NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 159 



the larva of this very local Acidalia. The description was made 

 from abnormally forced larvse ; but the remaining portion of the 

 brood, that had been fed out of doors, hybernated when quite 

 small. They did not move or feed all the winter, but remained 

 attached in a slightly bent position to the dried roots and stems 

 of grass until April, when a few warm days tempted them to 

 move. As the forced larvae had done well on the flowers of 

 various Composites, I first tried to tempt them with the flowers of 

 coltsfoot {Tussilago farfara). This they nibbled at times during 

 April, and by the end of the month Taraxacum flowers and leaves 

 were added to their bill of fare. During May the withered and 

 nearly dr}' food was slightly wetted twice a week by means of a 

 glass-spray producer; this gentle bath seemed to suit them 

 admirably. The idea was suggested to my mind by knowing 

 that in their natural habitat they would be subject to frequent fog 

 and moisture. At any rate it succeeded well, and by the middle 

 of June all had spun their flims}' cocoons amongst the food-plant. 

 The hybernated larvae did not vary or differ from the forced 

 examples ; perhaps a trifle larger. I shall in all probability have 

 eggs for friends by the third week in July. — W. H. Tugwell ; 

 3, Lewisham Boad, Greenwich. 



DiCRORAMPHA FLAViDORSANA, (?) Kiiaggs. — Towards the end 

 of last month, whilst working the rocks on the North Devon 

 coast in search of the pupse of Sesia muscceformis, of which by the 

 way I only got one living pupa and plenty of old cases, I netted 

 three examples of a species of Dlcroramplia. I saw manj^ others, 

 but, from the nature of the situation, was unable to capture any 

 more at that time. Since then I have taken a few nearly every 

 day, and have also bred a few from pupse found in the root-stocks 

 of Chrysanthemum leucanthemum and Matricaria inodra var. 

 salina; but only one from the last-named plant. I have not 

 specimens of either D. politana or D. alpinana with which to 

 compare my insects, but from their large size, dark olive-brown 

 ground colour, and bright dorsal and apical orange markings, 

 they seem to me to be distinct from either, and to agree with the 

 D. flavidorsana of Dr. Knaggs, except in the size. Then, again, 

 the pupse being found in the ox-eye daisy and the other allied 

 plant, and the burrows noticed down the stem, is strong 

 presumptive evidence of the larva having fed in those plants ; 

 this in itself does not prove a question of species, but I consider 



