Insects. 8989 
I cannot find a better conclusion for this long note than the 
following extract from one of Mr. Doubleday’s letters :—“ In closely 
allied species you will always find specimens, slight aberrations, which 
appear to be intermediate between the two, and it is often impossible 
to say we which they belong without knowing something of their 
history.” 
- My eggs of Cidaria immanata, var. marmorata, began to hatch last 
Saturday, March 5. 
I can now confirm Mr. Edleston’s description of the young larve of 
C. immanata and C, russata (Zool. 8784), for I find that I had noted 
in my diary that the larve of C. russata, when first hatched (August 23, 
1863), were whitish, slightly tinged with green, and I call my newly- 
hatched C. immanata most decidedly yellow. 
It is worth while noticing that Mr. Edleston speaks of the first 
brood of C. russata, and I of the second; also that his C. immanata 
were the offspring of a moth of the typical colour, mine of the variety 
marmorata. 
Cidaria silaceata. Any one who has seen this larva when at rest, 
and noticed its resemblance to the seed-vessels of the Epilobium, on 
which it feeds, will wonder much why continental authors give aspen 
as its food. Mr. Doubleday informs me that the species is rare on the 
Continent, and Guenée has taken it only in the Pyrenees. 
Cidaria populata. I doubt much if this species feeds on sallow, 
except when reared on it in confinement. In this neighbourhood we 
take the moth only where the whortleberry grows, and last spring Mr. 
Batty, of Sheffield, sent me several of the larve, which he had found on 
that plant: they were remarkably variable in colour, being of one or two 
tints of green, pale brown, reddish brown, and even dark brown; but 
the remarkable feature in this species, and one which I have seen in 
no other larva but that of its congener, C. prunata, is the raised band 
or collar on the third segment, black or reddish, according as the 
ground colour of the larva is dark or light, and dotted with white. 
Noctua festiva. I think it is worth recording that Mr. Buckler took 
a larva of this species last April, and bred the moth from it afterwards, 
whilst feeding on a lichen attached to some dry grass-stems: he is 
quite sure it was eating the lichen, as he watched it for some time 
before disturbing it. 
Anticlea rubidata. Eggs laid end of June—beginning of July; 
larve hatched in ten or twelve days; varieties gray or reddish; full 
fed in August. Food in confinement Galium mollugo. Pupa in small 
earthern cocoon. 
