6104 



Insects. 



T. Laricaria, the editor very sensibly and naturally asks how I " recognise a larva of 

 which no figure or description exists, indeed which no one has previously seen, and 

 which I have not yet bred, to be that of Tephrosia Laricaria ? " My reply is that I 

 came to the conclusion that the said larvae were those of T. Laricaria, and could be 

 no other species,— ^rs^, because no other known larva of that size feeds upon the 

 larch ; secondly, because the size and general appearance resembled generically that 

 of its congener T. crepuscularia, though still distinguishable; and, lastly, because the 

 perfect insect is an inhabitant of Lancashire, where T. crepuscularia (at all events our 

 pale ashy specimens) are rarely taken. I regret to add that every one of seven larva? 

 taken last September have, I fear, died in the pupa state, unless indeed they are 

 ichneumonized. — Henry Burney ; Wavendon Rectory, near fVoburn, Bedfordshire; 

 May 18, 1858. 



[T feel much obliged for Mr. Burney 's reply, but I cannot say that I regard his 

 reasons as satisfactory : the proof that these seven larvae were those of T. Laricaria 

 seems to me as far removed as ever. — Edward Newman.'] 



Aleucis pictaria, — The pursuit of this insect has been very hot this year, and very 

 successful; but the limits of the one locality now worked have not been extended. 

 This is very singular, because the habits of the insect, crawling at the stems, or flitting 

 about the white blossoms of the sloe, have for years been familiar to our best collectors. 

 I believe Mr*. Stevens was the discoverer of this secret, but, so great was his love of 

 species preservation, that, to his credit be it spoken, I believe he never disclosed it. 

 We have to thank that accomplished Frenchman M. Guenee, to whom Nature seems 

 to reveal all her secrets, for making the fact known to the entomological public. 

 Within the compass of my own limited information one hundred and twenty-eight 

 specimens have been taken at Dartford Heath this year, the collectors on the ground 

 being Messrs. Machin, C. B. Newman, Dow, Bouchard, Harding, Baldwin, F. 0. 

 Slandj^h, Phipps (the son of "mine host" where the entomologists renovate the out- 

 ward man), Tompkins, Wallace, Latchford, Barrett, Mitford and others. Two of 

 these returned with empty boxes. Aleucis pictaria was first taken (in Britain) at 

 Berechurch, near Colchester, where it was most abundant, rushing madly into the 

 flame of candles whenever an open window^ or broken pane permitted of its performing 

 this act of self-sacrifice at the shrine of Vesta. It has also been taken on the South 

 Downs, in Sussex, where the straggling and stunted sloe bushes strive with the sea 

 breezes. — Edward Newman, 



Camplogramma gemmaria. — I had the pleasure to take one specimen of this rare 

 species at a gas lamp near Dulwich on the 16th of April. It is not in good condition, 

 and had probably hybernated. — C. G. Barrett; 37, Park Street, Mile End, May 12, 

 1858. 



A Synonymic List of the British Tricliopterygidce. 

 By the Rev. A. Matthews, M.A. 



The following synonymic list is an attempt to reduce the nomen- 

 clature of the British Trichopterygidae into something like uniformity. 

 1 have endeavoured to accomplish this in the liope of rendering the 



