1888.] 247 



also occasionally turn their attention to other plants, such as Plantago 

 lanceolata, as I found the tubes attached to several partially hollowed- 

 out leaves. 



Unfortunately the larva? continue feeding for a very long time, 

 and are most difficult to rear, as, in spite of every possible care and 

 attention, I only succeeded in breeding four specimens out of a large 

 number of larvae, and Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher had no better result 

 from the batch of larvae I sent him. 



The following description was taken on May 7th : — 



Head horny, polished, brownish-black ; plate on second segment dark brown, 

 and polished. Body very long, thin, and cylindrical, dull reddish-purple, with the 

 spaces between most of the segments showing paler and of a pinkish hue, but 

 greenish-white between the first four segments ; no dorsal or sub-dorsal lines or 

 spots, but there is one paler pinkish stripe along each side in the region of the 

 spiracles. Anal segment with a rather small, horny, polished, brownish-black plate ; 

 ventral surface and prolegs reddish-pink ; anterior legs black and highly polished. 



Length, about 4| lines. 



The larvae live on the surface of and below the sand, in very long 

 silken tubes, composed of sand and silk interwoven, and attached to 

 half-buried stems of Thymus serpyllum and Lotus corniculatus. I was 

 unable to discover the position of the pupa, but it seems probable that 

 it is enclosed in a silken cocoon just below the surface of the sand, as 

 in the case of B. variella. 



The perfect insects (four in number) emerged from July 3rd to 

 12th. I can now corroborate the statement of Professor Zeller (quoted 

 in the Ent. Mo. Mag., xxiii, p. 275) as to the fondness of B. siccella 

 for frequenting flowers in the sunshine, as I found them extremely 

 partial to those of Sypochceris radicata, from which they could be 

 boxed with a little dexterity. The blossoms, on which Prof. Zeller 

 had particularly noticed them, were those of Jasione montana and 

 Botentilla argentea. 



BUTALIS VAEIELLA. 



"Wishing to compare Butalis variella with B. siccella in the larval 

 state, I paid a visit to the locality for the former on May 16th, 1887, 

 and procured a good supply of larvae, which, when placed side by side 

 with those of B. siccella, at once proved these two species to be totally 

 distinct, although the differences between the perfect insects (already 

 pointed out in Ent. Mo. Mag., xxiii, pp. 275 — 6) could leave but little 

 room for the doubts expressed by von Heinemann as to their specific 

 distinctness. 



The larva of B. variella was, I believe, altogether unknown until 



