298 [December, 



be considered rather tlian expanse of wing, and its "knife for pene- 

 trating the currant is a very strong and powerful instrument, but 

 constructed very similarly to those of Adela and Eriocephala. The 

 moth sits upon the currant, and penetrates it in the lateral region ; 

 on one occasion the process occupied three or four minutes, on another 

 only about thirty seconds. The dates were from 17th to 20th May. 

 On examining one of these currants, which was rather more than half- 

 grown, and with seeds still very soft, but about 1"75 mm. in diameter, 

 two eggs of capitella were found lying free in the ovarian cavity, in 

 another the cavity contained two such pairs of eggs, no doubt the 

 result of separate acts of oviposition ; T did not examine more, hoping 

 to follow the history in the others I had, but in this I was disappointed, 

 as I failed to keep them healthy long enough. I have little doubt, 

 however, that two eggs are laid at each penetration, and that each 

 pair of eggs was not the result of two separate layings ; this chiefly 

 because in each instance they lay side by side in a way that could not 

 have resulted had the second eg^ been placed there by chance on a 

 second laying. The ova are whitish, or nearly colourless, of ovoid 

 shape, or, perhaps, more nearly that of a lemon, the narrow end being 

 produced into a short neck or beak, giving a flask-like outline. The 

 length is about 0*67 mm., and the diameter 0-33 mm. 



I carefully watched the sleeved currants, and occasionally gathered 

 one, but made out nothing till the last week in .Tune, when, the majority 

 of the currants being still quite green, some had a nearly ripe appear- 

 ance, these proved to be those that were tenanted by capitella. In 

 some of them the larva was still present, in others it had escaped, and 

 jn two instances I observed the escape of the larva. It usually 

 escapes a short way from the summit, and leaves a very minute hole, 

 and there is often near this a small blackened speck (cicatrix of ovi- 

 position ?) on the skin of the currant, and some yellowish discoloration 

 beneath, but each so slight as not to be observed without looking for. 



The food of the larva whilst in the currant is the interior of one 

 seed, and in eating this it leaves very little frass, which is of a pale 

 yellow colour like the seed, and remains in the interior of the seed, so 

 that practically no trace of the larva is discoverable up to the actual 

 date of its leaving the currant. In some currants there w^as only one 

 larva, but in one instance I found two, and this is at least not unusual, 

 if I may judge from finding in other instances two seeds excavated, 

 and two holes of emergence. In emerging the larva bores its way 

 through the juicy parenchyma of the currant, a distance of more than 

 its own length, yet comes out quite dry and clean, and no juice exudes 



