1890.] 299 



I hope that either Mr. Hodgkinson or I may be able to throw some light on this 

 problem nest jear, but the sallow and willow larvae certainly appear to be very 

 distinct. — Nelson M. Eichaedson, Montevideo, near Weymouth : Oct. 16th, 1890. 



Notes on Eupoecilia notulana and Halonota cirsiana. — Last autumn, I collected 

 from a small damp spot in this county some stems of mint {Mentha hirsuta), con- 

 taining larvae of JEupoecilia notulana, from which I bred a nice series last June. 



I find that this species varies considerably in its markings, especially as regards 

 the dark central fascia. This fascia, which is, as a rule, of a rich dark velvety-brown, 

 almost black, or with black edges, and presents a striking contrast to the cream 

 coloured ground of the wing, is occasionally almost as light as the ground colour, 

 with one or two small dark dots at the edges. Sometimes only the lower half is of 

 the rich dark colour, and I have also specimens in which the fascia is very dark and 

 broad, and the usual small dark spot on the inner margin near the anal angle is 

 enlarged into a band, and meets the central fascia near the middle, causing the whole 

 dark marking to take the form of an inverted Y. In one case, the triangular part 

 of the Y is completely dark. The fascia near the apex varies quite as much in the 

 intensity of its colour, which seems to be entirely independent of that of the central 

 fascia. 



The larvae hibernate and pupate in the stems, and emerge through a small hole 

 in the side hidden by a thin layer of bark, which is all that is left by the larva at 

 that point. 



My chief object in referring to this species is to ask whether any one has 

 actually bred E. notulana from any other plant besides mint, especially Inula 

 dysenterica. I have somewhere seen a statement that its larva feeds on Inula, and 

 I, therefore, carefully examined a great many stems of that plant, which were 

 growing amongst the mint, but could not find one containing a larva of E. notu- 

 lana, though many of the mint stems contained three or four each, and in the very 

 restricted locality in which it occurred, the larva was decidedly common. I quite 

 satisfied myself that there, at all events, E. notulana did not use the Inula as a 

 regular food-plant. 



In my examination of the Inula, I found occasionally, perhaps in every twentieth 

 stem or so, a larva which I supposed at the time to be that of C. inoplana. This 

 larva, of which I regret to say I took no description, was feeding quite at the 

 bottom of the old flower-stalk, and sometimes almost in the root of the plant. I 

 kept the stems out of doors, planted in a flower-pot, until the late spring, when I 

 found that the larvae had pupated in the stems. These I brought indoors, after 

 cutting them, for convenience, to a length of six or eight inches, and placed them 

 on tlie bottom of a box. The pupa, a day or two before emergence, wriggled up the 

 inside of the stem and came out at the top where it was cut off. The same thing 

 happened when I placed the stem in a nearly upright position. 



The moths emerged at the end of June and beginning of July, and turned out 

 to be Halonota cirsiana. 



I hope next year to discover what happens to the pupa when the top of the 

 stem is left on. 



