88 [September, 



out commonest Tortrices seem to be. L. reliquana in tliis district is an abundant 

 insect, and flies in the late afternoon and early evening at the end of May and be- 

 ginning of June, over the tops of the oak bushes and small trees. I can hardly 

 think it feeds on golden-rod, for it is very common even in vFoods vrhere the plant is 

 entirely absent, and in collecting the stems and seed-heads for the purpose of rearing 

 the EupUhecice, EupcecilicB, &c., &c., I never heard of any one breeding reliquana. 

 It is, in my experience, confined to oak only. 



Tortrices have been more frequent than usual, and in consequence of the hot 

 weather their duration was short. /S. obscurana, which I fancy is one of the most 

 overlooked of our metropolitan species, was very common in June ; it flies freely 

 round the tips of the higher branches of oak trees in woods from 5 to 7-30 p.m. 

 A. upupana was commoner than usual, but nearly a fortnight late in appearance, a 

 remark that applies to many other species, such as T. Branderiana,E.puncticostana, 

 C. Juliana, S. minutana, aceriana, C. grossana, S. achatana, D. sequana, &c., &c. 



Double broods, evidently caused by the season, are now appearing in some few 

 instances, of which A. derasana is the latest I have observed. The autumn species 

 are in great force now, and I have never seen S. nigromaculana or E. dubitana in 

 such abundance, especially the latter ; S. spiniana is just appearing, and is as great a 

 puzzle as ever, although undoubtedly attached to hawthorn, how or when it feeds is 

 a problem awaiting solution. 



Respecting Macro-Lepidoptera, light has proved wonderfully attractive dui'ing 

 the summer. On one evening, between 11 p.m. and 1.30 a.m., no less than forty-one 

 species came into my room attracted by the lamp. There have been a few curious 

 visitors, such as A. Itictuosa, F. bajularia, E.fraxinata, S. cinctalis, &c., while A. 

 porphyrea and P. tersata must have come very far, there being no heather or Cle- 

 matis vitalba in the neighbourhood. Second appearances are of course frequent. I 

 have noticed during the la^t week S. populi, and have bred a number of N. drome- 

 darius, and the third brood of A. subnericeata is now coming out in my cages. — 

 C. Fenn, Eversden House, Burnt Ash Hill, Lee, Kent : August \Sth, 1887- 



Description of the larva of Eupaecilia flaviciliana. — In a valley among the 

 downs near Sanderstead, where I had the previous season found flaviciliana flying 

 at dusk, last July I observed a ? depositing her eggs in the flowers of Knautia 

 arvensis. By collecting the flower-heads in the course of the following month the 

 larvae were obtained in some numbers, and though I failed myself, both Mr. Bird 

 and Mr. Fletcher have succeeded this year in rearing the imago. The young larvse, 

 which at first are dark blackish-brown with black head, live in the florets, several 

 often in a single head. As the seed-vessels develope, the larvae attack them, eating 

 out the inside and passing from one to another. The full-fed larva is plump but 

 active, of varying colour, sometimes wholly dull green, or green with more or less of 

 a pinkish tinge, or, lastly, entirely reddish-brown ; the head and plates brown. 

 They may be found within the receptacle, or on its outside, protected by several seed 

 vessels spun together ; but as the season advances, they are probably all alike blown 

 down to the ground, where they spin up among rubbish. In confinement (in the 

 linen bag in which they were being reared) they spun dirty grey cocoons among the 

 folds, in which they passed the winter. In several instances I found larvse which 



