Febniary, 1884.] 193 



NATURAL HISTORY OP AGLOSSA PINGUINALIS. 



By (the late) WILLIAM BUCKLER. 



I figured the larva of this species in April, 1860, from an example 

 found in the Corn Exchange at Chichester, but did not then study its 

 habits ; nor indeed did I doubt the usually accepted account of them 

 for twenty-two years after, until in 1882 Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher kindly 

 sent me, from Thetford, a few eggs, laid by a female he had taken in 

 a barn, and with them a supply of rubbish swept from the barn floor, 

 amongst which he supposed the larvae would find their proper food ; 

 this struck me at once, and I was still more interested when the eggs 

 hatched, and the young larvsB seemed to be thriving, which induced me 

 to study their habits as closely as possible, and also to investigate the 

 origin of their being credited with feeding on fat and greasy substances. 



That the latter part of my task has been accomplished is due to 

 Mr. H. T. Stainton, who, with extreme kindness, expended much time 

 and labour in research, and in furnishing me with a complete transcript 

 from De Geer's " Memoires " Tome 11. l''^ partie, p. 371, in which both 

 Reaumur and Eolander are cited ; such effectual help claims my 

 grateful thanks ! 



Eeaumur I have no doubt knew the larva and its habits, for I 

 consider that the figures (PI. 20, Memoire 8,) as well as the description 

 of his " fausses teignes des cuirs," apply to pinguinalis and not to 

 cuprealis ; but it was Linnaeus who bestowed the specific name — 

 pinguinalis — relying, doubtless, on what Eolander had said of it, and 

 thus gave the stamp of his great authority to a mistake, which has 

 passed current for truth ever since. 



Next we have De Geer, who, in relating what he knew himself of 

 the larvae, says " It is in the rooms and entrances that I have often 

 found them, crawling on the floor or climbing against the walls, and 

 only in such places that I have met with them. They were almost 

 always come to their last stage of growth, so that when one rested it 

 was only to become a pupa." 



Again, after stating what Eeaumur had said of the larva making 

 itself a tube, and gnawing leather coverings of books, and feeding on 

 dry bodies of dead insects, he continues " I have had no opportunity 

 to see their lodging nor how they feed themselves ; it is always in spring 

 or commencement of summer that I have found them, crawling in the 

 rooms and against the walls of the entrances. They are not willing to 

 eat at that time,but are all one after another preparingto become pupae." 



Having thus said what he knew himself, he goes on — "M. Eolander, 



