2436 Insects. 



Mr. Doubleday observed that there were in this collection specimens of the Lepi- 

 dopterous genus Lynemon, which in New Holland represents the genus Castnia of 

 South America, and many very interesting Hymenoptera and Diptera. — /. W. D. 



Note on the Interesting Habits and Economy of the Larvce of Porrectaricc (Co- 

 leophora). — These insects are very easily detected in the larva state, and it is probably 

 mainly owing to our ignorance of when and where to look for them that we have still 

 so few species in this country. Nearly a hundred are known on the Continent, and I 

 have no doubt that with a little perseverance and research we might increase the num- 

 ber of our species to considerably above fifty. There have been occasional notices of 

 the habits of some of the species, such as Mr. Weaver's notice of the habits of 

 Vibicella (Zool. 947), and several species have been bred in this country ; a concolo- 

 rous dark species by Mr. Edleston, and others by Mr. Bond. My attention was first 

 directed to these larvae by finding, in the first week of last May, a wild rose-bush, the 

 leaves of which were spotted with large pale patches ; and, on examining it for the 

 cause, I found in most cases a grayish brown case, about half an inch in length, ad- 

 hering to the underside of the leaves : these I took home with me, and kept them sup- 

 plied with fresh branches of rose, till in about ten days the larvae became full fed, and 

 produced me several specimens of a concolorous gray insect, which is certainly not one 

 of our named species. The larva feeds only on the parenchyma of the leaves, which 

 it obtains by attaching the case firmly to the underside of the leaf ; and then removing 

 the lower epidermis (or perhaps adding it to the case?), it commences devouring the 

 inner substance all round, which immediately gives the leaf a singular blotched ap- 

 pearance : as it continues to devour the parenchyma, it gradually protrudes more and 

 more of its body from the case, till, ultimately, the larva may frequently be seen in 

 the middle of the leaf completely out of its case, to which, however, on any alarm, it 

 hurriedly retreats backwards : when it has devoured all it finds to its taste on the leaf 

 to which it was attached, it moves case and all to a fresh leaf, and there renews the 

 same process : when full fed, it attaches the case firmly to a leaf, or stem, or some ex- 

 traneous object, the perfect insect making its escape from the opposite end of the case. 

 Anatipennella, Hbn., has a very peculiar case, very much in the shape of a pistol : I 

 have found it on blackthorn. The somewhat similar anseripennella has a very differ- 

 ent case, and should occur on plum, cherry, or other orchard trees. My young friend 

 Dunning has some case-bearers which he obtained last autumn from the heads of 

 rushes : they are doubtless caespititiella, Z. (leucapennella, St.) Of the concolorous 

 species I have bred several : lutarea, Haw., St., from oak and blackthorn ; coracipen- 

 nella from elms and alders, and nigricella, St., from hawthorn. I have likewise ob- 

 served the larva? of laricella on larch trees in October. But I believe it is the labiate 

 plants which should furnish us with the greatest variety of species. The exertions of 

 Mr. Douglas and Mr. Weir have proved that the perfect insect of one species (lineola, 

 St.) frequents Stachys sylvatica, and no doubt the larva also feeds on that plant. 

 Ballota nigra affords food to more than one species ; but, somewhat singularly, one 

 species never attacks the plant unless growing under trees or bushes. Lamium pur- 

 pureum likewise affords food to one or more species, and probably there are few plants 

 but what would produce us larva) of Porrectaria (or some other genus) if diligently 



