IQQ [December, 



My two examples came from the same oak, and were obtained at 

 tlie same time, as L.fuscmn, and w^ere kindly forwarded by Mr. G. C. 

 Bignell, of Stonehouse. In view^ of the many points of similarity, 

 and the few^ of difference, I am very much inclined to believe that 

 this is only a form of L.fuscum, which has already a variation from 

 the type in an oblate-spheroid ; but at present, having no absolute 

 proof, this is merely matter of opinion. 



Eeiopeltis Lichtensteinii, Sign. 



In his " Essai sur les Cochinelles," p. 445^ Dr. Signoret has the 

 following : — 



"Among the numerous examples of ^r'^o^e?i^5_/esiMc■(^ that we have collected 

 at Hyeres, or that we have received from M. Lichtenstein, who had gathered them 

 at Montpellier, we have always observed that there were two very distinct types — 

 one having a sac with curly woolly filaments, almost scaly, the other, on the con- 

 trary, having a sac very densely felted. Having also received some large examples 

 sent by M. Eitsema from Holland, we have thought it right to consider the last 

 form as a new species, which we have named JEriopeltis LicMensteinii (Bull, de la 

 Soc. entomol., Feb. 14th, 1877, p. 47), reserving the name festuccB for the typical 

 species of Boyer de Fonscolombe, which we possess, and which has the curled 

 woolly sac. 



" The necessary microscopic study would at present take up too much of our 

 time, and it will form the subject of a more extended note hereafter." 



Fonscolombe's species herein alluded to was described in the 

 " Annales Soc. Ent. France," iii, 216, pi. 3, fig. 9, thus : — 



" Son corps est ovale, allonge, entierement couvert d'un fourreau blanc coton- 

 neux, dont les polls sont herisses en dehors, I'intervalle entre le corps et le coton est 

 ordinairement rempli de quantite de petites larves d'un rouge fonce qui courent 

 assez vite, quand on met a decouvert le corps de la mere en mai ; on le trouve aussi 

 I'et^, et tou jours le long des feuilles et des tiges du Festuca phcenicoides et du F. 

 ccespitosa, Desf." 



In this Magazine, vol. xxii, p. 141 (1885), Mr. Gr. C. BigneJl in- 

 forms us that on the 22nd July, 1885, near Whitsand Bay, Mr. J. 

 Scott, in his presence, found on Festuca hromoides two sacs of an 

 ISriopeltis, both of which vrere sent to me ; one of them produced a 

 male, the other was full of eggs. On the 3rd August, at Bickleigh, 

 other cases were found on the same kind of grass, and were forwarded 

 to me : like those first sent they were the felted form and full of eggs. 

 Mr. Bignell says of them, " Scott and I obtained several females, 

 clothed in white cotton, but not to such an extent as when taken in 

 October ; these were obtained low down on the stems, those found at 

 the end of September and during October are well up from the soil 

 and very conspicuous." Som.e of these latter, three times larger than 



