4556 Entomological Botany. 



detected here) also feed on it in June and July. Speyer also gives 

 the larva of Anaitis plagiata as feeding on it. The larva of Catoptria 

 Hypericana feeds in the shoots in May, and in the seeds in July; and 

 at the end of May and beginning of June the larva of Depressaria 

 Hypericella may generally be met with in the screwed-up heads of the 

 plant, unless the contortion has been caused by that polyphagous 

 nuisance to the collector Sciaphila subjectana : the larva of Gracilaria 

 auroguttella mines the leaves when very young, making a slight pucker 

 longitudinally, and afterwards constructs a neat cone of the leaf (see 

 ' Transactions of the Entomological Society,' vol.ii. n. s. pi. xiv. f. 3), 

 which, at first green, speedily turns dirty yellow, from the epidermis 

 aud half of the parenchyma being taken away from the inside of the 

 cone ; the cones are then very conspicuous, and may readily be 

 noticed in July and September : when the larva is full fed it quits the 

 cone, and twists up a short leaf longitudinally, making a miniature 

 imitation of a cigar, within which it changes to a pupa : these cigars 

 are at first quite green, but turn to a dirty greenish brown colour; they 

 may be noticed at the end of July and during winter. The larva of 

 Cemiostoma lustratella is stated to feed on this plant ; but though no 

 doubt it occurs here, it has not hitherto been detected as British. 

 In September and the following months, the leaves are mined and 

 slightly puckered by the larva of Nepticula Septembrella, which is, 

 however, more partial to Hypericum pulchrum. 



Hypericum hirsutum. Hairy St. John's Wort. 



The larvae of Catoptria Hypericana and Depressaria Hypericella 

 also feed readily on this plant. 



Hypericum pulchrum. Small Upright St. John's Wort. 



The principal food-plant of Nepticula Septembrella, the larva of 

 which I have observed feeding in the glossy little leaves as late as 

 December ; the delicate little patterns which it traces in these leaves 

 are quite in harmony with the general neat appearance of the plant. 



Acer campestre. Maple. 



The food-plant of two of our rare prominents, Lophopteryx cucul- 

 lina and Ptilophora plumigera, both of which have lately been met with 

 on the chalk in Buckinghamshire, though on the same strata South of 

 London they have not been observed. Speyer also enumerates Pygaera 

 bucephala, Xanthia sulfurago, Cosmia trapezina, Anisopteryx Aceraria 

 (a species exceedingly likely to occur in the South of England) and 



