NOTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARV.E, ETC. JQQ 



July, over the tops of bircli and elm trees, on which the larva' feed in 

 sprin,^-. 



19— The seeds of cowslip should be gathered in July for larva- of 

 J'lnpiicv'dia vuficiliana. 



20.— The imago of Ditnla sniiifasriaua flies at dusk in July and 

 August, over the tops of sallows growing in damp and marshy places • 

 it will also come to sugar. The larva feeds in the shoots (and catkins) 

 of sallow in April and ]\Iay. 



21. — Sweep the flow^ering heads of haitnts cainta in Julv, for the 

 imagines of Scutasia rnt'tUana. 



22. — In July the imagines of Fidonia hnoincata {piiu'taria) are 

 easily disturbed during the day, and fly sometimes quite freely in the 

 afternoon sun. 



23. — Dusking along the reed beds in marshes is always very pro- 

 ductive during July, r/iila pJiranwitdlus, Calamia phraiimitiilis, Leit- 

 cania strcoiiinea, Sec, are thus to be captured. 



24. — S,-nt<isia rliamnata and .S'. vctidata fly freely at dusk round 

 clumps of buckthorn in woods, hedgerows, fens, ic, during July. 



25. — ( 'idaria jiirata is to be obtained in July by searching the tree- 

 trunks in our southern woods, preferably fairly" early in the morning. 



N.B. — For series of similar hints for Julv read vol. x.,pp. 179-180- 

 vol. ix., pp. 180-181 ; vol. vih., pp. 116-118," &c. 



J^OTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARYiE, &c. 



Eggs of Lepidoptera. — I'ln/tomctra riridaria. — After his descrip- 

 tion of the very remarkable egg of this species {Knt. liirurd, vol. ix. 

 p. 291), Mr. Tutt queries as to whether he or Mr. Hellins may have 

 made some mistake as to the identity of the egg. ]\Ir. Tutt is certainly 

 correct. Mr. Hellins probably also, in so far that no very detailed 

 account of eggs was considered necessary at the time he wrote. The 

 covering of upright spines is very curious. Viewed from above (newly 

 laid) the egg is wdiite, overlaid by a very delicate brown network, so 

 pale as hardly to be visible at the micropyle, Avhere its cells are very 

 small. Round this are six or seven cells a little larger, then seven or 

 eight rather larger, and again about ten larger still, r/c, about the 

 size of those on the rest of the egg. These circum-micropylar cells are 

 mostly pentagonal, and have no spines. Beyond this the cells are 

 triangular, and have a spine at each intersection of the network. The 

 brown lines of this netAvork hang in curves from spine to spine, as 

 though they would fall to the centre of the egg if not upheld by the 

 spine, producing a very beautiful efiect. The spines round the micro- 

 pylar area form a circle of al)out ten or twelve in number, and the num- 

 bers increase rapidly in the succeeding circles, till at the equator of 

 the egg there are about 88-42 in the complete circle. In the area of 

 increase the triangles are packed together, Ave, six, and eight to a 

 spine ; round the equator they are arranged very regularly, in a 

 hexagonal pattern, so that, looked at from above, the spines are 

 vertically above one another, not altogether foreign to the Noctuid 

 pattern of a vertical ribbing, Avhilst the cross lines of the network form 

 a Jacob's ladder between the rows. The number of spines from above 

 downwards to form a row seems very great, but when actually counted 

 from the micropyle, to where they cease towards the base (which is 

 smooth), they are really eight to ten in number. As viewed from 



