102 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Kentish localities. Brightly-coloured specimens are, however, 

 captured at Sligo with the melanic form. 



/3. A remarkable abortion of L. conigera is figured in the 

 ' Entomologist,' vol. xi., and described at p. 171 as follows : — 

 " This insect has the normal coloration of the upper wings, but 

 the left lower wing is, both in colour and structure, partly like 

 the upper wings, and also has one white spot in the centre." 



(To be contioueJ.) 



NOTES ON SOME BRITISH TORTRICES. 

 By W. G. Sheldon. 



Phoxopteryx derasana. — The only note of the life-history of 

 this species I can find is ' Entomologist' xiii. p. 86 : " Mr. Barrett 

 writes, Mr. Machin bred it from larvse found on Rhamnus fran- 

 gula.'" In this district, where it is not uncommon, the larva 

 feeds upon Rhamnus catharticus : this may, however, be owing to 

 the fact that R. frangula is exceedingly rare in its haunts. 



The larva lives in a very neat and symmetrical domicile, 

 which it forms by folding down a leaf and joining the edges with 

 silk. When small a portion only of the leaf is so treated, and as 

 it approaches full growth whole ones are utilised. Within the 

 abode thus formed it feeds upon the lower cuticle ; when all 

 this is devoured, issues forth and forms another retreat. As it 

 grows larger it eats irregular- shaped holes through the walls of 

 the leaf, and when these holes are formed it is careful to spin a 

 web within the leaf, for protection against its enemies. When 

 full-grown (which is about the latter end of September) it des- 

 cends to the ground, and forms a cocoon amongst rubbish, and 

 in this remains unchanged till the spring. The moth appears 

 early in June. I have been unable to find even young larvae before 

 the beginning of September ; and the long interval that tlms 

 elapses, between the emergence of the imago and the appearance 

 of the larva, would appear to give colour to the idea, which I 

 believe prevails in some quarters, that the species may be double- 

 brooded, but I never took a specimen after the beginning of 

 July. It is necessar}^ in order to rear this species, to winter it 

 outdoors in the wind and rain. 



