180 [January, 



However, one point has been fairly settled this year, and that is a more 

 correct description of the larvae. From notes taken by Mr. Llewelyn and myself, 

 it seems that nearly every individual of the whole brood of twenty-five presented 

 some little peculiarity of its own, but that all might be fairly ranged under three 

 main varieties. 



1. I have taken for the type the form which has all the characteristic markings, 

 yet without any exaggeration in the colouring. Ground colour on the back a soft 

 delicate grey, on the belly a greenish- white ; dorsal line paler than the ground, 

 very finely but distinctly edged with blackish threads, which become stronger on 

 segments 10 — 12 ; the sub-dorsal Hne also pale with fine edgings, and on segments 

 1 — 5 having a strong dark streak immediately below it, continued backwards as a 

 dark thread. Sometimes the edgings of the Unes are not so dark, but have a 

 reddish tint ; sometimes again the dorsal Hne is not of uniform width, but at the 

 fold from 5 — 10 opens into a small white dot, immediately followed by a small 

 black dot, which thus interrupts the line. 



2. On one side of the type comes the variety described in 1865, the ground- 

 colour of which is decidedly green, and the edgings of the lines red ; some are 

 blue-green, some full green, some bright green ; and the edgings are dark red, 

 bright rust-red, or pinkish. As before, the dorsal line varies in different specimens 

 in being cither of uniform width or else widened at the folds and interrupted. 



3. On the other side of the type comes a plainer variety," in which the ground 

 is more or less ochreous, sometimes becorqing as warm in tint as a piece of clean 

 fresh-cut cork ; the belly sometimes whitish, sometimes paler ochreous than the 

 back ; the pale dorsal Kne still varying as before in width, and although occasionally 

 darkly margined, yet more generally in this variety not so distinctly defined ; in 

 one or two specimens the lines were scarcely visible. 



I noticed that the pupae were darker than those of 1865 — perhaps because 

 they were sickly. — J. Hellins, County Prison, Exeter, December 7th, 1867. 



Notes on the larva of Xanthia ferruginea. — Though a trifle larger, yet in form 

 and structure this larva closely resembles that of gilvago, but with the following 

 exceptions : — 



The general colouring is of a browner tint, sometimes of an ochreous-brown. 



The series of dark central marks on the back, with their dark wedges, assume 

 together more compact forms of an urn shape, being attenuated behind, so that a 

 constant character appears in the hinder pair of tubercular dots being outside the 

 dark nm shapes. On referring to figures of this species of 1861 and 1865, the 

 same characters are apparent, though two of them found under common ash varied 

 much in colour, one being a grey variety, and the other a brighter and more 

 distinctly marked example than any of those on wych-elm. — Wm. Bucklee, 

 Emsworth. 



Notes on Tethea retusa. — I believe this species is not yet considered to be 

 common, so perhaps it may not be uninteresting to state that we take it here in 

 some seasons, by searching for the larv^ in the folded leaves and shoots of various 

 kinds of sallows, about the end of May and beginning of June. At that time of the 



