100 BREPHOS NOTHA. 



only the usual black marks on the head, second seg- 

 ment, and anterior legs. 



My first set of larvse I furnished with earth and 

 moss for pupation, with the result of causing the 

 death of all but two, which produced crippled insects ; 

 the second set were supplied with pieces of bark, into 

 which they could bore, and I now understand that a 

 dead stick or piece of dry decaying wood would have 

 been better still, for the habit of the larva is to exca- 

 vate in the solid bark or wood a smooth cylindrical 

 chamber (reminding one much of the work of some of 

 the carpenter bees) just big enough — without the 

 least waste of space — to accommodate the pupa with 

 the shrivelled larva-skin behind ; the circular entrance 

 to the chamber is stopped with the gnawed raspings 

 of the wood mixed with silk, but there is no silken 

 lining to the chamber itself; the pupa lies with its 

 head towards the entrance, and, after the exit of the 

 moth, the empty pupa-skin remains in the chamber. 



The pupa is about half an inch long, cylindrical, 

 and uniform, except a rapid tapering at the tail end, 

 and tolerably smooth except at the abdominal divi- 

 sions, where there are rings of minute points ; the 

 abdomen terminates in a thick, blunt, somewhat flat- 

 tened knob, furnished with two spikes, which, instead 

 of projecting as usual in the same line with the body 

 (or knob), turn off at right angles on either side; the 

 colour a shining dark red-brown. (W. B., June, 

 1872; E.M.M., July, 1872, IX, 41.) 



Plusia orichalcea. 



In the month of July, 1882, in an outlying part of 

 the Cambridgeshire Fens, eight or ten worn specimens 

 of Plusia orichalcea were captured by the aid of a 

 lamp, hovering round flowers of Eupatorium canna- 

 binum; one only, the first specimen obtained, was 

 taken flying in the afternoon sunshine. This year I 



