182 [Junuary, 



Naiural History of MimcFseoptilus aridus. — On 2oth April, 1873, Mr. Stainton 

 kindly forwarded to me some slioots and flower buds of Coris monspeliensis, with 

 some little larvre feeding on them ; they had been sent from Mentonc by Mr. J. T. 

 Moggridge, under the idea that they might belong to some species of the Tineina, but 

 Mr. Stainton saw at once they should rather be referred to the Fterophorina, and 

 fortunately I have been able to prove the correctness of his view. I bred but one 

 moth, and that probably somewhat dwarfed in size, but there seems no doubt it is M. 

 aridus, Zeller, a species of which the transformations have hitherto been unknown. 



Perhaps I ought to say that Coris monspeliensis is one of the PrimulacecB, a 

 low-growing plant, having its small lilac flowers in their brown-toothed green calyces 

 in short spikes or racemes at the end of its stalks ; and that I received on May 7th, 

 one of these spikes in bloom to supplement the exhausted previous food. 



It seems that the young larvae at first feed in the stems of the young shoots of 

 the plant, the heads of which then hang down and become bleached ; as they grow, 

 they enter the flower buds, feeding on the calyx and its contents ; at this time the 

 only sign of the presence of a larva consists of a hole in the lower part of the calyx, 

 and two or three minute grains of frass just visible within the cavity. 



As the larva3 advanced further towards maturity, their assimilation to the flower 

 buds, in point of colour, was very close ; and I often noticed them outside, either 

 among the flower buds, or on the stems of the plant. 



Soon after this stage, perhaps fi'om the limited stock of food, I found the larva; 

 not very particular as to the parts they fed on, for they devoured not only the 

 calyces entire, excepting the teeth, but also the leaves. The most forward individual 

 pupated on the 6th May, and two others on the 11th and 13th ; the moth from the 

 first appeared on June 12th, but the other two pupse eventually dried up. 



The youngest larva;, when first I detected them, were about two lines long, of 

 a deep purplish-pink colour, slightly subdued by a greenish tinge ; the skin much 

 covered with exceedingly minute, short, bristly points ; the wart-like tubercles on 

 the back bore each a single white bristle, rather long, and a trifle thickened at the 

 tip ; the small head greenish, and marked on each lobe with dark brown, and 

 studded with white hairs ; dorsal and sub-dorsal lines of darker purplish-pink than 

 the ground colour could also be seen. 



The maximum size attained was little more than four lines in length, the figure 

 being rather slender in proportion, cylindrical above and a little flattened on the 

 belly, tapering in front from the third segment to the head, which was small ; the 

 three hinder segments also a little tapering ; all the legs tolerably well developed ; 

 the segments plump, with divisions deeply indented, and the sub-dividing wrinkles 

 well defined ; the colour greenish, sufl^used with pink ; the inflated spiracular region 

 a little paler than the rest, no trace of any lines ; the head brown ; the spiracles 

 dark brown, circular, and very small ; all the hairs brownish. 



The slender pupa was four lines in length, smooth and without hairs, with the 

 head blunt and broad, but the broadest part being at the top of the thorax, just at 

 the junction of the wing-cases, from whence it gradually tapered to the point of the 

 tail, by which it was attached to the stem of its food -plant ; in colour the body was 

 pale yellowish-green, the head ochreous-green, the wing-cases of a darker greyish- 

 green, tinged with pink ; a faint darker green dorsal line was just visible, and along 

 either side a row of sub-dorsal, elongate, black spots. — AVilliam Bucklek, Emt- 

 worth : October 28th, 1873. 



