1()(3 [October, 



DESCRIPTION OF THE LAEYA OF SCOPAHIA TSUSCICOLELLA. 

 BY G. T. POERITT, F.L.S. 



In the second week of August last year, I received two batches 

 of eggs of Scoparia trundcolella from Mr. George Jackson, of York, 

 and Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson, of Preston, respectively. They were large 

 and glossy, at first pale in colour, but soon changed to very bright red. 

 They hatched in about a week, but before doing so changed to lead- 

 colour, the newly emerged larvae were red with shining black head. 

 I. immediately placed them in a flower pot where was growing a layer 

 of the ordinary moss, which grows so abundantly on the sides of our 

 garden walks, and in the bottom of our grass lawns. In this moss 

 they disappeared, and I have no note on them until the end of October, 

 when I found they were tunnelling the moss with silken galleries in 

 all directions, thus proving they had made themselves perfectly at 

 home. I then left them alone, outdoors, until the end of March, when 

 I saw they were again feeding, and it became necessary several times 

 after this to replenish the moss as it became eaten away. They were 

 full-grown at the end of June, when I described them as follows : — 



Length, nearly three-quarters of an inch ; head a very little narrower than the 

 second segment, it has the lobes rounded and the mandibles rather prominent ; both 

 it and the frontal plate highly polished. Body of nearly uniform width through- 

 out, tapering only at the anal extremity ; it is rounded above but rather flatter 

 ventrally ; segments very clearly defined, the divisions being deeply cut all round : 

 the skin has a rather tough appearance, the polished tubercles large and prominent, 

 and as usual thei*e are a few short, but not very noticeable hairs. 



The ground colour is a dingy dark olive-brown ; head and mandibles dark 

 brown, the frontal plate nearly black. (When younger the head is pale brown, with 

 the mandibles and frontal plate darker sienna-brown). A dingy black pulsating 

 vessel shows distinctly as the dorsal stripe ; the hairs and tubercles black. Ventral 

 surface similar to the ground of the dorsal area, the legs black. There are no other 

 perceptible lines or markings, and the larva altogether is a very dingy looking 

 creature. 



For the most part they kept to their silken galleries in the moss, 

 but on damp evenings were to be seen crawling over the surface, and ! 

 were then very lively, and would wriggle about like the larva? of a 

 Tortrix ; they seemed much more active than the rather stouter larvae 

 of Scoparia muralis. 



They changed to pupae in the moss, and the first imago emerged 

 on August 6th, and was followed during the next fortnight by about 

 thirty more beautiful specimens. 



Highroyd House, Huddersfield : 



September 1th, 1881. 



