses. (The larvae of both these last- 

 named species feed in autumn in their infant state in the flowers of 

 labiates, and do not attack the leaves of grasses till the following 

 spring.) 



Professor Liudeman adds : " I had hoped, in the autumn of this 

 year (1881), to receive some living larvae of this species, being anxious 

 to breed from them the imago ; but in both these expectations I have 

 been disappointed ; I, therefore, publish what I at present know about 

 this new foe to our corn-crops, in order that the attention of others may 

 be drawn to the subject." 



He then mentions having, through the medium of the French 

 Entomological Society, submitted some of these cases to E-agonot and 

 Staiuton, and having received in reply the assurance that " the cases 

 undoubtedly belonged to a Coleophora, which should be in the group 

 which comprised G. nutantella, Miihlig, C. sileneUa, H.-S., &c., and 

 that it was probably quite new," and that, on the strength of this com- 

 munication, he ventured, without knowing the perfect insect, to name 

 it provisionally Coleophora tritici. 



As the cases came to Paris as those of a Coleopliora found on 

 grass-stems, and no mention was made of the larvse having fed on the 

 grains of wheat or oats, the entomological doctors consulted were 

 scarcely in a position to pronounce an opinion likely to be of much 

 value. I do not for a moment suppose that they were purposely kept 

 in the dark, the mistake has probably arisen through the transmission 

 of the query through so many different hands. I, however, call 

 attention to the fact, as probably it may tend to prevent any similar 

 blunder in future. 



Professor Lindeman remarks that "the cases are composed 

 entirely of silk, " without any intermixture of grains of sand, or any 

 other foreign substance ;" but, he says, " that they are so firm and 

 hard, that the operation of thrashing the corn does not injure them." 

 I am not sure that he does not even mean that the larvae escaped un- 

 injured after undergoing the process of thrashing ! Silk of such a 

 texture ought surely to be worth cultivating ! 



This notice of Professor Lindeman's has reminded me of a Coleo- 

 phora larva I once received from the late Mr. J. P. Brockholes. His 

 letter is dated, " 16, Cleveland Street, Birkenhead, October 10th, 

 1859," and reads as follows :— 



" I have lately found the enclosed Coleophora cases in some plenty 

 in a stackyard near here. They were on young oats growing from 



