1868. j 181 



year, indeed, numbers of common larvse are to found in this way, snch as Toenio- 

 campa stdbilis and cruda, Orthosia lota, Cosmia trapezina, Epunda viminalis, 

 occasionally Cerastis vaccinii and spadicea (these two probably hiding in leaves spmi 

 together by other species), and always Hypsipetes elutaria and Cheimatobia hrumata, 

 as well as some of the Tortrices ; bat the only larva with which retusa is likely to 

 be confounded is that of viminalis ; I have therefore described the former rather 

 fully, and pointed out the characters which distinguish it from the latter. 



Betusa, when full-grown, is about an inch in length, tapering slightly towards 

 each end, and flat beneath ; the head small, rounded, and rather flat ; skin very 

 delicate and thin, so that the lines on it show almost as if ribbed or raised, and the 

 internal organs partially show through it. The colour is a pale dull green, with a 

 yellow tinge towards the head and tail ; a broad dorsal stripe, a fine sub-dorsal, 

 and an undulating spiracular line — all whitish in colour ; the spiracles not visible j 

 the head generally yellowish-green, but sometimes very dark hlackish-hrown ; occa- 

 sionally also there is a dark collar on the second segment ; young larv^ sometimes 

 have the usual dots, very visible and black, but lose all trace of them as they 

 grow bigger. 



The characters printed above in italics distinguish this larva from that of 

 Epunda viminalis, which has a much firmer texture of skin, a thicker and more 

 corneous head (which is pale grey with the lobes outlined in black) ; the lines more 

 sharply defined, and two pairs of whitish dots on the back of each segment. — 

 J. Hellins, October 9th, 1867. 



Note on Ephyra omicronaria. — I hardly know whether it is worth recording, 

 that of three larvae which Mr. D'Orville gave me July 10th, 1866, two appeared as 

 moths on 26th and 27th of the same month, whilst the third remained in pupa until 

 May 8th, 1867. Also that in two of these three specimens, full-sized and otherwise 

 perfect, the omicron is entirely absent from both fore- and hind-wings. — Id. 



Notes on Tortrices. — There appears to be some uncertainty about the habits of 

 some internal feeding Tortrices, their appearance at difi'erent and distant times 

 leading naturally to the supposition that they are double or treble-brooded. One 

 of these is Penthina marginana, which is to be found in this neighbourhood at 

 intervals from the middle of May till late in August. 



Last winter I met with a few plants of teazle, a rare plant in this neighbour- 

 hood, and found that several of the heads contained larvse. These I preserved, but 

 they produced nothing till June 26th, when two females of P. marginana emerged. 

 I had, however, taken a female of this species as early as May 11th, and by June 

 1st had found males badly worn. 



From these captures the natural inference would be that the May brood pro- 

 duced those found in July and August, yet larvae found in the winter produced 

 nothing till the end of June, and it seems reasonable to suppose, therefore, that 

 there is but one brood, very irregular in its appearance. 



There may be another solution of the difficulty — that we have two species 

 under the name of margina/na, and I am inclined to think that this is the case ; 

 but the whole history of the insect requires careful investigation, since it occurs 

 most commonly in places where there are certainly no teazles for it to feed in. 



