1867. 
29 
question, however, still remains — whereabouts on the tree? For 
example, I found larvae on trees on which there was not a vestige of a 
leaf or of a seed capsule ; hence arises a possibility that, when winter is 
past, the larva conceals itself in the buds ; or could it be possible that 
the larva should crawl out in the spring from the fallen seeds which lie 
on the ground in order again to climb up the tree, and then again to 
make a descent ? If so, we should also find them on other trees, for 
the fallen seeds are often scattered far away from the sycamores." On 
the 3rd of May, 1867, Herr Miihlig writes again : — " I have this 
morning collected for you, after some research, seven larvae of Nepticula 
decentella ; some were hanging by their threads from the trees, some 
had already commenced their cocoons in the crevices of the bark." 
Ten days later I received a further supply of these cocoons from 
Professor Fritzsche, of Freiberg, who writes : — " Last December I 
carefully examined the trunks of the sycamores, and removed all the 
empty cocoons ; from that time — through January, February, March, 
and April — I could observe no fresh cocoons ; but on the 12th May, 
examining the stems again, I found on them numerous cocoons, of 
which I now send you some. The trees were then putting out their 
leaves ; hence these larvae must pass the winter in the crevices of the 
bark, and not form their cocoons, and change to the pupa state, till the 
end of April and May, — a very abnormal habit for a iVep^^cMZa larva." 
That the cocoons first appear on the trunks of the trees when 
spring is tolerably advanced seems now pretty evident from the con- 
current testimony of two competent observers ; in Herr Miihlig's 
remarks we have the additional notice that he finds the larvae 
descending from above by their silken threads. 
Nep. decentella is very closely allied to N. sericopeza, but is a 
larger and duller coloured insect ; my caught specimen of N. sericopeza 
(taken June 28th, 1863, at Lewisham) is far brighter than any of my 
hred specimens of N. decentella. 
A notice of the larva of N. sericopeza, discovered by Colonel 
Goureau in the seeds of Acer platanoides, will be found in the Entomo- 
logist's Annual for 1864, p. 170. With him the seeds attacked by the 
larvae fell from the tree the middle of June, and he bred the perfect 
insect at the end of that month and beginning of July. The dates of 
my breeding N. decentella, in 1865, were from June 21st to July 1st. 
So here we have two ^cer-feeding species of the genus Nepticula, 
both with abnormal habits, yet difiering in habit very much from each 
other ; it is a subject which is very far from being exhausted at present. 
Lewisham : June, 1867. 
