210 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



little doubt it is only eampanulata, at any rate so far I can see no 

 difference" [i.e., in the male genitalia] . 



The larvae of both forms thrive on remarkably dry seeds, and 

 individuals go on feeding far into the autumn. I myself had 

 them both going on healthily up to the beginning of November, 

 but my friend, Mr. John Peed, caps this with a record of 

 denotata (eampanulata) still feeding on 15th December last year ! 



Eupithecia virgaureata is another very interesting species, 

 particularly as regards its economy. As Mr. Percy Pieid raised 

 the question of the food-plant and date of the first-brood larvae 

 (Ent. Kec. xix. 22), I imagine Klos's note (Verb. Z. B. Ges. "Wien. 

 li. 785) is not very generally known to British entomologists. 

 He records that at Stainz, near Gratz, he found on whitethorn 

 and blackthorn, between 24th June and 5th July, 1901, some 

 thirty larvae which at once reminded him, in their scheme of 

 markings, of E. virgaureata, although they were darker, being of 

 a chestnut brown colour. To his surprise, the moths emerged, 

 from 29th July to 30th August, veritable virgaureata, though 

 much smaller than the type and of a darker ash-grey shade, 

 with the spots bounding the central area well pronounced and 

 united into a band. He had not previously found the species on 

 any plant but Solidago virgaurea and S. canadensis, on which it 

 was abundant in his district ; he had never found it on gentians 

 or umbellifers, sometimes given as food-plants, the larvae which 

 he found on Gentiana asclepiadea always producing castigata. 

 He is unaware whether there is ordinarily a second brood; in his 

 district it appears, in a state of nature, at the end of March if 

 mild, or in mid-April if cold — not in May and June, as given by 

 other observers. 



There are some other curious records of food-plants for this 

 species, and some of them may safely be accepted as authentic, 

 though it is possible that one or two rest on a mis-identification 

 of the closely allied, variable, and polyphagous E. castigata. I 

 do not call the flowers of Senecio a "curious record" for it, as 

 they are allied to the golden rod ; Crewe found it thrive well 

 in captivity on Senecio (Ent. Ann. 1861, p. 135 — under the old, 

 erroneous name of pimpinellata — and 1863, p. 127) ; Hellins 

 found this the favourite natural food-plant in Devon (Ent. Ann. 

 1862, p. 47) ; and, if I remember aright, Mr. G. ¥. Porritt has 

 told me that it also inhabits ragwort on some of our coast sand- 

 hills. In the ' Zoologist ' for 1862, p. 8208, it is recorded on 

 the same plant both in Devon and at Albury (Surrey), and 

 there are doubtless other such records scattered throughout our 

 magazines. More remarkable, but no doubt reliable, on account 

 of the authority on which it is given, is the " on flowers of ling" 

 of Buckler's 'Larvae' (viii., expl. of pi. exxxii.) ; and I fancy that 

 " millefoil," given by Barrett, is also taken from the work of 

 one of our old English masters. The gentian and umbellifer records 



