164 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



three years it has been assiduously sought in its locality ; 

 and 1 cannot say much about its habits, having only bred 

 about six. The grass in which it must feed is covered with 

 rotting willow herbs and other plants; it is bad to find so 

 early in the year as April, The larva oi E. cinereopunctella 

 first delighted me this year ; it is beautifully spotted with 

 red; it feeds along with E. gleichenella at Grange. No 

 one who collects should fail to breed E. luticomella and 

 E . atricomella ; but they both appear to delight in destroying 

 their brilliancy when they emerge. No caught specimen 

 I ever saw could compare with those bred. E. htimilis, 

 which I think is not very well known, feeds in a long stiff 

 grass in very wet places in Brockhole's Wood ; the larva 

 is very light yellow, feeding downwards during March and 

 April, and emerging in the middle of June — although a 

 continuous succession of broods of larvae appear to be 

 always mining in the grass. E. adsciteUa and E. megerlella 

 must have more attention paid to them, as they appear to 

 mine the same grass and are very much alike, nnless there is 

 a larval difference. E. dispimctella, like E. Immilis, has, 

 I believe, never been bred before ; and, as only one larva 

 was found, very little can be said about it. This one was 

 taken on June 5th, in what appeared a dry stem o( Festuca 

 oviiia, and was quite full fed ; it was of a dirty unicolorous 

 brown ; it emerged July 8th. The right time for taking 

 Cemiostoma Wailesella is when the flower of Genista 

 Uncioria is just appearing, say the 27th of June ; its mine 

 strongly reminded me of Nepticula septemhrella, almost a 

 black blotch. — J, H. Threlfall ; Preston. 



The "Horns" of Caterpillars. — "What are they for?" 

 This question was asked me one day, and I was obliged to 

 confess frankly, "1 do not know." 1 am alluding especially 

 to the horns that "adorn" the group of SphingidcB, because 

 a function — it may, indeed, be a wrong one — has been 

 assigned to the appendages behind the head of the larvae of 

 Papilio MacJiaon, and the caudal ones oiDicraiiura vinula. 

 1 have searched many books on Entomology, but have never 

 been able to find anything satisfactory on the subject. That 

 they are, however, designed for a definite object cannot be 

 doubted. The first thought that seems to suggest itself is 

 that like the horns of P. MacJiaoii and D. vinula they are 

 intended as a means of defence for these most helpless 



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