1889.) 291 



Acrolepia assectella, Zeller. — Amongst a lot of Tineidm which I purchased at 

 the sale of the late Mr. A. F. Sheppard's collection I detected a species I did not 

 know ; it was included with a number of obscure and not easily determined De- 

 pressaricB, Gelechidce, &o., and no doubt placed there for further examination, and 

 as there were no foreign insects amongst them, and as it was pinned like all the others, 

 I have not the least doubt it is a British specimen, and shall not hesitate in 

 placing it in my collection. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. H. T. Stainton 

 for determining the species. — Samuel Stevens, " Loanda," Beulah Hill, Upper 

 Norwood : May 10th, 1889. 



A FEW WOEDS ABOUT ACROLEPIA ASSECTELLA. 

 BY H. T. STAINTON, F.R.S. 



In 1862 the late Doctor Breyer, of Brussels, published in the Gth 

 volume of the Armales de la Societe Entomologique Beige (pp. 21, 22) 

 a very interesting and instructive notice of this insect, which I 

 reproduce here : — 



" Our common onion (Allium cepci) is a biennial ; the first year 

 produces the onion, it is not till the second year that the flowering 

 stem arises, which produces the seeds. The flowers are placed in a 

 cluster on the top of the stem, which begins to shoot up in the spring, 

 the flowers open in June, and the seeds are ripe towards the end of 

 September. 



" "When examining, lately, in a kitchen garden, some onions which 

 had gone to seed, I was struck with the appearance of the plants being 

 diseased ; several stems were completely divested of the seed-heads, 

 others had the umbel of seeds so loose that the slightest touch sufficed 

 to knock off all the peduncles at once. 



" These peduncles were gnawed at their bases, and their junction 

 with the main stem had been transformed into a powdery mass. 



" Here was, evidently, the work of some insect larva, and by no 

 means a disease of the plant. 



" "Whilst blowing over this dust I immediately found a quantity 

 of small larvae, which, at a first glance, looked like Dipterous larvae, 

 but a closer examination showed them to be Lepidopterous. In fact, 

 these were the larvae of Acrolepia assectella. 



"The larva is of a transparent dirty yellow, like old bits of 

 polished bone ; it bears on the second segment a small thoracic shield, 

 and is marked with two rows of little black dots, hardly visible to the 

 naked eye; it is slightly attenuated in front, but rather swollen behind 

 during repose. 



