410 Dr. T. A. Chapman on the 



Amongst the Coriaria, both growing and that gathered 

 for fooii for C. avis, a noctua larva spinning the leaves 

 together was not uncommon, these were assumed from 

 their appearance to be Orthosia fidvago {cerago), but on 

 emergence proved to be 0. lota, of very large size and 

 highly variable in colouring. Milliere records the larvae 

 of 0. lota, as common at Cannes on the " Roudou " 

 {Coriaria). 



Assuming these larvae to be fidvago (and had I known 

 they were lota the result would have been the same), I 

 concluded that Coriaria as a food-plant must have some- 

 thing in common with sallow. On trial, the lota took 

 sallow readily, but C. avis would not try it, but seemed to 

 find osier {Salix viminalis) with which I also supplied 

 them, as much to their taste as the Coriaria. The question 

 of providing them with food at Reigate was thus much 

 simplified. Had I also answered the question of the 

 alternative food-plant ? I felt quite sure that I had not, 

 because in that part of the Riviera, sallows and willows of 

 all sorts are rare, osiers perhaps especially, and are quite 

 absent in the places where C. avis had been taken. I 

 offered the larvae of C. avis many other plants, trees and 

 shrubs, with the result of uniform refusal to look at them, 

 until I offered them Arhutus, the young shoots of which 

 they took to with great readiness and fed and throve on 

 them as well as they did on Coriaria or osier. C. rubi 

 took both osier and Arbutus but not very willingly, and 

 on Arhutus failed to thrive and finally refused it. 



Admitting that I may be in error, I feel satisfied that 

 the food-plant of C. avis on the Riviera is Arhutus unedo, 

 which grows in each of the spots where C. avis has been 

 taken. 



An interesting point arises here in regard to the dis- 

 tribution of C. avis. Both Coriaria and Arhutus are 

 plentiful enough about Cannes, yet I think we may assert 

 that C. avis has never been taken there. Cannes has been 

 well-worked by many entomologists, foremost amongst 

 whom stand Milliere and Constant. I never met with 

 it there myself nor in the Esterel where Gh. jasius occurs 

 freely, and one would attribute a more southern constitu- 

 tion to Ch. jasi^is than to C. avis. There is something 

 still to be discovered as a governing fact in the distribu- 

 tion of C. avis. I found, for instance, that large areas of 

 Coriaria in the valley of the Tet, only a few miles from 



