Nt)TKS UPON CERTAIN prERornoiu. 105 



may safely })vesuaie that Mr. St)Uth's reference to Mr. Leech's 

 * Pyrahdes ' {ante, p. 35) refers to the description which he (Mr, 

 South) publislied {' Eutomok)gist,' vol. xviii. p. 99), and where he 

 writes : — " Lirva in August and September, in flowers of couimon 

 centaury.'" Tiiis I sliould have supposed was based on other 

 authors. But Mr. South goes on, " I have a description of the 

 larva, taken from a solitary example in 1881," &c. But surely 

 this is the larva described more in detail (Entom. ante, p. 35), 

 and to which Mr. South adds " September, in the flowers of 

 Erythnea centaureiun." Plere then is tiie missing link. If Mr. 

 South has got the life-history of this September larva, when it 

 pupated, and in short, its history until it emerged in the August 

 (his own date) following, we shall have learned something we do 

 not at present know. The ' Manual,' in making the larva follow 

 the imago the same year, is in error ; the 'Calendar' is in error; 

 but Mr. South has obtained a September larva, and miglit have 

 cleared up the error, but he perpetuates it by saying, '" Imago, 

 August ; larva, September." Mr. Gregson (Entom. vol. iv. p. 350], 

 who gives the true life-history of loeioii, mentioned that the 

 larva in that particular season occurred as late as September, but 

 the moths emei'ged the same year. Mr. Porritt also described 

 the larva in tlie March number of the Ent, Mo. Mag. for 1884. 



As far as I know the life-ljistory of loeivli, it amounts to this: — 

 Larvffi : — May, June, July, and early August, in flowers of 

 Erythrcea centaureiun. Pupae:— July, August, and early Sep- 

 tember (hung up by abdominal segment among food-plant). 

 Imagines : — Middle of August to nnddie of September. The 

 remainder of its life-history is, I believe, unknown. Whether the 

 imago hybernates and lays its eggs in spring, or whether they are 

 laid in tlie autumn, are both points I have heard good lepidop- 

 terists give diflerent opinions about. Nothing appears to be 

 known as to the time that the larva hatches, but small larvse may 

 be ibund in June. 



Like all the other plume larvse that I know, those of loeioii 

 are very variable. I made the following note some time ago : — 

 " Loeioii larvae vary very much ; some have a red stripe, some 

 pinkish, others with scarcely any trace of dorsal or other longiiu- 

 dmal markings. Tlie pupie vary almost to the same extent ; 

 some are green, others quite red, with intermediate forms." 



Platyptdia gonudactyla ^ farfarella. — Mr. Charles Briggs, in 

 the current number of the ' Young Naturalist,' has handled some 

 of Mr. South's conclusions pretty correctly ; but I should like 

 to ask Mr. South Vv'hether P. far/arella was not separated from 

 yonodactyla, rather because of the diflerence in time of emergence 

 than Irom any difference in the imago.* If this is so, I think the 



* Certainly not. Prof. Zeller took a specimen on May 29th (Ent. Mo. Mag. vi. 

 p. 48).— R. 8. 



