THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. LIII.] FEBEUAEY, 1920. [No. 681 



THE LIFE-CYCLE OF LOBESIA PERMIXTANA, HUB. 

 By W. G. Sheldon, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



There has been a considerable amount of controversy and 

 speculation respecting the earlier stages of this beautiful little 

 Tortrix, which has not hitherto been entirely solved. So long 

 ago as 1874 Barrett, 'Ent. Mo. Mag.,' xi, p. 62, discusses it and 

 states that it seems partial to oak. In the same magazine, vol. 

 xxiv, p. 58, Stainton writes on it, and after discussing nomen- 

 clature treats of life-history ; he says : " Jourdheuille in the 

 'Ann. Ent. Soc. France,' 1870, p. 127, says of it larvae on 

 Anchusa officinalis''; he then goes on: " Brischke in ' Stett. 

 Ent. Zeit.,' 1876, p. 68, says that he bred L. permixtana from a 

 larva found August 21st, 1871, in the tips of the stems of 

 Solidago virgaurea." Stainton follows with his own experience, 

 and says that on June 10th, 1887, he " found L. j)ermixtana at 

 Pitlochry in a wood of mixed growth — oak, birch, mountain ash, 

 etc. — and that it seemed partial to oak, although he thought 

 Solidago virgaurea did occur." The next contribution is in 'Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., ' XXV, p. 66, and is from the pen of that excellent 

 observer Dr. J. H. Wood, who writes that "in July, 1887, he 

 was beating sloe bushes on the outskirts of a wood and that there 

 fell into his umbrella two small, dark, extremely active larvae, 

 quite unlike anything he had ever seen before." A moth of this 

 species resulted from one of these larvae on May 20th of the 

 following year ; then follows a description of this larva. In 

 vol. xxxi, p. 159, Dr. Wood further announced that " birch 

 {Betula glutinosa) was a food- plant also, he having on several 

 occasions obtained it from that tree." One is uncertain what tree 

 Wood actually means ; the common birch is, of course, botani- 

 cally Bctnla alba ; and whilst there is no species of this genus 

 which has a specific name Glutinosa the nearly allied genus 

 Alnus has a species, the common alder, A. glutinosa. It is, of 

 course, impossible to say which of these two species Wood 

 meant. He further says " a suggestion thrown out that it may 

 feed upon oak is therefore likely enough to come true." 



ENTOM. FEBRUARY, 1920. D 



