ON THE EARLY STAGES OF OXYPTILUS PILOSELL.'E. 



89 



thus being under the above conditions capable of causing the 

 impression of a head nodding out from a dark cowl. M. atropos 

 is well known as a migratory insect not indigenous in the 

 north ; and as the moths emerged in a temperature like that of 

 their southern home, this perhaps helps to account for the 

 remarkable exhibition they made. 



NOTE ON THE EARLY STAGES OF OXYPTILUS 



PILOSELLM. 



By William Purdey. 



"^ 



Oxyptiliig pilosellcc, x 2; and cocoon-like pupal tenements, x 2. 



Although repeatedly foiled in consequence of the larvae 

 being so extensively ichneumoned, I have, after some years, 

 succeeded in rearing British specimens of 0. pilosellce. The 

 ovum is deposited on the under side of a leaf of Hieracium pilo- 

 sella about the end of July, and is large for the size of the moth. 

 The general colour is pale lemon, and the larva, which hatches 

 out in about ten days from the time that the egg is laid, is at 

 first a miner, and eats down the midrib of the leaf. It probably 

 hybernates quite small, but from its obscure habits I doubt if it 

 could then be obtained in a state of nature. Neither can it be 

 detected after hybernation until quite late in the spring, and even 

 then only with difficulty, as it feeds in the heart of the plant 



ENTOM. — MARCH, 1910. H 



