312 BKITISII LEPIDOPTERA. 



EGG-LAYING. The egg is laid on the underside of a leaf (Nolcken). 



MINE. The mine is irregular, and twisted so frequently that its 

 direction is not always easy to follow. It forms, at last, a large, 

 dirty, yellowish blotch, in which stand isolated islets of the uninjured 

 green of the leaf. Nolcken notes that the mines are differently coloured 

 in the leaves of Rubns chamaemortu and 11. seseatilit (a difference not 

 marked in the dried leaves). Its commencement is broader than that 

 of the mines of most species, forms first some closely compressed 

 windings, then stretches itself in curves for a short distance, and only 

 gradually increases in width, until it suddenly enlarges into a large 

 blotch, bounded by convex lines or the vein of a leaf. From the 

 commencement to the blotch, the granular frass lies in small patches 

 (with scattered pellets between), which stretch from side to side, so 

 that there are pale patches, but no p'ale margins. In the blotch the 

 frass at first shows the track of the larva, but is afterwards scattered 

 irregularly. Sometimes the blotch takes in the whole of the earlier 

 part of the mine, although even then its direction can be traced. The 

 larva quits the leaf by the upper side. Heiuemann notes that both 

 the larva and mine are like those of X. aiujnlifaxcidla. 



LARVA. Wocke describes the larva as " light greyish-green, its 

 head pale brown." Nolcken says that " the larva is very pale 

 greenish, almost transparent, with light-green alimentary canal just 

 as clear ; the head pale yellowish -brown, with the sutures and mouth- 

 parts darker ; antennae scarcely visible but faintly shaded with grey ; 

 the ventral surface with lozenge-shaped spots, which, however, are 

 rounded off, and are united like a string of pearls." 



COCOON. The cocoons examined (17 in number) average 2 mm. 

 in length and 1-25 mm. in width. The cocoon is almost ovate in shape, 

 much deeper than the ordinary Nepticulid cocoon, exceedingly irregular, 

 and without any rim in those examined. The cocoons are spun up 

 among moss and sand, many pieces of the latter being attached to the 

 outside. The colour of the cocoons is black, generally smooth, but 

 with a number of loose black-brown fibres scattered here and there, 

 probably at the points of attachment where the coccon has been 

 fastened to pieces of moss. [Described July 7th, under a two-thirds 

 lens, from cocoons sent by Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher.] Wocke describes 

 the cocoon as being " dark-brown in colour, of oval form and 

 little vaulted." Nolcken says that " the freshly-made cocoons are 

 blackish violet-grey, often with a paler greenish margin." 



FOOD-PLANTS. liubus caesius, preferring plants growing in damp, 

 shady places (Wocke), R. sexatilis and R. chainaemorus (Nolcken), 

 R. caesius and R. chainaemorus (Sorhagen), R. fruticosus (Walsingham). 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. The species is probably double-brooded in 

 the south, single-brooded in the central and north, of Europe. 

 Walsingham obtained larvae from March 29th-April 3rd, 1888, at 

 Cannes, which produced imagines June lst-17th, 1888, whilst others, 

 obtained in March, 1889, emerged from May 27th-June 12th, 1889. 

 Peyerimhoff notes it as single-brooded in Alsace, the October larvae 

 producing imagines in June, whilst Sand also says that in Auvergne, 

 October larvae produce imagines in June. Wocke notes only one 

 brood at Breslau, the larvae appearing from the end of September 

 until the end of October, and producing in a warm room (into which 

 the cocoons were brought at the commencement of February) imagines 



