4772 Entomological Botany. 



Ulex Europceus. Common Furze ; Gorse. 



An unpleasant plant to search for larvae amongst, as it is very 

 difficult to do so without pricking the fingers and trying the temper 

 of the collector. Much probably remains to be done before the ento- 

 mological treasures of this plant can be considered exhausted. The 

 larva of Catoptria ulicetana, which, in the perfect state, swarms on 

 furze bushes all the summer, is reputed to feed on the seeds, where it 

 finds as a bedfellow the Coleopterous Oxystoma Ulicis. Two of the 

 Depressaria larvae feed on this plant in June, D. costosa and D. urn- 

 bellana ; the larva of the former is brown-black, and feeds on the 

 flowers and the young tender shoots; it is, like many of its congeners, 

 very active : the larva of D. umbellana we have not yet succeeded in 

 finding, and I cannot therefore point out to the collector wherein it 

 differs from that of D. costosa. Of the omnivorous genus Gelechia 

 only one species is known to feed on this plant, viz., Gelechia muli- 

 nella: it has an epicurean taste; it enters the unexpanded flower- 

 buds in April, through a hole it makes in the hinder petal ; it then 

 discusses at its leisure the stamens and anthers, and proceeds to a 

 neighbouring bud to repeat a similar dainty meal. Anarsia Spartiella, 

 in the perfect state, frequents Ulex as well as broom, and it is probable 

 ihat the larva feeds also on the shoots of this plant. The original 

 •discovery of QEcophora Lambdella is thus recorded by Donovan : — 

 Xi has hitherto only been taken on Epping Forest : the brood was dis- 

 covered on a furze-bush, by Mr. Bentley, an eminent collector of 

 insects, in July, 1789 ; the cabinets of several naturalists have been 

 supplied from the parcel then taken, as the species has rarely been 

 observed since." Whilst we are groping completely in the dark to 

 discover a larva, any ray of light, however feeble, should always 

 readily be thankfully received, and as this insect is, at the present day, 

 only taken singly, the record that a large number were taken in one 

 furze-bush nearly seventy years ago may assist us by indicating that 

 the larva feeds on some part or other of the Ulex. The CEcophora 

 larvae feed, almost without exception, on decayed wood: the presump- 

 tion is therefore great that, to find the larva of CEcophora Lambdella, 

 decayed stumps of furze should be carefully examined. The larva of 

 Butalis grandipennis, discovered by Mr. J. F. Brockholes, of Birken- 

 head, feeds in winter and spring on this plant ; but, as his observa- 

 tions show that it is more partial to the Ulex nanus, it is mentioned 

 more fully under the latter plant. Of the genus Coleophora only one 

 species is yet known to be attached to the Ulex, namely, Coleophora 



