THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. XV.] JULY, 1882. [No. 230.' 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH 



PTEROPHOEI. 



By Richard South. 



(Continued from p. 106.) 



Platyptilia trigonodactylus. 

 (Plate III., Fig. 1.) 



In again referring to the life-history of P. trigonodactylus, 

 which will be found ante (p. 31), I will add a few additional notes 

 confirmed by recent observation. The young_ larva feeds in the 

 shoots of its food-plant {Tussilago farfara), until the flower-heads 

 are thrown up ; then these are attacked. Sometimes the larva 

 will crawl up the outside of a flower-stem and enter the head just 

 above the receptacle, but more often it ascends by way of the 

 interior. In this latter case it does not feed in the stem, but 

 makes its way direct to the head. When nearly full fed the larva 

 generally enters a head which has passed or is about to pass into 

 the fruiting stage. It then proceeds to arrest the ripening process 

 by eating away the inner fleshy part of the stem a little below the 

 receptacle. This causes the head to droop until it comes in 

 contact with the scape, against which it hangs in such a manner 

 as to attract the attention of anyone hunting for the larva. When 

 full fed it makes a chamber among the seed down, and enters the 

 pupa state. In causing its domicile to become inverted, the larva 

 not only secures its food in a palatable form, but exhibits won- 

 derful foresight in providing a weather-tight apartment for its 

 pupal condition. 



Plate ITL, fig. 1, coltsfoot {Tussilago farfara) ; 1 a, larva ; 1 b, pupa ; 

 1 c, imago of Platyptilia trigonodactylus. 



V 



