86 Mr. H. T. Stainton on Entomological Difficulties 



has become unsettled, and that there is less confidence in the sta- 

 bility of the new discoveries. 



Thus it is found that several of the larvae (and may not this 

 observation extend to all) are at first very different in form and 

 markings from what they afterwards become ; so that from a 

 figure and description of the young larva, the adult larva of the 

 same species would never be recognized. 



It is also found that larvae, supposed to be exclusively attached 

 to individual grasses, feed indifferently on various other species 

 of the Graminece ; hence several different species of larvae some- 

 times feed in the same grass ; and, further, it is found that it is 

 not the Graminece only that the larvae of this genus frequent, but 

 many species are attached to the Cyperacece. 



But to perplex us still further, a species which no one had 

 suspected of any difference of habit, Elachlsta Tre'tlschkiella, has 

 in the larva state so peculiar a mode of feeding and living, that to 

 retain it along with the graminivorous species exceeds all our 

 notions of generic propriety. 



This larva was first noticed two years ago mining at the end of 

 summer in the leaves of the dogwood (^Corniis sanguinea), and 

 making large blotches. Its appearance, however, was so little 

 that of a Lepidopterous larva, that we felt much disposed to 

 regard it as " only some beetle larva," till accidentally observing 

 one in the act of cutting out its case, we were led to examine a 

 little more closely, and we found that in all the empty mines there 

 was a small elliptical hole cut out of the leaf at one end of the 

 mine. Plainly, then, it was the rule for these larva, after ceasing 

 to mine, to use a piece of thu leaf wherewith to construct a case. 

 This case is formed of two oval pieces, one being cut from the 

 under, the other from the upper side of the mined place, exactly 

 opposite to each other. The larva lines them with silk, and 

 fastens them together securely at the sides, leaving only a small 

 opening in front and behind. The case is then detached, and 

 descends to the ground, and it was anticipated the larva would 

 there have continued to feed like the larvae of Inciirvaria musca- 

 lella and peclinea. (Hence I have mentioned this larva in my 

 ' Entomologist's Companion," second edition, p. 53, under the 

 genus I?icurvaria.) However, as far as we have observed, the 

 larva does not feed at all after quitting the leaf, but remains 

 quietly in its case, and does not change to a pupa till the follow- 

 ing spring. 



Of the larvae collected in 1852, only one attained the pupa state, 

 and that never came out as imago. Of the larvae collected last 



