EBULEA SAMBUCALIS. 145 



EBULEA SAMBUCALIS. 



Plate CLIV, fig. 4. 



Comparative Description of the Larvse and Habits of 

 Ebulea stachydalis and E. sambucalis. — On the 11th 

 of September, 1876, whilst gathering some Angelica 

 sylvestris, I accidentally fell into a deep ditch, and 

 whilst there made acquaintance with a large plant of 

 Stachys sylvatica, the leaves of which bore unmistakable 

 marks of the work of some sort of larva ; this incited 

 me to pull up the plant, and on examination I found 

 thereon five larvae of a pyraloid form. Remembering 

 what I had read of the new Ebtdea, I formed hopes 

 immediately that I had taken its larva, and further 

 investigation, with the help of books and figures, 

 turned my hopes into such certainty as can exist until 

 the moths have been bred. 



Further search in more ditches was rewarded by the 

 capture of several other examples of the larva, and 

 after that I set to work to get E. sambucalis in the 

 same stage for comparison, and I took five-and-tvventy 

 of this species also. And I may say briefly at once 

 that, although at first sight the two larvge are not un- 

 like, they possess ample and satisfactory points of dis- 

 tinctness ; E. sambucalis is longer in proportion to its 

 stoutness than E. stachydalis ; it is not so glass-like in 

 appearance ; and it has always on the third segment, 

 and often on the fourth also, a black lateral spot, 

 which is wanting in E. stachydalis. I now proceed to 

 give other points at greater length below. 



Ebulea stachydalis. — The larva lives in a sort of tube, 

 formed either by turning down the tip of a leaf and 

 folding it closely on to the under surface with a 

 quantity of silk, or else by drawing together a fold of 

 the under surface, and covering it over with a thich 

 silken web, in either case leaving an opening at each 

 end ; in such a retreat it seems to live quietly by day, 

 vol. tx. 10 ' 



