Insects. 



G695 



and two more distinct subdorsal, dusky lines. Wing-cases yellowish olive, streaked 

 with dusky markings, and having the nervines very prominent. The perfect insect 

 appears in May and the beginning of June. The larva is rather slender, and tapers 

 towards the head ; in general appearance it resembles E. castigiata and E. vulgata. 

 — H. Harpur Crewe ; Fernhill, near Osivestry, August 8, 1 859. 



Description of the Larva of Eupithecia vulgata. — Common as this insect is every- 

 where, the larva seems to be but little known. I have never myself beaten it, but 

 have several times reared it from the egg. It so closely resembles that of E. casti- 

 giata that it requires a very practised eye to distinguish it. "It^ is slender, and 

 tapers towards the head. Its general colour is reddish brown or dusky olive ; along 

 the centre of the back a chain of dirty, greenish, lozenge-shaped spots, becoming con- 

 fluent at the capital and anal segments. Spiracular line waved, yellowish, occasion- 

 ally interrupted with black. Segmental divisions orange. The whole body studded 

 with minute white tubercles, and sparingly clothed with short whitish hairs. Feeds 

 on whitethorn; full-fed the middle of July. The pupa is enclosed in an earthen 

 cocoon ; it is slender and delicate. Head, thorax, and wing-cases olive. Abdomen 

 reddish, sharply pointed. — Id. 



Note on the Larva of Eupithecia assimilata. — The Bev. H. H. Crewe proposes 

 (Zool. 6579) to give us an accurate description of some one species of Eupithecia 

 larva each month, as he may be able, and commences with E. assimilata. Few 

 people could be found better pleased than I was when I read his proposal, and few 

 more disappointed when I read his professed accurate description of the larva of the 

 above insect. In some running notes on the genus Eupithecia, in the ' Intelligencer,' 

 I gave a rough description of this species, which all who run might read. This 

 description is so much at variance with Mr. Crewe's "accurate" description that 

 one of us must be wrong. Mr. Crewe tells us that the larva of E. assimilata is three- 

 quarters of an inch in length. I gave no size ; but perhaps Mr. Crewe will excuse 

 me if I now say that a full-fed larva of this species will almost measure twice the size 

 he gives ; hence he has evidently been describing poor, half-grown, sickly larvae. The 

 time he gives, " October 13 — 15," would also mislead any one who wished to breed 

 fine specimens ; for though no one will doubt that he took his larvae at that date, still 

 I hope those who wish to breed this species will give themselves a full month's mar- 

 gin, else they will not breed any males worth setting. Some of Mr. Crewe's remarks 

 are right, and others wrong ; the first and last are certainly correct. When he 

 speaks of a dorsal line, no one would suspect that he was describing the lozenge- or 

 diamond-shaped markings which are so conspicuous an object in one or two groups of 

 this genus, and particularly so in E. assimilata. Perhaps I ought to apologize to 

 Mr. Crewe for venturing to dispute his accuracy ; but as I have made the genus 

 Eupithecia my especial study for many years, I think he will excuse me, particularly 

 as my only object is to ensure accuracy for the future. On the 29th of March, 1856, 

 I exhibited this genus, re-arranged according to my ideas, at the Northern Entomo- 

 logical Society ; and at the following June meeting I read a paper on the food of the 

 larvae of the genus. At the following meeting I exhibited about fifteen species of 

 this genus in the larva state, alive. Thus Mr. Crewe will see that I know a little 

 about the genus Eupithecia, and this may perhaps incline him to excuse my seeming 

 presumption. In conclusion, I hope that more than one of the promised descriptions 

 will be given each month. — C. S. Gregson ; Stanley, Liverpool, June 26, 1859. 



Larvfp, or Descriptions of Larva, earnestly desired. — As I am now engaged in 



