NASCTA CILIALIS. 67 



to eat upwards in a retrograde direction, and always 

 leaving the outer edo^e untouched until it became like 

 a thin stem, when the weight of the upper part with 

 that of the larva would cause it to fall down and come 

 in contact with another blade, of which the larva took 

 possession. Although it ate more or less of every 

 blade of the plant, it never attacked any of them 

 nearer the ground than from where they began to 

 diverge in position from each other, nor did I see that 

 it at all explored below that part of the Car ex. 



On the 2nd of October it ceased to feed, and 

 wandered on to the cylinder that enclosed the plant, 

 and from thence to the edge of the leno cover, where 

 it remained till noon of the 3rd, as though investi- 

 gating the suitability of the place for pupation ; but on 

 my touching the leno it immediately dropped by a 

 thread nearly to the earth, where it hung suspended 

 for about half a minute; it then began to oscillate a 

 little, which brought it in contact with a part of the 

 Carex, which it ascended, and by 2 p.m. it had chosen 

 a situation for its cocoon, and began spinning between 

 three blades of the Garex at about the distance of five 

 inches from the earth, this being the point from 

 whence the blades were naturally tending to diverge. 

 At 10 p.m. only the head of the larva was visible as it 

 angrily thrust it forth for a moment to deter a too 

 curious small slug from intrusion. This invader I 

 ejected, and on the morning of the 4th I had the 

 satisfaction of seeing the structure was completed,- 

 and in a very artful manner, the only visible trace of 

 its work being a slight triangular elongated perpendi- 

 cular streak of drab-coloured silk web scarcely notice- 

 able between the edg^es of two of the blades. 



Most unfortunately in the following summer an 

 examination proved the larva to have died in its 

 cocoon without having pupated. (William Buckler, 

 October, 1869 ; Note Book II, 139.) 



Seeing that it has excited the interest of so many 

 entomologists resident near, or occasionally visiting, 



