230 f March, 



those of your readers who may meet with any o£ the Selenias in the 

 approaching spring kindly to make known the result of their obser- 

 vation on any of the points I have adverted to, all of which it is 

 desirable on several accounts to clear up, 



24, Vernon Terrace, Brighton : 

 February, 1888. 



Notes on the larva of Olindia ulmana, Hb. — Until the present month, the only 

 reference I have ever seen to the larva of this species was in Frey's " Lepidoptera 

 der Schweiz," p. 295. He there states that it feeds on Aquilegia vulgaris, spinning 

 the leaves up. That this, however, could not be the only food plant was evident 

 from the fact, that the imago has been frequently taken where the plant was quite 

 absent. Still Prof. Frey is invariably so accurate in his statements, that I have no 

 doubt the above record is true, and that Aquilegia vulgaris is one of the food plants. 

 Mr. F. Bond tells me that he suspected Lythrum salicaria, also a low growing 

 plant. On the other hand, the majority of Micro-Lepidopterists, from its name, 

 have always associated the insect with elm ; and Mr. Atmore once beat the imagos 

 in some plenty from an elm hedge in Norfolk. I have, however, now to thank Mr. 

 W. H. B. Fletcher of Worthing for drawing my attention to a far earlier and more 

 circumstantial record than that of Frey. 



In the "Annales de la Society Entomologique de Belgique," vol. vii, 1863, p. 43, 

 Dr. Breyer gives Ranunculus ficaria as another food plant, with a succinct account 

 of the larva's habits. It is strange, indeed, that this notice should have escaped 

 observation, both in England and on the continent, for nearly a quarter of a 

 century 1 



Dr. Breyer's note runs as follows : — " This pretty Tortrix, of which fresh ex- 

 amples are so rarely seen in collections, is widely distributed, without being anywhere 

 common. Hitherto the larva has remained entirely unknown. For three years I 

 have been on the track, but only this season have I been lucky enough to rear the 

 species. The larva is found in early spring on the leaves of Ranunculus ficaria. 

 It folds a piece of the edge of the leaf down on the under-side, so as to form a 

 cylindrical tube, which serves as a shelter, and gnaws the leaf in the neighbourhood 

 of its dwelling. In order to rear the species, the food plant should be potted, it 

 would not feed on faded leaves or leaves kept in water, and the pot should be 

 covered with a bell glass or a lid which is airtight, or the larvse will escape. Pupa- 

 tion takes place in a cocoon on the ground, the imago emerging during the second 

 half of May. The period during which the insect is out is very short ; by the end 

 of a fortnight the species is worn." 



Dr. Breyer promised to give a full description with plate of the larva in the 

 next year's volume, but I can find no further mention or notice of either. — W. 

 Waeeen, Merton Cottage, Cambridge : February 9th, 1888. 



[The food plant here given accords well with the only locality in which I ever 

 met with Olindia ulmana. It was whilst searching for Halonota turbidana amongst 

 its food plant {Tussilago petasites) on the banks of a small tributary of the Teign, 



