1881.] 69 



Re-occurrence of Diasemia literalis in Pembrokeshire. — It is highly satisfactory 

 to be able to report that, after either disappearing or being overlooked for two years, 

 Diasemia literalis has again turned up. The warm weather which we experienced 

 towards the end of May brought it out in the dry pastures on the hill sides in the 

 middle of the County. It was not at all common, but with long and close working 

 my boy and I secured a score. They flew up, as usual, from any litte tuft of 

 herbage and settled again at the distance of a few yards, showing no apparent 

 preference for any particular species of plant, and thus giving no clue to their food 

 in the larva state. Indeed, both the food and the mode of feeding of this species 

 are hidden mysteries. I have spent hours at a time when the larva must have been 

 feeding, in closely scrutinizing the plants on their favourite grounds, "examining 

 every leaf and blade and even pulling up the plants, but without finding any 

 indication whatever. 



I think that the insect must be widely scattered, in suitable localities, through 

 the County, for when working for Tortrices in a pasture only eight or nine miles 

 from here, my son caught a specimen and showed it to me while in the net. We saw 

 no more though we worked the neighbouring fields, and could only suppose it to be 

 a stray in search of " fresh fields and pastures new," yet this would even indicate 

 vitality and the migratory instinct in the species, rendering its early extinction far 

 from probable. I heartily hope that it may spread further, and nearer, and so come 

 within reach, for at present the journeys to its known localities are so long that it is 

 hardly possible to manage more than one or two visits while it is out, and these 

 visits are apt to be spoiled by wet or, still more, by wind, to which this delicate 

 species is very sensitive. 



As far as I can discover these pastures produce only the most ordinary and 

 abundant kinds of plants, I do not know of any local species occurring in them. 

 There are a few small thistles, ragweed, and knapweed, also rather stunted grass of 

 good quality and scanty quantity, a few plants of Lepidium Smithii, Dandelion, 

 Oxeye-daisy, and Apargia in plenty, patches of a short bluish Carex, and doubtless 

 many other plants that I do not remember, but neither of these seems to suggest the 

 probable food of D. literalis. — Chas. Gr. Barrett, Pembroke : 16th June, 1881. 



Ennychia octomaculalis in Pembrokeshire. — To any one accustomed to collecting 

 in English woodlands, the capture of Ennychia octomaculalis is a matter of small 

 moment, but in a secluded corner of Wales, where it is hardly known, the occurrence 

 of this lovely species is interesting enough. 



In May of last year, when searching for larvae among Silene maritima, Ulex, and 

 Solidago, I was almost startled to find a dead and wasted specimen of this species 

 lying on one of the Solidago plants, there being no previous record of its occurrence 

 in the county. The locality was a steep undercliff formed by the action of sun, 

 rain, and frost upon the cliffs of clay-slate, and causing them to break up into small 

 angular fragments, and to form a soil highly suitable to the growth of the plants 

 already mentioned. In the middle of May of this year I was again on the spot on 

 a warm sunny afternoon, and, when in a place where it was hard to stand still, and 

 harder to walk, while a sudden turn to strike at a moth might have resulted in a 

 roll of fifty feet, a most exquisite newly-emerged specimen rose from a Solidago 

 plant, and danced out of reach. Not, however, for long, for it was presently circum- 



