X44 [NoTember,'1872. 



brownish-red, with the moiith blackish, the plate on the second segment is brownish- 

 red in front, and very dark brown at the back, and is dorsally divided by a line of the 

 pale flesh colour of the body ; the ocellated spot on the sides of the third and of the 

 twelfth segments is a ring of pale gi-eyish-brown, with the whitish ground colour in 

 the centre ; the very minute tubercular dots are pale grey-brown, and a fine pointed 

 hair of the same colour proceeds from each of them ; the plate on the anal tip is of 

 the same greyish-brown tint as the anterior legs, the ventral legs being tipped with 

 dark brown hooks. 



The pupa is about three-eighths of an inch in length and somewhat slender, the 

 wing cases long in proportion ; it is of a light reddish-brown coloiu", sometimes 

 rather dark brown, and shining ; it is enclosed in a whitish silken cocoon, and 

 attached by the tail to a little pad of silk ; the cocoon is spun amongst gnawings and 

 frass held together with a mixture of silk of a tough consistence, and quite filling the 

 mine above and below ; the head of the pupa is from a quarter to half an inch from 

 the entrance, and the extent of the mine oi' chamber below the pupa is generally 

 about five-eighths of an inch in length. 



The ichneumon case or cocoon is found in a part of the excavation not far from 

 the entrance, where it seems exactly to fit the hollow in which it reposes ; it is five 

 lines long, slender and cylindrical, and rounded at each end. Soon after its forma- 

 tion, it is of a pale mahogany-brown colour, highly polished and semi-transparent, 

 so that the unchanged whitish grub within can be partially seen through ; but after a 

 few days its occupant becomes invisible, as the case either loses its transparency, or 

 the colour of the pupa then assimilates with the case, which retains its colour to the 

 last : the perfect ichneumon makes a circular hole oil the side of the case, near the 

 top, for its exit. — William BrcKLER, Emswoi-th : Scptemher, 1872. 



On the larva of Depressaria depressella. — During the last few days I have been 

 breeding D. depressella from larvse obtained the beginning of August from the 

 umbels of wild-can-ot. The umbels seldom contained less than two and never more 

 than five larvae, biit, though they feed close together, they covild scarcely be called 

 gregarious, as each spun its own web or tubular chamber. 



Though all had the raised enamelled spots, they difi^ered much in the ground 

 colour, and I described three distinct forms : — 1st, a pale transparent green ; 2nd, a 

 yellowish red-brown (as the figure in Nat. Hist. Tin., vol. vi) ; 3rd, a deep green (as 

 deep as the larva of Somoeosoma senecionis) . 



These three varieties were kept apart, and spun their cocoons withoiit appreciably 

 altering their respective colours. 



In the perfect state I see no difference in the specimens. I did not at the time 

 notice whether the different coloured larvae frequented the same individual plants. — 

 Sydney Webb, Eedstone Manor, Eed Hill : August 29tk, 1872. 



On the oviposition of Pternphorus pentadactylus, L., in confinement. — At eleven 

 o'clock in the evening of the 18th July last, a " Plume," which Mr. Stainton has 

 kindly determined as above, came to my lamp, and at last settled on the book I was 

 reading. After being confined for a few minutes under a glass bell on the mantel- 

 piece, it laid, at intervals of a few seconds, eleven minute, oval, white, semi-opaque 

 ova. The next morning I found it lying dead on the eggs, which were loosely 

 scattered about. Mr. Stainton having informed me that the larva eats leaves of 

 Convolvulus arvensis in May, I conclude that the " Plume " was attracted by two 

 pots planted with an exotic Convohmbis, and standing in the immediate vicinity of 

 the window through which it made its entrance. — Albekt Mulleb, Norwood : 

 August, 1872. 



