DIANTHiEOtA BARRETTII. 13 



Looking back at the results of my experiment with 

 the eggs of D. barrettii, I seem first to have esta- 

 blished the fact that it is not a Dianthxcia, although 

 it certainly has some affinity to that genus, as shown 

 in the solitary instance of one infant larva out of nine 

 making its way into a seed-capsule and there sustain- 

 ing itself on the unripe seeds ; and again, more par- 

 ticularly, is this shown in the form of the pupa. Next, 

 that from the behaviour of the other eight larvae they 

 proved clearly enough that their normal habit is to 

 enter the stems of the plant, and through them by 

 degrees arrive at the root, where they feed and 

 mature — a habit well confirmed by the structure and 

 appearance of the larva itself, which, nob only when 

 full fed, but even in its earlier age between the first 

 and second moults, agreed so well with Gruenee's de- 

 scription of that of Luperina luteago (vide ' Noc- 

 tuelites,' tome i, p. 181), that although some dis- 

 parity of size and colouring exists in the perfect 

 insects, as most obligingly shown to me by Mr. Edwin 

 Birchall, yet I am constrained by the evidence to 

 believe D. barrettii to be an isolated and melanic 

 variety of L. luteago* (W. B., July 7th, 1879; 

 E.M.M., August, 1879, XVI, 52.) 



DlANTHJSOIA IRREGULARIS. 



PL LXXXVII, fig. 4. 



On the 13th of August, 1870, I received, through 

 the kindness of the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, of Gruestling, 

 near Hastings, seven larvae of this insect. Unfortu- 

 nately, perhaps from having been too closely packed 

 during the hot weather, four of them were dead on 

 arrival ; another one appeared sickly, and soon died, 

 but the remaining two seemed to be quite healthy. 



* When last in London, Dr. Staudinger stated to me that, in his 

 opinion, D. barrettii is a form of L. luteago (R. McLachlan, E.M.M., 

 XVI, 55, foot-note). 



