Insects, 947 



gemmata of Hubner. In Haworth's ' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 340, appears a de- 

 scription of an insect by the name of Phalaena angustata, thus characterized, but in 

 Latin, " wings grey-brown, with an oblique narrow brown bar in the middle, in which 

 is an ocellated black dot, with a white pupil:" and in p. 344 is the description of a 

 second species, called Ph. albicinctata, the characters of which are, " wings black, 

 each with a white dot in the middle, and a white streak near the hinder margin.'' 

 This last insect, to use the term of its late lamented describer, has always been a 

 "puzzle-peg ;'' it was formerly in the collection of the late Mr. Natclett, and is now 

 in that of my friend Mr. In gall, with the remainder of Mr. Natclett's collection. I 

 have thus had an opportunity of examining it recently (not having seen it previously 

 for nearly twenty years), and it proves to be a male inseet, in not very fine condition, 

 with slightly pectinated (broken) antennae, and I am satisfied that it is decidedly the 

 male of Ph. angustata, of which only females are known to me ; and which insect is as 

 unquestionably the Geometra gemmata of Hubner (Geo. pi. 55, f. 283), which name 

 must be adopted. From the structure of the male antenna; and the general habit of 

 the insect, together with an examination of the female (Haworth's original specimen 

 of which I possess), the species is referrible to the same genus (Cidaria) as Ph. ferru- 

 garia, &c, next to which species it may be located, as in Hiibner's plate. Mr. Nat- 

 clett's specimen was taken at Peckham, nearly fifty years since, and about two years 

 ago, one, I understand, was taken at Camberwell : mine was found at Margate, and a 

 fourth occurred some years since at Camden Town, in September. — /. F. Stephens ; 

 Eltham Cottage, Foxley-road, Brixton, March, 1845. 



Some account of Cleodora vibicipenella, a minute British Moth. I beg to hand 

 you a few observations on the economy of that singular insect, the Cleodora vibicipe- 

 nella, believing that if you consider them worthy of insertion, they will prove interest- 

 ing to many of your readers. I found the larvae of this insect in Trench Wood, 

 Worcestershire, the first week in June, 1844 ; they were on the twigs of the common 

 dyer's green-weed (Genista tinctoria), and each was enclosed in a case which stood nearly 

 erect : in this position they closely resemble the black ripe pods of some papilionaceous 

 plants, and are not unlike those of the Genista on which they are found. In the 

 evening the caterpillars relaxed their hold, allowing the shell or case to fall loosely 

 down, and then thrusting forth their head and the six thoracical feet, they crawled 

 about the plant in search of its leaves, on which they feed ; they probably continue 

 rambling about and feeding all the night, but this I did not positively ascertain. I 

 always found them erect and attached at five in the afternoon, and again as early as 

 eight in the morning. Many of those in my box wandered in the evening, or during 

 the night, from the twigs of the plants which I gathered, while they were still attached, 

 and fixed themselves to the lid and sides of the box in their favourite erect position. 

 It must be obvious that during the time the larva requires food, its head is towards the 

 open or lower end of the cylindrical case in which it feeds, but no sooner is it full fed 

 than it glues the open end of the case to the twigs, or some other hard substance, and 

 then turns completely round, and changes to a chrysalis, so that when the moth is 

 ready to come forth, it emerges through the upper end of the case, the lower end still 

 retaining its attachment to the twig. I am quite at a loss to imagine how this turning 

 in the case is accomplished, but that it really takes place is beyond all question. I 

 send you a specimen in which the moth has been killed while making its escape. As 

 I started for Scotland soon after finding these insects, I took them with me, in 

 order to observe their transformations. The moths made their appearance duly the 



