0464 



Insects. 



larvae rewarded my labours. Instead thereof I fell in with the larvae of Butalis gran- 

 dipennis, and wanting some of these to send abroad I proceeded to collect them very 

 eagerly. The webs they make in the furze bushes are very conspicuous, but often 

 very inaccessible; the larva likes to have its habitation where four or five branches 

 start off from the main stem, and to obtain them you must cut the main stem below 

 the web, and then proceed to tear off the branches seriatim. It is not possible 

 to avoid pricking the ringers. When the web is thus laid bare, it is too opaque to 

 allow of your seeing whether it is tenanted or not, and it must be cautiously removed 

 from the stem and pulled to pieces; in this process the larvae are eventually brought 

 to light. I thus obtained between forty and fifty, and got a good notion of the crea- 

 ture's habits. It is a very artful little animal, and, though very often solitary, one 

 sometimes meet with individuals so amiable that five or six will live harmoniously 

 together. On two occasions I found that the larva, not satisfied with the natural 

 protection of the web, had pressed a great coat into its service, in the form of an old 

 seed-pod of the Ulex. The outer web is tolerably thick and fluffy-looking, but besides 

 that, nearly every larva is separately enveloped in a white robe de soie. The creatures 

 were all quite active, by no means torpid, but then it was a mild, spring-like day, and, 

 with the thermometer above 50° and a light breeze from the south- west, torpidity was 

 not to be expected. Owing to the dry season Wimbledon Common was far from 

 being in its normal state; it was comfortable and clean walking, and the wet places 

 were all dry ! Genista anglica was putting forth its young green leaves, without any 

 superfluous moisture at the roots of the plants. Thus I opened my season of 1859. — 

 H. T. Stainton ; Mountsfield, Lewisham, January 20, 1859. 



Occurrence of Psyche roboricolella, P. salicolella and P. tabulella in Britain. — I 

 lately forwarded to Mr. Henry Doubleday specimens of some Psychidae which were 

 unknown to me, and he has kindly informed me that they are the following species: — 

 P. roboricolella, Bruand (No. 72). — I bred a male of this insect on the 26th of last 

 June, and two or three females a few days after. The cases, which were similar to 

 those of P. nitidella, Steph., I found at West Wickham, on birch, the early part of the 

 same month. This species may be distinguished from P. nitidella, Steph. (P. inter- 

 mediella, Bruand) by the wings in the male being rounder and much blacker than in 

 the male of P. nitidella, and the female of P. roboricolella has the anal tuft of hair 

 entirely white. P. salicolella, Bruand (No. 74). — I bred a male and female of this 

 species on the 23rd of June last, from two cases that I found about a week previously, 

 near Hampstead, on buckthorn. The wings in the male of this insect are black, but 

 longer and narrower than those of P. roboricolella. The case is very differeut, being 

 covered over with pieces of bark, and is similar to that of P. fusca, but only a third of 

 the size. P. tabulella, Bruand (No. 75). — On the 24th of July, 1854, I took a male 

 specimen of a Psyche, whieh was new to me, flying round some beeches, at Mickleham. 

 Mr. Doubleday now informs me it is this species, and that he has also a single speci- 

 men taken near Epping, among beeches: the wings are very long and narrow and of 

 a pale brown colour. — H. Tompkins ; 44, Guildford Street, Russell Square, London, 

 February 11, 1859. 



