248 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



four black dots forming a quadrangle on the back of each 

 segment; spiracles minute and inconspicuous, ochreous, en- 

 circled by black, and again by a pale area : the ventral sur- 

 face has a median, clearly-defined, pale stripe, commencing 

 on the 5th segment and terminating at the abdominal 

 claspers ; this ventral stripe is triple, pale gray, almost white, 

 at the sides, and somewhat darker in the middle, the very 

 pale margins being rendered more conspicuous by their con- 

 tact with a brown ground colour, rather darker than the 

 back ; this medio-ventral stripe is repeated in a very obscure 

 and indistinct manner at a short distance on each side, re- 

 minding one of the second rainbow so often seen accompany- 

 ing the first ; the ventral surface between the ventral and 

 anal claspers is uniformly pale : legs and claspers of the 

 same obscure brown as the body : the larvae bred from the 

 egg in confinement are usually paler than those found on the 

 ivy in a state of nature. When full-fed the larva buries itself 

 in the earth just beneath the surface, and changes to a smooth 

 brown pupa, rather attenuated at the anal extremity, w^here 

 it terminates in two very acute points. The perfect insect 

 appears in July. This description of the larva and pupa was 

 written in 1862, verified in 1863 and again in 1864, Mr. 

 Wright having every year most kindly supplied me with spe- 

 cimens : the species appears local, neither the larva nor per- 

 fect insect having been observed by Entomologists, except 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of London. The perfect in- 

 sect is the Alcis rhomboidaria of Stephens (111. Haust. iii. p. 

 187), and figured in Wood's * Index,' No. 511 : it is also the 

 Boarmia rhomboidaria, lar. A. of Guenee (Sp. Gen, des Le- 

 pidopleres, ix. 241), who thus distinguishes it from the nor- 

 mal form of 13, rhomboidaria : — " Uii pen plus grande. Teinte 

 des ailes plus cendree, conice, nullement jaiiiidlre. Ailes su- 

 perieures plus aigues el plus prolonyces aa somniet. Anlen- 

 nes a lames mollis cuiichees Vune sur Vantre et peut-etre plus 

 tongues.^' Mr. Stainton's translation of Guenee's description 

 of the larva of B. rhomboidaria ('Manual,' ii. 26) is added, 

 with the view of assisting I^ntoniologists in forming an 

 opinion as to the distinctness or otherwise of B. perfumaria : — 

 " Larva yellowish or brownish gray, sometimes with traces of 

 darker dorsal lozenges : 6th segment with a slight lateral 

 protuberance below the pale grayish yellow spiracular line." 



