Notes on Cucullia intermedia. 213 



XII. NOTES ON CUCULLIA INTERMEDIA SPEYER. 



In the reference made in the following paper by Dr. Speyer* to a 

 manuscript description received from me of the larva of Cucullia inter- 

 laedia^ an error has occurred in the translation of the description sent 

 to him, whereby the dorsal and lateral spots, which constitute the 

 entire colorational marking of the larva, are designated as " reddish " 

 instead of orange^ as originally written. The figure of the larva, to 

 which he also refers, was a copy by a friend from a colored figure made 

 by me. Upon reference to my original figure, the spots were found 

 to be inaccurately colored, being represented as reddish, instead of con- 

 forming to the description. In the copy taken from it, it is possible that 

 a still further variation from the true color may have occurred, warrant- 

 ing its indication by Dr. Speyer as " lilac." These errors may seem quite 

 trivial : they would not be deemed of sufficient importance to demand 

 a formal correction at the present time were it not that the color of the 

 larval spots is introduced by Dr. S. as a prominent specific feature in 

 his comparison of G. intermedia with C. lucifuga. A few omissions 

 and other minor differences appear in the following paragraphs in the 

 translation, as compared with my notes ; the latter read as follows : 

 " Larva shining black, covered closely with minute granulations ; sides 

 with thirteen orange spots, one on each segment except the twelfth, 

 which has two small ones ; the first four are quadrangular, and the next 

 seven are semicircular or triangular." The representation of the larva 

 on plate 8, fig. 7, is from my original figure, but does not faithfully 

 portray the form of the spots. 



The larva, in all probability, occurs on the common bm'dock {Laj}][)a 

 officinalis), as I found, several years ago (as appears from notes made 

 in 1857), three crushed larvae upon a sidewalk at Schoharie, by the 

 side of which a number of burdocks were growing, with their leaves 

 much eaten. In two or three instances in which I have taken the 

 larvae after their last molt and matured them on burdock, I am unable, 

 in the absence of memoranda, to recall positively the circumstances 

 under which they were found, but my impression is, that they occurred 

 on the sidewalk at an early hour of the day. The habit of the larva, 

 we may presume, is to conceal itself during the day beneath stones 

 or other objects lying on the ground, and to come forth after dark 

 to take its food. 



As the dosely allied European species, C. umlratica, feeds on the 

 leaves of lettuce {Lactuca virosa), and on several species of sowthistle 



* A. Speyer, M. D., of Rhoden. Furstentlium Waldeck, Prussia. 



