150 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



When full-fed some large fresh leaves of sycamore or lime 

 may be laid on the surface of the earth in the cage, and the 

 larva will spin up, just under or between the leaves, in a soft 

 cocoon. The pupa should be kept dry, and is easy to manage. 



This insect is well reared on sycamore, the large leaves of 

 which give the needful shade. Though not very cannibal in its 

 habits, large larvae should be kept separate from small ones, 

 which are otherwise apt to disappear. 



The range of cuculla seems wider than that of pliimigera. I 

 have taken it on the chalk in South Bucks, Oxfordshire, and 

 Berkshire ; and known of its being taken, though more rarely, 

 in Essex and Devonshire. It is more difi&cult to pair in 

 confinement than plumigera ; and the young larvse are apt not 

 to take to their food. Cloudy showery weather, however, and 

 trees planted in the shade, partially overcome this difficulty. 



There is a light variety of the imago, but the darker 

 specimens are preferred by the collector ; and the female 

 sometimes attains a large size, if slowly grown on succulent 

 leaves of the young sycamore. A larva of such exceptional size 

 has been figured by the late Mr. Buckler, in his ' Larvae of 

 British Moths.' The larva of this moth is often stung, but its 

 chief enemies seem to be the spiders, which will attack the egg 

 and the young larva without mercy. 



Fortunately neither of the maple prominents is inclined to 

 grease ; and no insect is more easy to set well than L. cuculla, 

 and the specimens dry quickly and keep their form admirably. 



Marlow, Bucks, May, 1887. 



A CODE OF VARIETAL NOMENCLATURE. 

 By T, D. a. Cockerell. 



It has been generally recognised, by those who have studied 

 the subject, that some form of nomenclature is advisable for 

 application to varietal forms, just as it is universally applied to 

 species and genera. A variety, therefore, is distinguished in 

 nomenclature by a third or varietal name following the specific 

 one;* and, as far as we have at present advanced, all the 



* The letter " v." or " var.", indicatiug it to be a variety, is usually inserted 

 between the varietal and specific names; but this is by no means necessary, and is 

 not used by all mituralists. 



