180 ' [January, 



shoots of Scabiosa columbaria, is described in this Magazine, vol. viii. 

 p. 15G, and there is a strong impression on my mind that I have seen 

 in print or manuscript a precisely similar description of the economy 

 of 3f. bipunctidactylus in Scabiosa succisa, but I cannot now put my 

 hand upon it. But Dr. Jtossler, of Wiesbaden, describes the larva of 

 the autumn brood as follows : — 



" In September, 1863, I found some flowers of Scabiosa succisa inhabited by 

 larvae, which only betrayed their residence there by small threads on the blue petals. 

 Brought indoors there appeared in a few days a spindle-shaped larva, verdigris-green, 

 the broad dull red dorsal line margined on both sides with whitish-green as far 

 the usual position of the sub-dorsal line. Head, anterior legs, and spiracles brown- 

 black, the anterior segments with some brown dots, the body clothed with isolated 

 whitish hairs. For pupation it attached itself like a butterfly larva, the pupa hung 

 downwards by the tail and was, like the larva, green with a red dorsal stripe. The 

 imago appeared in ten days. The imago flies here among Scabious in dry sunny 

 places and is not scarce in June and September." 



The larva of the June brood could not have fed in the flowers. 



Mimceseoptilus Loewii, Z., seems to be correctly changed to 

 zoplio dactyl us, Dup. I am quite of Dr. Jordan's opinion that Hodg- 

 kinsoni is merely a slight variation of this species. 



Much confusion seems to have resulted from the fact that our 

 old and well-known M. fuscus, Retz., fuscodactyhis, Haw. (feeding 

 on buds of Veronica chamcedrys), is really ptero dactylics, L., and that 

 the species which stood in our lists and books as pterodactylus (the 

 Convolvulus feeder) is nwnodacfylus, L. This last name is wonderfully 

 suitable to this species, which, when at rest, is a conspicuous object, 

 with its fore and hind wings rolled up into " one finger," pointing 

 each way like a sign post. 



Pembroke : 14th November, 1881. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF EMMELESIA BLANDIATA. 

 BY WILLIAM BUCKLER. 



The habits of the genus Emmelesia seem to make it such a difficult 

 matter to get hold of the larvse of some of the species, that I feel I 

 more than ordinary pleasure in being able to say that I have removed j 

 blandiata from my list of desiderata : of course it was not one of the 

 "unknowns," for the food-plant, and a description after Freyer, had 

 been given in Stainton's Manual, yet for all that 1 could see no chance 

 of obtaining the larva for years ; and now — it has not been by means 

 of British examples that I have worked out its history, although the 

 help came from an old ally. 



