276 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



in his ' Notes on Micro-Lepidoptera,' says : "A. brtdiana, larvas in 

 seed-heads of burdock beginning of October, with lappella. I 

 fancy the books are wrong in saying that this larva feeds in the 

 stems and roots of burdock. I can only find them in the seed- 

 heads ; perhaps they gnaw into the roots or stems for the purpose 

 of pupating." Mr. W. G. Sheldon also, in Entom. xx. p. 33 

 (1887), remarks : " Argyrolepia badiana: what I presume to be 

 the larva of this species was very common in the seed-heads of 

 burdock {Arctium lappa) during September. Iu common with 

 many another entomologist, I have searched long and diligently 

 in the roots and stem for this larva (following the advice of the 

 standard works on the subject), with, of course, no success " ; to 

 which the late Mr. W. Machin replied, on pp. 110-1 : " I beg to 

 say there are two species of larvae, viz., A. badiana and Parasia 

 lappella, feeding in September in the seed-heads of burdock 

 {Arctium lappa), both of which I have bred in some numbers for 

 many years past. The larvae of A. badiana, when full fed, leave 

 the heads and spin their cocoons amongst the rubbish at the 

 roots of the plant. . . ." Again, Sorhagen {loc. cit.) says of 

 this species : "The larva on Arctium Lappa, in the stems and 

 roots (Stainton), or seed-heads (Maling*). I found it in September 

 not infrequently in a meadow near a wood, in the seed-heads of 

 Cirsium oleraceum, on the seeds of which Bossier had already 

 guessed that it lived. The frass remains in the domicile. It is 

 full fed before winter, and pupates in spring in its domicile." 

 In Tutt's 'Practical Hints,' part i. pp. 83-4 (1901), we read, 

 " The seed-heads of burdock {Arctium lappa) should be collected 

 in September for the larvae of Argyrolepia badiana, which pupate 

 among rubbish at the roots of the plant " ; this hint being 

 doubtless based on Mr. Machin's note, which is quoted above. 

 Lastly, in ' Nat. Hist. Trans. Northumberland, Durham, and 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne,' xv. pt. i. p. 101 (1905), Mr. John E. 

 Eobson remarks of .1. badiana, ". . . among burdock, on which 

 the larva feeds. Meyrick says in the stems and roots ; Mr. 

 Gardner says in the seeds. I believe it really feeds on the seeds, 

 but pupates near the roots." 



A careful review and comparison of all the above evidence, 

 which proves conclusively that the normal habit of the larva 

 of A. badiana is to feed in the seed-heads of Arctium lappa (in 

 Britain), or of Cirsium oleraceum (in Germany), and to pupate 

 either amongst the rubbish at the roots of the food-plant (Machin), 

 or else in its domicile in the seed-heads (Sorhagen), seem strongly 

 to warrant the assumption that the old idea of its feeding in 

 the "stems and roots" is a fallacy, which probably originated 

 in its habit, observed by Machin, of spinning up near the roots ; 



• ;: Having failed to find or to trace through friends in the North of 

 England, where Maling lived, the note by him to which Sorhagen alludes, I 

 should be grateful if any one could give nie the reference to it.— E. E. B. 



