8226 



Notices of New Books. 



contents of the volume comprise only portions of the genera Buccula- 

 trix and Nepticula. 



"Bucculatrix cidariella. The larva feeds on the leaves of the alder 

 in August and September. At first it mines the leaf, making very- 

 slender galleries; these are rather long for larvae of this genus and 

 slightly curved : immediately it quits the mine it spins a flat, pale 

 ochreous cocoonet on the under surface of the leaf, beneath which it 

 then reposes in a horse-shoe form till it has cast its skin ; it then 

 becomes an external-feeding larva, feeding principally on the under 

 surface of the leaf, which it gnaws half through. When mining, the 

 colour is greenish, with the head blackish, and with a conspicuous 

 black spot on the back of the second segment. When become an 

 external feeder its length is three lines, its colour yellowish green, the 

 three first segments orange, the dorsal vessel darker; along each side 

 are two rows of minute white dots, and two other rows on each side 

 of the back. When full fed the larva generally descends to the 

 ground, and, seeking a secure retreat, it spins its ochreous-ribbed cocoon 

 from which the perfect insect emerges in the month of May or June 

 of the following year."— (Pp. 40—42). 



I ought to observe that I have brought together the component parts 

 of the foregoing paragraph in order to show how I think they ought to 

 have been arranged. I proceed to descriptions in which I have followed 

 the author's arrangement. 



" Bucculatrix nlmella: Mode of Life. — The larva feeds on oak 

 leaves (according to Mann also on elm leaves, but here I had strongly 

 suspected some mistake, as in various localities I have constantly ob- 

 served the insect amongst oaks, but never amongst elms; but Professor 

 Frey assures me that he has repeatedly bred B. ulmella from Ulmus 

 campestris, and that the best locality for the larva at Frankfort in Sep- 

 tember is a row of elm trees). The young larva makes small contorted 

 mines in the oak leaves, and these are almost invariably placed close 

 to a rib ; these mines are filled with brown excrement; they may be 

 always readily distinguished from any of the mines which are made in 

 the oak leaves by the larvae of the genus Nepticula by their extreme 

 shortness, as at an early age these larvae quit the mine to feed on the 

 external surface of the leaf. Before commencing, however, this latter 

 operation it spins a white cocoonet under which to moult ; it leaves its 

 cast skin in a coiled position beneath this shelter; the larva then feeds 

 for some time on the surface of the leaf, which it eats half through ; 

 when full fed it descends to the ground and seeks some convenient 

 corner wherein to spin its small yellowish ribbed cocoon. There are 



