NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 183 
larva of a Plusia, which I hope to be P. bractea. I used to take 
it frequently here some thirty years ago; it was feeding upon dog 
mercury. Ihave taken a description and made a sketch of it, 
and afterwards found two other tenements that had been deserted 
on the same plant by a Plusia larva.—J. B. Hopaxinson, Dutton, 
Ribchester, Lancashire, May 26, 1879. 
OccuRRENCE OF THE Larva or NeEMoTOIS SCHIFFERMIL- 
LERIELLA.—I have much pleasure in being able to record the 
capture, on April 24th, of the larva of Nemotois Schiffermilleriella 
in the vicinity of Gravesend—a larva, I believe, hitherto not 
observed in Britain, although the imagos are taken in one or 
two localities every year. For the last two seasons I have 
looked in vain for the larva in a locality where for some years 
past I have taken the perfect insect, but this year, I am happy to 
say, I found about twenty-seven cases. Since I have had the 
larvee feeding I can now quite understand the reason of my 
failing to discover the larva before. I had always searched 
the upper leaves of its food-plant (Ballota nigra), thinking they 
were attached to them, but I find on observing those I have 
in the glass jar that when the food is touched, be it ever so 
slightly, they draw themselves into their cases and drop to 
the ground, so that the surface of the ground round the food- 
plant is the place to look for them. It was by the merest 
accident I found the first case; I had been searching as usual the 
upper leaves of the plant for about two hours, but could not find 
any case, when I suddenly thought I had better examine the 
radical leaves, thinking they were on them. Almost the first leaf 
T turned over I saw a case on the ground. I then set to work 
with a will, but as it was getting dark I could only find six cases. 
On a subsequent visit I found twenty-one more with larve in 
them, and several empty ones, no doubt last year’s cases. The 
cases are flat, of an oblong oval form, open at each end, and 
drawn in at the centre, very much like the figure of eight, 
and with the single exception of my cases and larve being 
larger (quite six or seven lines in length) they agree in every 
particular with the very excellent description in the ‘ Natural 
History of the Tineina,’ vol. xiii, p. 214. Of some cases I sent to 
Mr. Stainton, he writes that although he had never seen British 
larvee before, and they are certainly larger than those he received 
from Frankfort eighteen years ago, he has no doubt they will 
