190 60 105 



period of about four days iu which the cages were kept in a well 

 heated room. The males, which appear to average a trifle the smaller, 

 emerged, as a whole, rather before the females, 17 out of the first 27 

 that appeared being of the former, whereas 21 out of the last 27 

 were of the latter sex. The moths exhibit a limited amount of varia- 

 tion, the ground-colour in the males, which are, on the whole, appre- 

 ciably lighter than the females, ranging from bright cinnamon-brown 

 to sepia, while in the latter it ranges from dark cinnamon-brown to 

 dark sepia. The few more important markings do not appear to vary- 

 in pattern, but in some individuals both these, and the dark strigu- 

 lations, are much more strongly pronounced than in others. No 

 ichneumons emerged from the cocoons, nor did any of the larvaB show 

 signs of having been " stung " by parasites. 



The imago seems extremely sluggish in general, but often, when 

 much alarmed, jumps backwards off the side of the cage and lies 

 on its back on the floor, feigning death most determinedly ; on 

 a fresh attempt being made to box it, however, it sometimes glides 

 away on its back, to the serious detriment of its beauty, owing to the 

 unusually loose attachment of the wing-scales. As to its natural 

 flight-time, my only observation is that on October 25th, 1902, the 

 weather being fine, mild, and calm, though with an overcast sky, the 

 males, in lamentable condition, were flying freely, and rather com- 

 monly, along a line of alder bushes during the latter part of the 

 afternoon. 



Norden, Corfe Castle : 



January 'iCdh, 1906. 



SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 



On May 5th, 1905, the same alder bushes yielded many larvae of 

 £. sordidana, mostly about 4 mm. in length when at rest, very slender, 

 and much less advanced than the youngest described above, with 

 which, however, they agreed in colour. In this stage their habits are 

 somewhat different, and their work far less noticeable than later on. 

 The smallest w-ere living concealed in separate pocket-like chambers 

 formed, as a rule, between the midrib and the margin, in either the 

 upper- or the under-side of a young leaf, by fastening together 

 with white silk the edges of the selected area, though sometimes 

 formed between two adjacent leaves, or between a leaf and a wing of 

 the bud-sheath, which were spun together. One of them, however, 



