145 



NOTE ON EVETRIA (RETINIA) BUOLIANA, Schiff., 

 AND E. PINICOLANA, Dbld. 



By Eustace R. Bankes, M.A., F.E.S., &c. 



In the Editorial review [Entom. xli. 255-256 (1908)] of Mr. 

 A. J. Gillanders' 'Forest Entomology' we read, on p. 256, 

 " The species represented on p. 269, fig. 256, is certainly Retinia 

 huoliana, but moths bred from larvae feeding in the leading 

 shoots of Scots pine, as illustrated (fig. 255), are usually R.pini- 

 colana . . . . " This latter assertion is perhaps true of certain 

 districts, but it would be interesting to learn what eviderice can 

 be adduced in support of it as a general statement. At different 

 times I have collected, in various localities in East Dorset and 

 West Hants, large numbers of Evetria larvae feeding in the 

 leading shoots of Scots pine, precisely as shown in the illustra- 

 tion (fig. 255) in question, and have reared scores of imagines 

 from them, every one of which, with the exception of a single 

 pinicolajia bred from among some Ringwood larvae, has been refer- 

 able to huoliana. Wherever plantations of Scots pine are found 

 in this part of the country, huoliana seems to be either common 

 or abundant, whereas pinicolana is so exceedingly local that a 

 spot in the Isle of Parbeck, where I discovered it in 1901, is 

 still its only known Dorset habitat except for one which has 

 yielded a solitary individual. Moreover, even where the two 

 species occur together, huoliana is, in my experience, hy far the 

 more plentiful, and this is the case in all districts about which I 

 have definite information, though it will be sufficient to quote 

 from only the three authors first to hand. In the course of his 

 valuable notes on " The Tortrices of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex," 

 the late Mr. Walter P. Weston wrote in Entom. xiii. 160 (1880), 

 " Retinia huoliana, Schiff. — Common among various kinds of 

 firs It occurs throughout these counties. Retinia pini- 

 colana, Dbld. — Of similar habits to the preceding species, but 



much scarcer It has occurred at Tunbridge Wells, 



Dartford; Hastings, Uckfield, Tilgate Forest; Croydon, West 

 Wickham." In the catalogue of Lepidoptera published in the 

 * Victoria History of Hampshire,' the notices of these species 

 were from the pen of Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, and run as 

 follows : " Retinia huoliana. Abundant in plantations of young 

 Scotch firs in New Forest. Retinia pinicolana. Less common 

 by far than the preceding in New Forest." Again, Mr. A. 

 Thurnall, in his " List of Tortrices taken in South Essex 

 between 1885 and 1901," published in Entom. xxxv. (1902), 

 sums up his experience as follows, on p. 191 : " Retinia huoliana, 

 Schiff. — Very common wherever Pinus sylvestns grows, • _• • • 

 R. pinicolana, Doubl. — Much rarer than the last species ; singly 



ENTOM. JUNE, 1909. N 



