THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 141 



growth the larva moults for the first time, and upon re- 

 coverujg from the weakening effects of the moult it recom- 

 mences feeding with an increased appetite, and by so doing 

 blotches the leaf considerably ; its various markings, which 

 at the period of moulting disappeared, now slowly reappear : 

 continuing thus pleasantly occupied in feeding for a few 

 days, the larva finds itself under the necessity of throwing 

 off its integument for a second time ; in a few days it 

 becomes more and more I'obust, ultimately becoming full- 

 ied ; the green-coloured fluid contained in the dorsal vessel 

 is then noticed to slowly subside, and the larva lies about 

 sluggishly inside its mine : it soon afterwards sheds its skin 

 for the third time : the little creature has then a very dif- 

 ferent appearance, its body being entirely spotless and of a 

 pale yellowish hue, head pale brown, mouth a little darker, 

 the dorsal vessel appearing only as a dull green cloud on the 

 posterior portion of the body ; the larva is then between four 

 and five lines long : it then bites a hole in its mine, and 

 enters the ground to pupize : at the proper time the imago 

 cuts a circular hole at one end of its cocoon, and so gains its 

 liberty. As previously stated, the larvae are first observed 

 feeding at the end of May ; they then gradually increase in 

 number by the 13th of June, becoming very abundant by 

 the 21st, and imagos begin to appear about the 30th of the 

 same month. The larvse may be collected from the end of 

 May up to the end of October, and the imagos breed freely 

 till the end of September ; after that date no more perfect 

 insects come out, all the remaining larvoe holding over till 

 the following season (March) before the imagos are deve- 

 loped. During the autumn months the larvaj are very 

 abundant ; on several occasions 1 have counted twelve and 

 fourteen larvae, all feeding at one time, inside various parts of 

 the lobes of the leaf. When full-fed the larva always goes 

 into the earth to pupize, but its parasite does not do so, pre- 

 ferring to spin its narrow cocoon inside the mined leaf of 

 Tormentilla reptans. The larva possibly occurs wherever its 

 food-plant grows : I have observed it abundant at Highgate, 

 Hornsey, Hampslead, Norwood and Croydon. — C. Healy ; 

 74, Napier Street, Ho.vton, N. 



