1906.] 101 



later, " I am quite sure the larvae I sent you are not British planta- 

 ginis larvae, I have had thousands during the last twenty years and 

 could not mistake it." 



Having some N. plantaginis larvae hibernating, I forced some of 

 these and have just bred a specimen, and easily saw that they were 

 totally different. 



They are certainly no other British species. By reference to 

 Abbot and Smith's "Insects of Georgia," and to Holland's "Moth 

 Book " and other authorities, T remain in practically no doubt whatever 

 that these larvae are of the North American species Pyrrharctia 

 Isabella, apparently a common species in many parts of North 

 /America. 



The photograph presented herewith is na- 

 tural size, by Mr. Hugh Main, who now has 

 the larvae, and will I hope rear them. 



The larva (still I believe with some feeding to do) is much larger 

 than a full-grown larva of plantaginis, has a remarkably dense and 

 level-topped coat of hairs, and has these deep black at each end, with 

 five middle rings deep brick-red, not merely a short dorsal patch as in 

 plantaginis, but the whole ring. 



As Mr. Murray met with this larva some years ago, it would 

 follow that the species is not merely there for one season, but has 

 more or less established itself, and is therefore at least as much 

 entitled to a place on our list as Anosia erippus, Plusia ni, &c., &c. 



Betula, Reigate : 



April, 1906. 



NOTES ON EPIBLEMA (P^DISCA) 80HDIDANA, Hb., WITH DESCRIP- 

 TIONS OF THE LARVA AND PUPA. 



BY EUSTACE E. BANKES, M.A., T.E.S. 



Having had the good fortune to meet with some imagines of this 

 local species in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, on October 25th, 1902, 

 and having failed to find any English description * of the larva or 



* The only description known to me is a very brief one, in Dutch, by Snellen [De Vlmd. 

 V. Nederland, Microlep., p. 340 (1882)], who merely states that the larva is "blue-grey, with 

 i)lack spots, head, and plate." — E. R. B. 



