1890.T 49 



Lohopliora polycommata : ha^it of larra. — Some few years ago I had a bafch 

 of eggs of L. polycommata, and, on hatching, supplied the young larvfe with their 

 supposed food-plant, honeysuckle, which they declined to touch. I then tried them 

 with leaves and buds of other shrubs and trees, and at last had the satisfaction of 

 seeing them begin to gnaw holes in the leaf-buds of privet. In a short time every 

 larva had eaten its way into one of these buds, and made itself at home. When one 

 bud was hollowed out, the larva would enter another, and so on until they were 

 half an inch long, when they all came out and fed openly upon the leaves, and were 

 reared without difficulty. I have no doubt that privet is a favourite food-plant with 

 this species, and the hollowing out of the leaf-buds its usual habit when young. — 

 Sydney Webb, Maidstone House, Dover: January, 1890. 



Callimorpha Hera in Devonshire 17 years ago. — On looking over a few 

 Lepidoptera belonging to the Rev. E. Peek, of Swelling, near Saxmundham, I 

 observed two specimens of C. Hera. These, he informs me, were taken by himself 

 about 17 years ago near Hazelwood, which is on the little river Avon, in Devonshire. 

 I think that at that time C. Hera was scarcely recognised as a British insect ; hence 

 this capture is worthy of record. Hazelwood is, I find, near Loddiswell. — E. N. 

 Bloomfield, Gruestling : January 8th, 1890. 



A new British Retinia. — One of the pleasant incidents of our recent visit to 

 Liverpool was a trip by Mr. Sydney Webb and myself, with our kind and genial 

 host, Mr. Capper, to Preston, for the purpose of examining Mr. Threlfall's exquisite 

 Tineina, and Mr. Hodgkinson's extensive collection of Lepidoptera generally. 

 Here, while looking through the Tortrices, we came upon a specimen placed in Mr. 

 Hodgkinson's series of Retinia pinivorana which was evidently a stranger, and un- 

 known to, us all. After some trouble, and with help from Mr. Stainton, I have been 

 able to recognise it as Retinia margarotana, H.-S., Hein., a native of Silesia and 

 Grreece, found in April and May among fir trees ; but Heinemann does not say 

 among what species of fir. Mr. Hodgkinson informs me that all his series of pini- 

 vorana were taken in Scotland — probably the west,— and this specimen among them. 



Heinemann's description is fairly accurate : " Anterior- wings narrower than in 

 turionana, of more uniform width, with the costa almost straight, brown-red, with 

 broad violet-grey leaden lines, finely margined with black, and partly interrupted ; 

 these leaden lines so very broad that ihe ground-colour remains only in narrow 

 stripes, interrupted and branched in the marginal area. Costal hooks inconspicuous, 

 small, and faintly double, except the first, which is sharply white, and continued to 

 the upper of the two rather distinct ocelli. Cilia shining grey, with a dark line at 

 the base. Head and long palpi rusty-brown. Hind-wings in both sexes brownish- 

 grey, with pale grey cilia." The last item is not quite accurate, since in German 

 specimens, and also that under consideration, the basal portion of the hind-win "s is 

 paler. The most striking feature about this insect is the extraordinary breadth of 

 the leaden lines — usually so narrow, — which here form bands across the anterior- 

 wings alternately with the ground-colour, and even expand here and there into 

 blotches. The black edging is also distinct, especially round a space near the apex. 

 This insect is a very handsome, and most unexpected, addition to our fauna.— Chas. 

 G-. Bakeett, Somerset House, London : January 14th, 1890. 



