l^l [November. 1881'. 



the identity of the two insects. Perhaps, no one in this country "V has had more 

 practical experience of P. dichrodactyla than myself. I have bred it for a number of 

 years. With us, it is the only species, Bertrami not having occurred in any part 

 of our district. The larva (of which I sent examples this summer to Mr. South for 

 figuring) feeds, with us, invariably in tansy. I have never found any trace in 

 yarrow. The imago fades — especially out of doors — sooner than any other I have 

 any experience of; for I never took an example at large which was not more or 

 less bleached : generally, they are almost white. The examples which [are bred 

 indoors must be boxed as soon as possible, and killed ; as even in the house, two or 

 three hours of exposure suffice to make them decidedly paler. My only "captures of 

 Bertrami have been made at Witherslack, where it seems pretty abundant. Now, 

 I never took a faded one ; they were all well coloured : so, one would fancy that if 

 they were identical, the food-plant must have caused a very complete alteration in 

 the qualities of the colouring matter of the scales. We must not forget, too, that 

 dichrodactyla is nearly a month later in appearance than Bertrami. For this I 

 quote Mr. Stainton's remarks on the two species in this Magazine, vol. ii, page 137. 



The colouring of the bred dichrodactyla is — in water-colour nomenclature — 

 nearly pure Indian yellow, clearly marked and streaked with a pale shade of the 

 same colour, and with the few costal and fringe markings and spots dark brown to 

 black ; the markings clear and decided, with invariably a very clear, small, black 

 spot just below the fissure : in some examples also one above, united by a brown 

 shade, as in serotinus. 



The colour of Bertrami is shades of fawn-colour and brown, the darker shades 

 indistinctly margined, mere washes of colour, not sharply laid on like those in 

 dichrodactyla. The spot near the fissure, when present at all, is exceedingly faint. 



The palpi, in dichrodactyla, are decidedly longer than in Bertrami. The 

 hooked apex, which, in some specimens of Bertrami — probably females — is well- 

 marked, and on which Dr. Jordan lays some stress, will be found, on close examina- 

 tion, to have a different shape in the two insects. In dichrodactyla the hook is 

 much more emarginate on the lower side, so that it comes to a much finer point 

 than in Bertrami. 



One may easily see that, in localities where both species occur, the confusion 

 that may exist among caught, or carelessly-bred, examples, which, when mixed up, 

 will become almost hopelessly entangled. 



The above points, in addition to the great difference — in bred examples — of 

 the leg markings, so well defined by Mr. Stainton, give, in my opinion, strong 

 grounds for their separation, even should the coloration of the larvae be similar. 

 Dichrodactyla does not hibernate in the imago state. The female oviposits at 

 night — most usually quite after dark — with its abdomen thrust down among the 

 disc florets of the tansy flowers. One egg will— probably — be laid in each flower, 

 and the larva must emerge soon after (as the plant dies down in winter), and mine 

 down the stem into the root, where it remains until the fresh shoots are thrown up 

 in the following spring, up which it works as the plant grows ; throwing out frass 

 from the joints, and causing the whole plant to droop, very like the effects produced 

 by the larva? of Exceretia Allisella in the steins of Artemisia vulgaris, and becoming 

 full-fed about the end of June. — J. Sang, Darlington : October 8th, 1881. 



Obituary 



W. Oameys.—We record with deep regret the sudden death from apoplexy, on 

 the 21st October, at Eepton, near Burton-on-Trent, of Mr. W. Grarneys, one of our 

 oldest correspondents, who never relaxed his study of our indigenous Coleoptera, in 

 spite of arduous professional duties. A more complete notice will appear in our 

 next number. 



