MARCH. 41 



downy buds ; on this we shall find the larva of De- 

 pressaria assimilella. Stay ! don't beat the plants ; if 

 you do, you will most likely lose more larvae than you 

 capture, but search them thus : — Take a handful of 

 the twigs of the broom in your left hand, and taking a 

 spray in the right, examine it between the twigs ; you 

 will then perhaps see two of them drawn almost close to- 

 gether and a white web spun between them ; in this web 

 you will find a brown larva with a black head— this is 

 the larva of Depressaria assimilella, but its presence is 

 not always betrayed by a web, as it often draws two 

 twigs together, feeding between so that the web is not 

 visible, but then the joined stems have a brown ap- 

 pearance where the larva is. In collecting these larvae 

 do not take them out of their web, but cut the joined 

 twigs out in sufficient lengths with the larvae undis- 

 turbed. I have found this larva in the south of Ireland 

 as early as February. If we examine the broom twigs, 

 towards their points we shall observe a brown streak 

 running round them towards the top ; this is caused by 

 the larva of Cemiostoma spartifuliella mining and 

 feeding beneath the bark, while the larva of Depres- 

 saria assimilella feeds on the bark. 



In the rolled-up leaves of grass upon the hedge- 

 bank, the larva of Gelechia rufescens will be found, 

 while in the young shoots of the greater stichwort 

 (Stellaria holostea) the pretty pink-striped larva of 

 Gelechia tricolorella will be found, devouring the 

 young budding leaves, moving from shoot to shoot as 

 he exhausts his supply of food, and in cases on the 

 heads of the wild marjorum ( Origanum vulgare), the 

 case-making larva of Gelechia subocellea may be 



