248 [October, 1893. 



mine is always quite clean. It appears to feed solely on tMs plant in 

 the early spring, tlie only other with fleshy leaves which was growing 

 near, in the middle of April, being S. fruficosa, on which there was 

 then no trace of any larvae. Seta and other plants were just shooting, 

 and others, such as Sueeda onaritima, Salicornia, &c., not yet visible. 



The larva is rather sluggish. It hangs by a thread when dis- 

 turbed, if out of its mine, as I have occasionally seen it, when engaged 

 in spinning up the shoot, and has sometimes a curious way of stretching 

 out its first few segments to a remarkable length and thinness. 



The larvae pupate in captivity in a slight cocoon in earth and 

 the moths emerge in the latter half of June. I am not aware that 

 any second brood of this species has been detected. 



It is interesting to note that many individuals of L. instahilella, 

 as well as some others of this group, must pass portions of their life 

 in their first three stages under water, as they occur on plants which 

 are regularly covered at high tide, a phase of life which they share 

 with several of the genus Goleophora. The moths must carefully 

 choose their time for emerging, and also for egg laying, which cannot 

 take place when the tide is high. The larvae are also exposed to 

 attacks by sea and land foes. All the above species occur in this 

 neighbourhood, as well as L. salicornicd. 



Major Hering has most kindly sent me specimens of some species 

 of this group which have not been found with us. L. halymella. 

 Mill., and salinella, 7t., two sandy-coloured species, which seem to be 

 very closely allied to each other ; L. tussilaginella, Hein., bred from 

 larvae mining the leaves of Tussilago farfara , a small, narrow winged, 

 pale wainscot-coloured moth with brownish-ochreous veins and three 

 blackish spots ; and a form which is bred in the South of France from 

 SucEda friiticosa, but which, in my opinion, is distinct from any of our 

 British species, and quite different from any sucedella that I have ever 

 seen. My specimen has the fore- wing rather dark greyish-brown, 

 somewhat mottled with paler brown, two blackish costal spots near 

 the base and a few at the tip, and traces of some of the others usual 

 in this group. It would, however, require a long series in order to be 

 able to speak definitely about it. It is possible that some of our 

 species may change gradually in appearance as we go southwards, but 

 much investigation will be required before we can know the relations 

 of the Mediterranean species to our own. 



Montevideo, near Weymouth : 

 September 4.th, 1893. 



