6904 Insects. 



fov, and what I contend fov now, that \( any part of the summer brood of larvae pro- 

 duce perfect insects the same year, which pair lay eggs and produce full-grown larvae 

 and pupae in the autumn, then the insect to which these results occur is double- 

 brooded. For instance, F. conspicuata appears for the first time at the beginning of 

 May; it lays eggs, and its progeny are full fed and spun up at the end of June. 

 From these pupae a number of moths emerge, pair and lay eggs from the middle to 

 the end of July, and the larvae are full fed the mirldle or end of August. Ergo, 

 F. conspicuata is double-brooded. Mr. Greene contends that unless the whole of the 

 summer brood emerge the same year the insect is not double-brooded ; but this appears 

 to me to be splitting a hair. Every one knows that in the case of acknowledged single- 

 brooded insects, — e. g., Smerinthus ocellalus and S. Populi, Sphinx Ligustri, Cerura 

 vinula, C. bifida and C. furcula, Bombyx Quercus, Saturnia Carpini, Acronycta 

 megacephala, Diantheecia carpophaga,&c.,— several pupae out of a brood will very 

 frequently remain two years before emerging, yet no one would, on this ground, dream 

 of contending that these insects were not annual-brooded. Whether an insect be single 

 or double-brooded the appearance of all or part of those broods is a point upon which, 

 I believe, no certain rule can be laid down. These matters are all directed by the 

 masterly hand of an All-wise Providence, who so orders them that no vicissitudes of 

 climate, temperature or weather has any serious effect upon the existence and con- 

 tinuance of a species.— H. Harpur C reive ; Ivy Cottage, Wickham Market, Suffolk, 

 February 3, 1860. 



Description of the Larva of Eupithecia castigata. — Long, slender and tapering. 

 Ground-colour pale or dusky olive or reddish brown, with a chain of dusky lozenge- 

 shaped dorsal spots, becoming confluent on the anterior and posterior segments. 

 Segmental divisions reddish. Body thickly studded with minute white tubercles, 

 and clothed more sparingly with short bristly hairs. Belly with a central blackish or 

 purplish line running from tip to tail. Feeds promiscuously upon almost every tree, 

 shrub and flower, in August and September. In almost every particular closely 

 resembles the larva of E. vulgata. Pupa enclosed in an earthen cocoon. Abdomen 

 slender and tapering, reddish or greenish yellow. Thorax and wing-cases yellow; 

 the latter more or less sufi"used with green. — Id.; January 31, 1860. 



Description of the Larva of Eupithecia minutata.— Short, thick and stumpy. 

 ^Ground-colour dull pink or flesh tint, with a series of dusky Y-shaped dorsal spots 

 connected by a central pink line, and becoming faint on the anterior, and almost 

 obliterated on the posterior segments. Each dorsal segment studded with four yel- 

 lowish tubercles. Spiracular line yellowish, interrupted at intervals by dusky blotches. 

 Head dusky olive, marked with black. Belly dusky or pinkish white. Back thickly 

 studded with small white, and a few black tubercles, and sprinkled here and there with 

 short hairs. Feeds on the flowers of Calluna vulgaris in August and September, and 

 is by no means uncommon where that plant occurs in any plenty. Pupa enclosed in 

 an earthen cocoon. Short and thick. Thorax and wing-cases golden yellow; 

 abdomen yellow, generally sufl"used with red. Wing-cases very transparent. Tip of 

 abdomen blood-red. — Id. 



Clostera anachorela in the " Home Counties." — " Home counties " is the only 

 Ipcality I have ever publicly given for Clostera anachoreta, and the only one for which I 

 will be responsible. The statement in the ' Annual' that I took it in the " neighbour- 

 hood of London" was published without my knowledge or sanction. — H. G, Knaggs ; 

 1, Maldon Place, Camden Town, N.W., January 20, 1860. 



