76 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



IN RE AUTUMNARIA. 



On page 63 of Y.N. Mr. Gregson has 

 thought fit to attack my name and reputa- 

 tion in a most gratuitously abusive manner. 

 His false calumnies are but spJemic envy, 

 and only merit my supreme contempt^ 

 barely worthy of denial even. 



I may remind Mr. Gregson that his un- 

 gentlemanly accusations are in no sense 

 arguments. He does not give the slightest 

 proof of his assertions, and before he attacks 

 the good faith and honesty of a brother 

 entomologist, in common decency he must 

 give his reasons. Mr. Gregson's ipse dixit 

 is not evidence. It is easy to say that 

 Autumnaria was planted at Deal, but if so, 

 who did it ? If Mr. G. can give any proof 

 of this I would be one of his warmest 

 supporters in trying to bring the guilty 

 party to a state of social " Coventry," Any 

 man who would do so mean a trick deserves 

 that. I still believe most confidently that 

 Mr. Harbour's captures of Autumnaria at 

 Deal are genuine British moths. My reasons 



1 have fully stated in the December Entom- 

 ologist, so need not be repeated here. And, 

 individually, I am quite content to let my 

 brother entomologists draw their own con- 

 clusions as to my bona fide in the matter ; 

 my honest reputation is too firmly estab- 

 lished to be shaken by the hollow thunder of 

 the self-crowned Liverpool Jove ! mighty as 

 he (alone) may think it. 



Mr. Gregson's figures, too, will bear cor- 

 rection. British specimens of Autumnaria 

 rarely exceed two inches. Mr. Bond has 

 several in his rich collection, but none over 



2 inches, and the smallest about inch. 

 Foreign specimens may be larger and more 

 orange. Angularia 1 have in my cabinet 

 fully If inch ; so that the size alone may be 

 at least deceptive. Not that there is any 

 difficulty in fine and fresh specimens. — W. 

 H, TuGWELL, Greenwich. 



BRITISH MOTHS: 



By John E. Robson, 



(Assisted by Contributors to the Y.N.) 



The CocHLioPOD^ contains but two Euro 

 pean species, both of which occur in Britain. 

 They are small, the larger one only expand- 

 ing an inch. They have rather ample wings, 

 yellowish brown and shining. The great 

 peculiarity is in the larvae, which appear to 

 be entirely without legs. 



The PsYCHiDji include a small number 

 of singular species of very doubtful 

 location. While Mr. Stainton agrees 

 with Dr. Staudinger, by placing them 

 among the Bombycina, Mr. Doubleday 

 included them among the Tineina. The 

 imagines vary in size from less than half an 

 inch to one inch in expanse. The males 

 have ample wings, generally black or smoky, 

 and but thinly scaled ; the antennas pecti- 

 nated or plumose. The females are with- 

 out wings, and some of them have neither 

 legs nor antennae, being nothing but living 

 egg bags. The larva constructs a case after 

 the manner of some of the Tineina, in 

 which it lives and changes to a pupa. 



The Liparidje are insects of moderate 

 size, with rather ample wings ; the antennae 

 of the males are pectinated ; the female is 

 sometimes wingless or nearly so, and some- 

 times has a very thick abdomen. The 

 larvae all have 16 legs, generally with 

 tufts of hair, the hairs often of uniform 

 length ; some of them are very beautiful, 

 and most of them feed on trees or shrubs. 

 The pupae are hairy, generally having tufts 

 of soft hair on the back ; the cocoon is of a 

 loose texture. 



The BoMBYCiD^ are the typical insects 

 of the group. Most of them are of rather 

 large size, some of them expanding more 

 than three inches. They are mostly of 

 various shades of brown in colour. The 

 antennae of the males are pectinated. The 

 larvae are all hairy, but not tufted. The 

 pupa are smooth, and enclosed in a cocoon, 



