7216 Insects. 



fed tliroug-hout September. Resembles in many respects the larva of E. sobrinata. 

 For the larvae from which the foregoing description is taken I ara indebted to the 

 kindness of Mr. Andrew Wilson, of Edinburgh. The pupa, which is enclosed in an 

 earthen cocoon, has the thorax and abdomen bright green, the latter sometimes yel- 

 lowish. Wing-cases much darker, very transparent. Central dorsal line dark green. 

 Abdominal divisions and frequently the border of wing-cases reddish. Tip of abdo- 

 men blood-red. Under side of ditto yellowish. — Id. 



Description of the Larva of Eujnthecia subumhrata. — 



Var. 1. Very long and slender, tapering very much towards the head. Ground- 

 colour dull yellowish green. Central dorsal line broad, dark green, narrower at the 

 segmental divisions. Subdorsal lines dusky, very narrow and indistinct. Dorsal seg- 

 mental divisions orange. Ventral ditto yellow. Spiracular line dusky green. On 

 each side of the head and anal segment a yellowish line. 



Var. 2. Ground-colour dirty greenish brown. Central dorsal line dusky olive. 

 Subdorsal lines ditto, narrow. Posterior segments reddish. In other respects re- 

 sembles var. 1. 



This singular long thin larva I have been in the habit of taking at intervals for 

 some years past in Buckinghamshire. It feeds upon the same plants and in the same 

 localities as Eupithecia satyrata, preferring perhaps Apargia hispida and Crepis 

 taraxifolia. It is full-fed at the end of August and throughout September. The pupa, 

 enclosed in an earthen cocoon, has the thorax and wing-cases dark green. Abdomen 

 ochreous, tip dusky red. The perfect insect appears in June. — Id. 



Reappearance of Leucania putrescens at Torquay. — Last night I was fortunate 

 enough to take a fine specimen of this insect, about a quarter of a mile from the place 

 where I took them before. It is more than a month later than I took the species last 

 year, in consequence, I suppose, of the bad weather. I found it on the flowers of 

 Teucrium Scorodouia, which plant is very attractive to moths in general. — R, M. 

 Steivart ; 3, Park Place, Torquay, Devon, August 28, 1860. Since my last com- 

 munication I have taken two more specimens of L. putrescens ; they are both apparently 

 fresh from the pupa. — R. M. Stewart ; September 3, 1860. — From the ' Intelligencer.^ 



Discovery of the Food-plant of Nemotois scabiosellus. — The larva of Nemotois 

 scabiosellus is found; we have bred it from the egg; its food-plant is Scabiosa 

 arvensis. We repealed an attempt which we made three years ago, and which then 

 failed ; we collected the specimens we found in copula and some scabious heads, on 

 some of which both males and females were sitting. We observed the females, both 

 out of doors and in our breeding-cage, at work laying their eggs. The flowers and 

 seeds are the first abodes of the larvae ; the eggs are laid in the fructification of the 

 scabious flowers, each enclosed in a seed-capsule. When the interior of the seed- 

 has been eaten out by the larva it immediately uses the husk as a case, having gnawed 

 a hole at the lower truncate end of the husk; at this age the larva seems to attack 

 other seeds, boring into them and eating out the contents. Two of the larger larvae 

 have already made their large cases out of pieces of dried leaves, but how this process 

 was performed has not yet been sufficiently observed. Probably the more advanced 

 larvse feed on the leaves of the scabious and other low plants. Some were observed 

 in the act of gnawing a dry leaf of the upright fly-honeysuckle {Lonicera Xylosteum). 

 The credit of these observations, and of the successful treatment of the insects, is 

 due to my son Dr. Ottmar Hofmann. — Communicated by Herr Hofmann, of Ratis- 

 bon, to Mr. Stainton, and inserted in the ' Intelligencer' of September 8, 1860. 



