146 TORTRICINA. 



one-third from the base, the other one-third from the apex ; these 

 are sometimes nearly obsolete, and sometimes the posterior mark, 

 which is the largest, is only visible. At the anal angle is a faint 

 indication of the ocelloid patch, which is oval. Apical scales pale 

 drab, with fuscous tips. Cilia fuscous at the apex, dusky drab along 

 the margin. Posterior wings pale fuscous. Marginal scales and 

 cilia dull straw-colour. Abdomen fuscous ; the caudal tuft ochreous 

 drab. $ Exp. al. 6|-7| lin. 



A very abundant species, variable in size as well as in the in- 

 tensity of the colours. The ground-colour of the anterior wings 

 ranges from drab to ochreous, more or less mixed with fine 

 fuscous markings. There appear to be two broods in the year, 

 one in the spring, the other in the autumn, the former attain- 

 ing larger dimensions than the latter. There have been several 

 varieties assigned to this species, some of them apparently applied 

 to the $ ; the most remarkable of which is the vwc.plagana, which 

 lias a dark longitudinal uninterrupted, broadish streak from the 

 base to the apex. The insect figured in f Curtis's B. E.' pi. 599, 

 can only be considered as a pale variety of this species ; it is, how- 

 ever, remarkable that in the North of England and in Scotland, 

 this form assumes a permanence. 



The imago frequents low swampy places where rushes grow, 

 and the first brood appears in May and June, the second in 

 August and September. It is very generally distributed, occur- 

 ring also in Scotland and Ireland. 



According to Mr. R. F. Logan, the larvae feed on the Rush 

 (Juncus glomeratus). " It is green, with a black head and black 

 tubercles, and completes its transformations in a white silken 

 folliculus within the stem, near the root, and the pupa is amber- 

 colour, and remarkably straight and cylindrical" : vide ' Entom. 

 Weekly Intell.' vol. i. p. 110; but it would appear, from further 

 observations by Mr. John Scott, of South Stockton, /. c. p. 28 

 and p. 164, that the larva is pale, with a pinkish tinge on the 

 back, with the head, a large patch on the corselet, and anal seg- 

 ment shining pitchy black, and that the tubercles are brown. 

 The pupa, he says, is brown, not amber-coloured. Are there, 

 then, two species mixed up under the name of lanceolana ? This 

 we think may be probable, as, surely, two such acute observers 

 as Messrs. Logan and Scott cannot have made such mistakes 

 about the larva ; or do the larvae of B. lanceolana differ in dif- 

 ferent situations ? 



Obs. Mr. S. Stevens has captured some specimens of a Bactra 

 in all respects like B. lanceolana, except that the ground-colour 

 of the anterior wings is testaceous brown, and measuring from 



