i 



I89I.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



129 



Lepidoptera. 



NOTES FOR BEGINNERS.— MICRO LARV^ 



FOR THE MONTH. 



The month of June with all its delightful freshness has arrived, 

 and we are still busy with many of the species occuring last month, 

 for it often happens in cold backward seasons many larvae are two 

 or three weeks late, but towards the end of the month these little 

 matters seem to adjust themselves, for after a short spell of fine 

 weather we find most things pretty much up to date. 



We must now redouble our energies, for larva collecting is at its 

 height, and the difficulty as to what is best to take, out of the 

 abundance around us, daily becomes more apparent ; to the beginner 

 ail is fresh and welcome, but a little timely assistance in the way of 

 information often saves a lot of needless trouble. 



If. we examine the sloe bushes in open parts of woods, we shall 

 probably find a dirty looking web attached to some of the stems, very 

 like a piece of dirty wool, this is formed by the larva of R. stiavelln, 

 and are more easily detected by the fresh web spun by the larvae at 

 the end where they crawl out to feed on the leaves, it is best to cut off 

 all those pieces of the stems with the web attached as carefully as 

 possible, and place them about on some fresh branches in a good, airy 

 cage, and in due time a fair number will be bred. On oak trees, in a 

 mass of dead and drawn-together leaves at the end of some of the 

 branches, the larva of O. tumidella will now be found in a sort of 

 gallery of silk and frass intermixed. On the maple trees the trans- 

 parent-looking, greyish-green larva of D . forskaliana may be taken in 

 the rolled-up leaves. Some of the leaves of the wild rose bushes will 

 be found neatly folded by the larvae of D. hergmanniana. The birch 

 trees also at this time have the leaves rolled up longitudinally by the 

 larva of P. solandriana ; by taking a good supply some very fine forms 

 may be bred. 



By beating oaks we may now obtain the green larva of T. alpella, 

 and towards the end of the month their cocoons in the chinks of the 

 bark ; and by beating sloe and wild apple, the larva of T, Jiorridella. 



BY GEO. ELISHA, F.E.S. 



