THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



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days a cocoon of one of the Muscidce emerged from each larva. The 

 small flies reared from these apparently belonged to genus Musca or 

 Anthomyia (Tachina? Eds.) "(" Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," 

 Vol. I., p. 215). Stainton writes of the larvae: — "Professor Frey 

 finds the larva of this (with us great rarity) on the underside of the 

 leaves of Prenanthes purpurea, in fir woods in May ; that plant is not 

 British, but is not unfrequently found in woods escaped from cultiva- 

 tion " (" Entomologist's Annual," 1856, p. 60). Frey's description as 

 quoted in Leech's " British Pyralides " is as follows : — " The ground 

 colour of the larva is pale dirty green ; dorsal stripe darker, on each 

 side of which is a row of tubercles bearing dark bristles, followed by 

 another row bearing one dark bristle and a few small hairs ; a third 

 row occurs lower down, crowned with white bristles " (" British 

 Pyralides," p. 66). 



Parasites — Of the parasites infesting the larvae of this species 

 Dr. Jordan writes : — " Parasites are certainly rare on the larvae of this 

 group of Lepidoptera ; an ichneumon has been, however, figured and 

 described by M. Milliere and it has been my misfortune four times to 

 have larvae so infested. Twice the parasitism occurred in the larvae of 

 brachydactvhis sent to me from Zurich as noted in the "Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine," Vol. I., p. 215. The Dipteron there recorded as 

 one of the Tachinidce, has been kindly sent by Mr. McLachlan to Mr. 

 Verrall, and decided by him to be a Scoplia, probably 5. oxypterina, 

 Zetterstedt. Again this spring, two larvae of tephradactyhts were 

 infested, but the evil spirits which haunted them were in this case 

 ichneumons. They were regarded by me as the sexes of one species, 

 but they have been named by Mr. Marshall Rogas bicolor, Spinola, and 

 Mesochorus pectoralis, Ratzeburg ; both larvae, as in the former case, 

 had only a single tenant each, and, in the case of the brachydactylus, 

 they became stationary just before their time of change, and when 

 dead, seemed to consist of a dry larval skin enclosing the parasite and 

 in the case of brachydactylus, its cocoon also " (" Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine," Vol. VI., p. 138). 



Habitat — Stainton says "Once in Norfolk" ("Manual," II., 

 p. 444), and, the specimen on which this reference is based, is now 

 in the possession of Mr. J. Jenner Weir, who, referring to a note of 

 mine in which I said " the right of this species to be considered as 

 British has frequently been questioned," writes as follows : — " In your 

 excellent paper on " The Pterophorina " (" Entomologist's Record," 

 Vol. III., p. 33), you appear to throw a doubt on the right of Pselno- 

 phonis brachydactvla to be considered as a British species. You may, 

 perhaps, not be aware that I possess, and have had for about forty 

 years, the first specimen of this species recorded as taken in England. 

 This was captured in Norfolk, a fact that was at the time well known 



