NOTES ON LUFFIA POMONAE. 207 



I at first siglit mistook a large pale female for Ai/lophaxia litltoxi/lro. 

 (TrcDiniK'sia trinraiiniiira is always very abundant here, and in each of 

 the last three years 1 have taken a splendid example of ah. obscnra, 

 Tutt. Of the other named aberrations of this species ajiproxiniam is 

 lare, rridcm rather common, and stniiifimccDix (varying very much in 

 the intensity of the clouding) of frequent occurrence. It is a most 

 interesting species, and I much regret that I have only two rows, con- 

 taining some forty specimens, allotted to it in my cabinet. On the 

 TOth of June 1 was surprised to take at sugar a female ybimtis pnta, as 

 I have always looked upon this as an August species. She laid three 

 eggs which, having changed colour, are, I presume, fertile. Do any 

 of your readers remember taking A. jnita before August '? 



Luffia lapidella, Goeze, a British species. — Notes on Luffia pomonae. 



By J. W. TU'I'T, F.K.S. 

 In the Mcnioircs th'.^ IiiHcctcs, vol. iii., p. 188, pi. xv., figs. 1-6, 

 Baaumur described and figured the species that Geotfroy, liutoire des 

 Iiisectes, p. 204, no. 53, afterwards re-described as a " Tinea lapidum 

 involucre conico recurvo." This species Guenee considered was the 

 most conniion of all those found on old lichen-covered walls in Paris. 

 There is no doubt whatever that Reaumur's insect is the same species 

 as that obtained by Lufi:" in Guernsey, by Bankes in Purbeck, and by 

 Richardson in Portland ; the cases being identical. In the " Stainton " 

 continental collection at the South Kensington Natural History 

 Museum, there is an excellent series from Lyon, under the name of 

 lapidicdla, sent by Staudinger and Milliere, and the insect agrees 

 absolutely with the (xTtinclhi of Dup., Hist. Xat., supp. iv., 

 p. 512, pi. Ixxxix., fig. 6. Stainton inserted a note under his series, 

 suggesting that his examples might, although labelled lapidicella, be 

 the tahnh'Lla of Guenee, as he thought lapidicella should have whiter 

 hindwings and paler forewings, similar to two that Doubleday had 

 from Guernsey. We have already discussed tabtdella, Gn., = .scjdnin, 

 Speyer {ujitc, pp. 178-9), a very different species, although a Lufldid, 

 belonging to a different genus, IJacutia. L. lapidella has been referred 

 to by Bankes [Lrpiilnjitera of Isle of Purbeck, supp., 1889, p. 10) as 

 Solenobia triijitetrclla, and by Richardson [List of I'ortluitd l.epidoptera, 

 p. 180) as Solenobia ? sp. The peculiar extinguisher-like case is 

 perhaps better likened to a cow-horn, pointed at apex with a wide open 

 mouth, and the larva is of a highly specialised Psych id type, with 

 tubercle ii nearer the median line than i, and differing widely from 

 Solenobia and Dissoctena, not only in larval but in imaginal characters. 

 We believe that no very detailed description of the habits and life- 

 history of the insect has been published since Reaumur's time, but as 

 Mr. Luff furnished us with an abundant supply of living larva' this 

 spring, we have been able to obtain a considerable amount of detail 

 which will be ])ublislied in due course. It would be interesting to 

 learn whether any of the unknown larya^ and cases refei-red to the 

 Solenobia, obtained fi'om the old limestone wall between Conway and 

 Llandudno and elsewhere, belong to this species. The case is quite 

 unmistakable. The remarkable larva- in "obconical" cases, obtained 

 by Gregson at Howth, in 1870, that '-produced thousands of young 

 larva? the next season," although he " did not breed the perfect insect " 



