SCOPULA LUTEALIS. 163 



to find the larva at large; and had watched the 

 female moths where they abounded, in the hope of 

 seeing them deposit their eggs, from early evening 

 till late at night ; I have had numbers imprisoned 

 with sprigs of every likely plant I could think of, but 

 to no purpose ; not a larva nor an egg could I get. 

 Last year, however, I received information from Dr. 

 F. Buchanan White that he had reared the moths 

 from larvaa found on one of the thistles, and having 

 obtained this clue, I hoped there might not be much 

 more difficulty, as I was not sure that I had ever 

 particularly searched any thistles. In the spring of 

 this year, 1877, therefore, I carefully preserved every 

 thistle plant that appeared above ground in a field 

 I have adjoining the garden (where Scopula lutealis 

 was common last year), much to the amusement, and 

 possibly disgust, of some of my friends. The thistles 

 grew vigorously, but although I examined them 

 minutely from time to time, no trace of S. lutealis 

 could I detect. I had almost given up in despair, 

 when, on the 30th of June, I had occasion to fetch in 

 some dock leaves on which to feed larvse. On one 

 of the leaves I had plucked from a plant near where 

 one of the preserved thistles was growing, I acci- 

 dentally saw on the under side, beneath a web, the 

 larva of a Pyralis with which I was unacquainted. 

 The thought at once crossed my mind, " Here is the 

 long-looked-for lutealis" The appearance of the 

 imago has since proved the suspicion correct. I 

 searched long to find another larva, but without 

 success ; perhaps they had all spun up, as this was 

 evidently almost full-fed. 



Length about three-quarters of an inch, and of 

 average bulk in proportion ; the head is slightly 

 polished; it has the lobes rounded, and is the same 

 width as, or perhaps a trifle narrower than, the 

 second segment; the body is cylindrical, and attenu- 

 ated towards both extremities ; it is also divided into 

 conspicuous sections by the segmental divisions, which 



