532 



Mr. C. L. Witliycombe's Notes on 



cocoon consists, as in all species of Hemerobius, of a central 

 main cocoon, 4-5 mm. long, of elongate-oval shape, sur- 

 rounded by a more or less well-defined outer envelope. 

 This outer envelope is frequently represented by little 

 more than floss silk. After a week or two the pupa is 

 disclosed and the emergence of the imago normally follows 

 in from ten to fourteen days in summer. The pupa is 

 not remarkable; at first pale brown in colour, it later 

 darkens just before emergence. Winter is passed as a 

 brown pupa which does not emerge until the following 

 spring. There are several broods in the year. 



Larvae have been found feeding on Lachnus j^ini L., L. 

 tomentosus De G., and EulacJmus agilus Kalt. Doubtless 

 no small insects would come amiss as food. 



Hemerobius mieans Olivier. 



Wing expanse 12-10 inm. Colour yeliov/. Wings yellowisli, 

 hyaline. The fore-wing venation is spotted with blackish, but these 

 spots are more widely spaced apart and larger than in nitidulus. 

 They also continue as short streaks on the membrane. The bases 

 of the macrotrichia are not the centres of the spottings, and are 

 mainly yellow. No distinct black sj^ot in basal third of foi-e-wings. 

 Three radial sectors. 



This species is not likely to be confused v/ith any other 

 British form on the above characters, its yellow colour and 

 almost uniformly coloured wings without cloudings or 

 conspicuous marks of any kind being very typical. The 

 spotting of the wings is quite distinctly different from that 

 of nitidulus, and, moreover, it is decidedly rare to find 

 mieans on conifers, which nitidulus frequents. Deciduous 

 woods are its favourite haunts, especially on beeches, 

 hornbeam, hazel a,nd oak, as far as I have seen. The time 

 of first appearance is early April, when imagines may often 

 be taken on the wing before the buds of the beeches have 



