1889.1 307 



Remarkable variety of Cosmopteryx Schmidiella. — In a series of C. Schmidiella 

 which I bred from larvse in leaves of Vicia sepium in the end of June, 1888, were 

 four examples of a peculiar variety which, so far as I am aware, has not been pre- 

 viously noticed. The three brilliant metallic fascia? on the fore-wings are present as 

 usual, but the broad orange band beyond the middle is entirely wanting, the space 

 usually occupied by it being filled up by the black ground-colour ; in two of these 

 specimens, however, a few orange scales are just traceable in this space. Even in 

 ordinary individuals this species varies greatly in the breadth and intensity of colour 

 of this orange fascia. — Id. 



Continuation of the late Mr. A. W. Scott's Australian Lepidoptera and their 

 transformations. — We hear that the publication of the fine illustrated work on the 

 life-histories of Australian Lepidoptera, of which three parts were published by the late 

 Mr. A. W. Scott, under the title, "Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations," 

 is to be continued by the Trustees of the Australian Museum, Sydney. The work 

 of editing the valuable material which was left by Mr. Scott, and of revising the 

 classification and nomenclature of the species, has been entrusted to his daughter, 

 Mrs. Edward Forde, and Mr. Sidney Olliff. — Eds. 



Retinia posticana, Zett., bred. — In March last I visited the Scotch firs (out of 

 which, on May 31st, 1888, I beat two examples of this insect) in the hope of ascer- 

 taining something about the mode of life of the larva. I began by examining the 

 central buds of the terminal shoots, in which, if Mr. Barrett was right in considering 

 it a small form of turionana, Hub., it ought to have occurred ; but though I 

 inspected dozens of such shoots, I found no trace of anything resembling turionana. 

 On the small side buds there were many little resinous webby processes, caused by 

 young brownish-red, active larva?, which I believed to be those of R. pinivorana, 

 Zell. While collecting some of these, I found also here and there small lateral buds, 

 generally in sheltered positions, that contained, without showing any resinous web, 

 torpid larva?, apparently full-fed, and four small glossy-black pupa?, resting, like 

 turionana, head downwards, in an obliquely-inclined passage lined with white web. 

 The larva? all died. From the four pupa? three ichneumons emerged ; the fourth, 

 though still black, is, I fear, dead. At the beginning of the present month I had a 

 second search. All the buds had by this time developed into shoots of various 

 lengths, tenanted plentifully by the now nearly full grown larvse of pinivorana ; but 

 after careful searching I secured six brown undeveloped buds, each containing a 

 pupa, from which I have this week bred two ? posticana. The larva? evidently 

 prefer small single growing lateral buds near the ground on stunted trees ; the 

 tenanted buds were never more, often less, than half an inch long, so small, in fact, 

 as to suggest the probability of the larva having fed up somewhere else before 

 betaking itself to them. The pupa is very considerably smaller than that of 

 turionana, glossy black and rather lively ; the larva? (as far as I could tell, for I did 

 not disturb the few I got) dull red-brown. I cannot but think that this decided 

 difference in the mode of feeding of the larva tends to strengthen my contention 

 that posticana, Zett., is a distinct species, not merely a dwarfed form of turionana. — 



W. Waeeen, 13, Cheyne Eow, Chelsea, S.W. : May 20th, 1889. 



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