Reports to various Correspondents. 75 



Bouche (Stett. Ent. Zeit., 1847, p. 145) bred E. tencas and 

 E. strigahts (which are now considered the same species) from bulbs 

 of the common onion which they destroyed just as the larvu; of 

 Merodon do narcissi, and sometimes, he says, they destroy a whohi 

 crop ; the hirvne occurred in July and pupated in the bulbs and in 

 the earth. These larvae have not so far, I believe, been found in 

 onions in this country. The grubs or maggots of onions are those 

 of Phorhia cepetorum, Meade. 



Swarms of Luffia ^' Case-Bearers " on Garden 



Wall. 



During May Mr. William Bear sent a number of little case- 

 bearers, with the following note : — 



" In another packet I send some little lichen-encased larv8e. An 

 old garden wall was thickly covered with them this morning, after a 

 shower. As the sun got out, most of them got into the holes or 

 cracks of the w^all. With them early in the morning were numbers 

 of little brown bugs ; they had also all disappeared after breakfast." 



The case-bearers sent belong to the Psychid family Luffiidse, and 

 to the genus Lujjia* 



Mr. J. Hartley Durrant has examined them and says they most 

 probably are Luffia lapidella. There are two species of this genus in 

 Britain, viz., Lujjia Icqndella and L. ferchaultella. The latter species 

 is parthenogenetic. The larvse of these moths live in cases, and also 

 the pupa3. The females are nearly apterous and crawl out on to the 

 larval cases. Males wdien they occur are winged. No male is at 

 present known of ferchaultella, but that of lapidella is well known. 

 The male lapidella is 9 to 12-25 mm. long in wing expanse ; fore- 

 wings dark grey, a black line on the hind margin, a ciirved discoidal 

 mark and two others basal to it ; posterior wings of a dull leaden- 

 grey, paler than the anterior. They vary considerably. The adult 

 female is almost apterous, but there are thread-like winglets; the 

 anterior wing is in the form of a black filament ten times as long 

 as broad, longer and narrower than the first tibia ; the posterior 

 wings are parallel to the anterior and about one-third of the length. 

 The insect appears grey to the naked eye. The female moves very 

 little, she sits on her case and chances being fertilised by the winged 

 male. Her body becomes full of eggs, which she places in the case ; 

 to do this she is provided with a long three-jointed ovipositor. If 



* A full account may be seen in Tutt's "British Lepidoptera," Vol. II. p. 229. 



