8o 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[April 



Cevastium vulgaUun, growing plentifully on the same bank, the larva of 

 Gelechia fratevndla will be found drawing the shoots together. If we 

 now examine the shoots of the currant bushes in yonder field, we shall 

 observe some of them are drooping over and withering. On cutting 

 the shoot and breaking off the top, if we find a dull, greenish larva, 

 with black head, inside the stem, that would be the larva of Inmrvaria 

 capitella ; and the larva of Lampronia ruhiella feeds in precisely the 

 same manner in the shoots of raspberry. 



We continue our pleasant stroll, and are soon busy examining the 

 bleached leaves on the wild rose bush, and filling a box with the flat, 

 serrated cases of Coleopliova gvyphypennella, not forgetting the drawn- 

 together shoots containing the dull-brown larva of Spilonota roborana. 

 In hedges where the common hart's-tongue fern is growing plentifully, 

 w^e must stop and examine some of the long fronds ; on turning them 

 over the larva of Psychoides verhuelella will be seen burrowing among 

 the indusia, seemingly quite at home. On old palings the long, 

 slender cases of TalcEporia pseudo-homhycella is seen occasionally ; in 

 breeding these larvae it is best to scrape them carefully off the paling, 

 and pin them on to the side of the breeding-cage by that portion that 

 was attached to the wood, for the imago emerges from the top of the 

 case. If we cut a good supply of birch catkins from old trees, we are 

 pretty sure to breed a good series of Pcedisca bihmana. In damp places 

 in open parts of woods, the larva of Epliippiphora p/lugiana will be 

 found in old thistle stems, the small round holes betraying their 

 presence. On leaves of sallow the larva of Colcopliora viminetella is 

 making the usual blotches, and on the seeds of rushes the cases of 

 Coleopliova cespititiella is in plenty. In the topmost shoots of Scotch 

 fir trees we may still find a few pupa of Retinea tuvionana, but most of 

 them by this time have been cleared out by the birds. By searching 

 on the ground under spruce fir trees, the distorted cones contaming 

 tlie larvae of Coccyx stvohilaua will repay the trouble of raking among 

 the dead leaves, for caught specimens of this species are not to be 

 compared to bred ones. 



If we examine the shoots of furze growing on heaths, some of the 

 shoots will be found drawn togetlier with a mass of white web ; in 

 this web will be found the larva oi Biitalis gmndipeniics, and between 

 the tufts of broom some stragglers of the larva of Depvessavia assimilella 

 liave not yet left the stems to pupate on tlie surface of the ground. 



