276 THE YOUNG 



1884. 



In the years gone bye, the Entomologists' 

 Annual gave us a list of the new species 

 that had been taken or recognised during 

 the preceding season. With the cessation 

 of that most useful publication, novelties 

 seem to have ceased to occur, so few have 

 been the additions to our fauna made since 

 that time. It is not to be expected that we 

 can go on for ever discovering new species, 

 and especially the large and conspicuous 

 insects that gladdened our hearts in years 

 gone bye. Those we are likely to add to 

 our lists now will have a large preponder- 

 ance of small or inconspicuous species. 

 During the past year the recorded novelties 

 are four in number — one Geometer and 

 three Tinea : — 



1. EUPITHECIA CURZONI, Gregson. 

 This insect, which is new to science, was 



named and described from specimens taken 

 at Balke Sound, Shetland, in June, 1884, by 

 E. R. Curzon, Esq., and others. It had 

 been taken previously in the Shetland 

 Islands, and was figured in the Entomologist 

 as a variety of Satyrata or Nanata. The 

 imago and larva were first described as a 

 distinct species in the current volume of 

 the Young Naturalist. 



2. COLEOPHORA VIBICIGERELLA, Z. 

 This species was first taken in this country 



by Mr. Wm. Machin, in a garden near Fobb- 

 ing, Essex, in June of last year. An account 

 of its capture will be found in the Entomolo- 

 gist's Monthly Magazine for December last, 

 vol. xx., p. 165. It was sitting on a leaf of 

 Convolvulus major in a hedge ; but close by 

 was a plant of Artemisia vulgaris, on which, 

 as well as on A. campestris, the larva feeds. 

 When Mr. Machin learnt these particulars, 

 he returned to seek the larva, but the bush 

 had been cut down. A further search dis- 

 closed many other plants in the neighbour- 

 hood, but as yet the larva has not been 

 secured. 



NATURALIST. 



3. COLEOPHORA M ARITI M ELLA, 

 Stainton. 



This species is also new to science, though it 

 has been known to Mr. Machin for some time. 

 It has only recently been named by Mr. 

 Stainton. The larva is found on wormwood 

 (Artemisea maritima) in various parts of 

 the Thames estuary. 



4. NEPTICULA HODGKINSONI, 

 Stainton. 



We are indebted to Mr. J. B. Hodgkin- 

 son, of Preston, for this addition to our 

 lists, which is also new to science. He 

 has bred three specimens from larvae found 

 mining in rose leaves at Ley land, near 

 Preston, Lancashire. It is named and des- 

 cribed by Mr. Stainton in the October part 

 of the Entomologists' Monthly Magazine, vol. 

 xxi., p. 103. The compliment paid to Mr. 

 Hodgkinson in naming the insect after him 

 is certainly well deserved. 



During the past year several larvae have 

 been described for the first time in British 

 publications ; but the most noteworthy is 

 that of Boletooia fuliginaria, which has been 

 bred, figured, and described by Mr. W. H. 

 Tug well, of Greenwich. The difficulty of 

 feeding larvae on fungi is well known, and 

 Mr. Upton, who first discovered the larvae of 

 this species in Britain, was unable to breed 

 the insect from them, unless they were about 

 mature. Mr.Tugwell, however.was shown the 

 larvae " at home," (the exact locality has, of 

 course, not been divulged), he took away a 

 portion of the rotten wood, covered with a 

 dirty looking fungus or mould and one 

 young larva feeding on it. This he suc- 

 ceeded in rearing to maturity, the imago 

 emerging on the 14th July. He describes 

 the larva as follows : — Seven eights of an 

 inch long, moderately stout for a Geo- 

 meter larva, cylindrical in form, attenuat- 

 ing slightly at the anterior and posterior 

 segments. The ground colour is of a sooty 

 black, the dorsal line marked by ten pairs 

 of orange-coloured raised tubercles, two 



