THE PAISLEY ‘‘ puG.” 41 
T have dwelt more particularly on the subject of the bristles, 
because it has occurred to me,—what I have never seen or heard 
suggested before,—that these very pronounced bristles, in the 
case of several of the genus Acronycta, are specially intended for 
this sweeping-out process during excavation of the pupa’s winter 
quarters. This is yet more apparent in the case of Acronycta 
leporina, which when, after the last moult, it enters on this exca- 
vating process is nothing more than one great silky brush. 
Another instance is A. megacephala, in whose case I have 
observed the same use of the hairs, though the tips are not flat- 
tened in either of these insects. Of course I only refer to those 
larve in which the bristles become pronounced in the last moult, 
many other larvee possessing more or less defined bristles, varying 
in proportion to their size throughout their larval existence. 
Mr. Newman, in his work, makes no mention whatsoever of 
the first form of the larva, and in stating that the hairs are pro- 
nounced on every segment he is scarcely correct. A. alni seems 
to have occurred pretty generally this year; upwards of a hundred 
were taken in the New Forest this season by one collector. 
Dublin, Dec. 18, 1891. 
THR PAISLEY “PUG” (HUPITHECIA CASTIGATA, var:), 
By W. H. TueGwetu. 
For several years past our Paisley friends have sent us a 
melanic form of some undetermined Eupithecia. This insect 
has been a puzzle to many lepidopterists, and has been named 
in turn EH. albipunctata, E. satyrata, E. trisignata, and E. vir- 
gaureata ; but evidently all these are errors of differentiation, as, 
when placed with these species, they are clearly not at home. 
During the past autumn my friend Mr. A. M. Stewart, of 
Paisley, most generously sent me several imagines of this insect, 
both bred and caught examples; he, too, kindly sent me three 
pup, part of a brood he had reared to that stage from ova 
deposited by a captured female. The young larve, on hatching, 
were supplied with a selection of all likely plants growing in the 
locality in which they are found. Heather (Calluna vulgaris) 
was the food they attached themselves to, and fed up on it 
entirely. Mr Stewart also sent me a description of the larve, 
which, like many of the Ewpithecia, differed so much inter se that 
it was almost a hopeless task to follow. 
With all this material to hand, it appeared to me that it 
should be fairly easy to decide what it really was, as I possessed 
all the British species, save innotata, pernotata, and egenaria ; 
but in practice it was not so facile, the markings being so 
ENTOM.—FEB, 1892, E 
