34 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Oxyptilus teiicrii. 



Dr. Mason, who has lately acquired the type of Haworth's 

 hetrodacti/lus, finds that the specimen is identical with teucrii, 

 Greening. This name, therefore, must sink in favour of the 

 much earlier one of Haworth's {vide Ent. Mo. Mag. xxv. 16 •2). 



Oxyptilus 2Xirvidactylm, Haw. 

 ohscuras, Zell. 



Imago. — Expanse, 6^-7^ lines. Fore wings dark brown, with some 

 white scales at digital juncture, and two whitish fasciae traversing both 

 digits, but not always well-defined on the inner digit; fringes dark brown, 

 variegated with white, and two small tufts of black scales along inner 

 margin ; also with white on the costa at apex, and at the angle of inner 

 digit. Hind wing dark shining brown; third feather with some whitish 

 scales along its inner margin, and a large patch of black scales covering the 

 tip. May and June. 



" The larva feeds in April on the young leaves of Stachys 

 alpina ; in autumn in the heads of Marruhium" 



" The ground colour of the larva is dirty pale green ; on each segment 

 are four black warts, bearing a star-shaped tuft of bristles ; head and dorsal 

 pale black, the latter divided by a pale line. Frey."' — Leech, ' British 

 Pyralides,' p. 58. 



MimcDseopt'dus hipunctidactylus, Haw. 

 var. p)l(i()i'Odactylus, Stainton. 

 var. aridus, Doubleday Cat. 

 var. scabiodactylus, Gregson. 



A description of the imago and life-history of this species is 

 given by me (Entom. xviii. 273), under the name of M. plagio- 

 dactylus. I have a very extensive series of _bred and captured 

 specimens of the species, obtained in various British localities. 

 The variation is considerable, and embraces not only the plagio- 

 dactylus form, but also the pale ochreous var. aridus, and the 

 strongly-marked variety first introduced by Mr. Gregson under 

 the name of scabiodactylus. These various forms are so closely 

 linked one with the other by intermediates that they must be 

 considered simply varieties of the same species. Some of the 

 forms, indeed, I cannot separate from continental Mimceseoptili 

 in my collection, sent me as M. pelidnodactylus and M. coprodac- 

 tylus. I am inclined to think that there must be some mistake 

 about the larva of hipunctidactylus feeding on Galium. I have 

 often disturbed numbers of the imagines from hedges bordering 

 pasture-fields, but have not been able to obtain larvse from the 

 Galium growing in profusion in those hedges. Scabious there is 

 in the pastures, and no doubt the larvse of hipunctidactylus feed 

 thereon, the imagines resorting to the herbage of the hedges for 

 shelter. 



