5136 Entomological Botany. 



Common Bramble. 



I prefer giving this without a Latin name, as I am by no means 

 certain whether any single species would answer my present purpose, 

 and the Latin name of the " Common Bramble " is Legion. 



Speyer cites as feeding on fruticosus the following ; Argynnis 

 Daphne, Thecla Rubi, Saturnia Carpini, Lasiocampa Rubi, Calli- 

 morpha dominula, Acronycta auricoma and Euphrasia, Thyatira 

 Batis and derasa, Hyppa rectilinea, Euplexia lucipara,Poliaherbida, 

 Orthosia gracilis, Xanthia silago, Cerastes Vaccinii, Erastria fuscula, 

 Chlorissa viridata and Sericoris urticana, to which must of course be 

 added Notocelia Udmanniana : those species of which the names are 

 in Italics have not yet been found here. I have long suspected that 

 some species of CEcophora larva must feed in the stems of the 

 bramble, and though up to the present time I have never succeeded 

 in finding any, Dr. Jordan once slew, as he says, " a larva under 

 queer circumstances. You know the holes made by Cemonus lethi- 

 fer and allied species of bee in bramble-sticks ; I was cutting off one 

 to bring home, and as the burrows of the bee are usually at some 

 depth in the stem, I thought I would shorten it; in so doing, 

 I cut across the stick right through the middle of a green (Depres- 

 saria ?) larva, which had either made the burrow, for there were 

 no bees in it, or else had gone there for winter quarters ; in either 

 case it seemed to me somewhat curious." I mention this cir- 

 cumstance, which took place in March, 1854, in hopes that some of 

 my readers may imitate Dr. Jordan in finding a larva in bramble- 

 sticks, without following his example of slicing it in two. The larva 

 of Chrysocorys festaliella, so long sought for without success, was 

 found in some plenty by Mr. Wilkinson, of Scarborough, last autumn, 

 and after I had cultivated the personal acquaintance of those he sent 

 me, I was able to find it readily when down at Bideford, the peculiar 

 blotched appearance of the leaves easily attracting one's attention. 

 The larvae appear to feed indifferently on the upper or under side of 

 the leaf, but only eat the leaf half through, so as to cause pale greenish 

 blotches, which form a striking contrast with the natural dark green 

 of the bramble-leaves ; and a leaf on which many larvae are feeding 

 has a singularly variegated appearance. Large blotches, a little 

 puckered, are made in the leaves by the larvae of Tischeria marginea; 

 the commencement of these mines is generally whiter than the broader 

 portion, and when the mine is small the shape reminds one vastly of 



