September, 1893. 1 197 



NOTES ON THE EARLIER STA&ES OP THE NEPTICULM, 



WITH A VIEW TO THEIR BETTER RECOGNITION AT THIS PERIOD 



OF THEIR LIFE. 



BY JOHN H. WOOD, M. B. 



Nowhere, perhaps, in the whole range of the Micro- Lepidopt era 

 does the field naturalist find a more fascinating group than the Nepti- 

 Gulce. They are so rich in species as to form almost a study by 

 themselves, whilst, in their pursuit, the chances of making fresh 

 discoveries are so great, that an especial excitement is given to the 

 chase. They may be collected in one state or the other the whole 

 season through, but it is in the larval condition, and when autumn is 

 drawing to a close and little else to be done, that they are in greatest 

 force and best obtainable. Then it is, that armed with the simplest 

 of impedimenta, a leuse, and a few small tin cases to receive the mines 

 as they are sorted, the collector can spend many a pleasant hour among 

 the woods and hedgerows, and find his occupation so profitable, that 

 he will scarcely miss the wealth of insect life that has long since taken 

 its departure with the fruitful days of summer. Nothing too can be 

 more interesting than the objects of his search. There, in the small 

 compass of a leaf, lies open before him the whole life-history of the 

 insect, from the egg to the full-fed larva. If there is any drawback 

 to his enjoyment, it is the uncertainty he may feel in sorting his spoils. 

 To be in doubt, for instance, whether or no there may be a few mines 

 of regiella among the heap of hawthorn leaves, which his very un- 

 certainty has led him to gather so wastef ully, is at least unsatisfactory, 

 and not to be compared for a moment to the pleasure of knowing (if 

 that be possible) that the dozen or more leaves, carefully put away in 

 a box by themselves, are every one of them tenanted by that rare 

 species, and by nothing else. And that it ought to be possible to 

 distinguish in the larval state, without hesitation, all our British 

 species, I thoroughly believe, for the reason that we have in these 

 insects an unusual number of distinct lines of enquiry by which to 

 reach a decision. First, there is the food-plant ; then the position of 

 the egg ; next the form of the mine ; and, equally important, the 

 arrangement of the frass ; and, last of all, the characters of the larva. 

 Surely, with such an array of signposts, it will be hard to miss the 

 way, unless it be in the case of some specimen or other which is not 

 true to character in all its points ; but even here a pretty good guess 

 can generally be made, and we shall be saved the disappointment of 



