﻿\^, [November, 



Mr. Buckler's gallery of larva-portraits might be benefited. My experience is so 

 small, that I trust Mr. Gregson will kindly tell us his modus operandi in finding 

 and rearing these larvsB. It is probable that all (or nearly all) mosses are eaten by 

 the larvae indifferently, for I have found some of the species he mentions feeding 

 on different mosses from those he names, e.g., S. muralis on Hypnwm cupressiforme, 

 Dicranum scoparium, &c, Crambus falsellus on Tortula (Syntrichia) intermedia and T. 

 auralis, S. truncicolalis on Dicranum scoparium, &c. &c. I have not found any larvae 

 feeding on the Hepaticoe (Jungermannice), or on lichens. The time for looking is 

 of course spring and early summer, and the localities that I have found most 

 productive are shady rocks, large boulders and walls, especially on the north side, 

 as most mosses grow there, To find the larvae, peel off the moss and examine the 

 under-side of it. If larvaa be there, the galleries of silk slightly spun upon 

 the moss and the frass will indicate their presence. To rear them, I find the best 

 plan is to place the tufts of moss in a jam-pot with ground top, and cover with a 

 piece of glass — the moss will not require moistening. The perfect insects will 

 appear at intervals during the summer. Probably, if the larvae are young, some 

 fresh moss should occasionally be put into the jam-pot. Another Cryptogamo- 

 phagous larva, not often seen, is that of Nudaria mundana. To find this, 

 note some wall of loose stones (a "dry stone dyke") where the imago is 

 abundant, and in May lift the upper stones and examine their under-sides. The 

 larvae will be found feeding on a green confervoid growth that covers the stones. — 

 F. Buchanan White, Perth, October, 1869. 



Captures at Yarmouth, with notes on the earlier stages of Crambus fascelinellus. — 

 Some time last June, my young friend, Mr. Geo. Hunt, went over to Yarmouth for 

 a days' collecting, but, the weather being cold and windy, could get very little 

 except Eubolia lineolata. He, however, chanced to notice that the wind in blowing 

 away the loose sand had exposed several cocoons, and by disturbing the sand he 

 found a few more. Of these he kindly brought several to me, but, supposing they 

 belonged to some common Noctua, I took no steps to obtain more, till on July 13th, 

 I was startled by the appearance of a lovely Crambus, which, though new to me, 

 could be no other than fascelinellus (pedriolellus) . 



Being unable sooner to leave home, I went on the 19th to Yarmouth, and 

 after searching for some hours with very little success, at last found the cocoons 

 in comparative plenty, and collected a considerable number. 



These sandhills (locally called Denes) are the most barren that I have ever 

 seen ; there is very little even of the Marram or bent (Ammophila arenaria), and 

 what there is is stunted. Ononis spinosa in patches, Galium verum, Convolvulus 

 soldanella, and a curious square looking succulent plant, with a berry-like capsule 

 at the top, are the most conspicuous plants, and in those places in which the sand 

 is too loose even for these, scattered blades of Triticum junceum only are to be found. 



This grass appears to be the food af fascelinellus, and from observations made 

 while searching for the cocoons, I gather that the larva lives under the surface of 

 the sand in a silken tube of considerable size, that it feeds especially on the cen- 

 tral shoot of the grass gnawing it down to the root, and that this dry pabulum 

 suffers little apparent change in passing through its system, since the hinder part 

 of the tube is generally stuffed with frass closely resembling bitten up morsels of 



